The Catcher in the Rye

[johnny on the spot]

I must have bought ten copies over the years and people have always borrowed them and kept them. Likewise, when I worked in libraries people took it out and never returned it. Same with On the Road. When people steal a book, then it shows its value. Kids stealing books to me is like hungry pensioners scrumping apples. It's absurd, it belies the popular concept of theft. I laugh every time somebody steals a book because I know that to steal it, it had to have put a hook in them. The book stole itself. If you don't understand that, you never will.

Not trying to be funny or anything but why would you buy a book ten times that you've already read?

It was a book I liked reading. I like to have it in my house. I read all the Village With Three Corners books about twenty times each aged five and I hunted them down at auction aged twenty-four. Not because Roger Red Hat or Billy Blue Hat had any more to teach me, but I wanted to keep them as a memento of where I learned my love of reading. Also, Catcher in the Rye is always a good gift book. So much the better if it's careworn with dog ears and your name scrawled in the front. Passing on a book is so much better than selling or buying a book. Finding a book is a total joy I hope never to lose.

My uncle Andy gave me his copy of Catcher in the Rye when I guess he was about forty and I'd just reached uni in his town. He saw me for the scared little fuck up I was and remembered where he had been. It was a great gift and I'll never forget it. I hope one day to pass on my books, but as paper yellows and screens ever brighten, even this ritual will fade and die.

 

[Barcon]

I must have bought ten copies over the years and people have always borrowed them and kept them. Likewise, when I worked in libraries people took it out and never returned it. Same with On the Road. When people steal a book, then it shows its value. Kids stealing books to me is like hungry pensioners scrumping apples. It's absurd, it belies the popular concept of theft. I laugh every time somebody steals a book because I know that to steal it, it had to have put a hook in them. The book stole itself. If you don't understand that, you never will.

Not trying to be funny or anything but why would you buy a book ten times that you've already read?

It was a book I liked reading. I like to have it in my house. I read all the Village With Three Corners books about twenty times each aged five and I hunted them down at auction aged twenty-four. Not because Roger Red Hat or Billy Blue Hat had any more to teach me, but I wanted to keep them as a memento of where I learned my love of reading. Also, Catcher in the Rye is always a good gift book. So much the better if it's careworn with dog ears and your name scrawled in the front. Passing on a book is so much better than selling or buying a book. Finding a book is a total joy I hope never to lose.

My uncle Andy gave me his copy of Catcher in the Rye when I guess he was about forty and I'd just reached uni in his town. He saw me for the scared little fuck up I was and remembered where he had been. It was a great gift and I'll never forget it. I hope one day to pass on my books, but as paper yellows and screens ever brighten, even this ritual will fade and die.

Gay.






























No seriously, thanks for the answer. Books don't mean much to me personally, but I understand how they might to others.
The last book I read was Colin Bell - Reluctant hero and before that was probably Fahrenheit 451 about 30 years ago. Anything before that would have been something by Enid Blyton or Ladybird. I still have Gary James book and Buzzers to read before I die.

 

[johnny on the spot]

Well, we can't all be bookworms.

Picking up an almost immaculate copy of Ladybird's 'What to Look For in Autumn' for a quid isn't everyone's idea of excitement, I get it.

 

[Barcon]

Well, we can't all be bookworms.

Picking up an almost immaculate copy of Ladybird's 'What to Look For in Autumn' for a quid isn't everyone's idea of excitement, I get it.

I just remembered that I read, "Grow your own stone" quite a few times in my teens.

 

[dronefromsector7g]

Well, we can't all be bookworms.

Picking up an almost immaculate copy of Ladybird's 'What to Look For in Autumn' for a quid isn't everyone's idea of excitement, I get it.

I just remembered that I read, "Grow your own stone" quite a few times in my teens.

I always loved reading but since my dad died 6 years ago I've read half a dozen books, only one or two fiction which I always loved. I wish I could relax enough to sit and read more. Even TV can't always hold my attention nowadays.

 

[johnny on the spot]

Well, we can't all be bookworms.

Picking up an almost immaculate copy of Ladybird's 'What to Look For in Autumn' for a quid isn't everyone's idea of excitement, I get it.

I just remembered that I read, "Grow your own stone" quite a few times in my teens.

I always loved reading but since my dad died 6 years ago I've read half a dozen books, only one or two fiction which I always loved. I wish I could relax enough to sit and read more. Even TV can't always hold my attention nowadays.

Non-fiction is the friend of every lapsed reader. I once read nothing but old textbooks for nearly a year. I'd walk into bookshops, spot a word I liked on a spine and bought the book just to have a voice talking to me. Even yesterday I picked up a book about Peregrines in a shop, liked the voice and bought it. I'll never own a Peregrine, rarely spot one and furthermore there wasn't much sex in it. It just took me somewhere else for an afternoon.

 

[mackenzie]

Well, we can't all be bookworms.

Picking up an almost immaculate copy of Ladybird's 'What to Look For in Autumn' for a quid isn't everyone's idea of excitement, I get it.

Books are wonderful. I once bought a set of children's books off eBay for 300 quid. All because I had read the first one at the age of 9 and had to have them.

 

[mad4city]

Before I went all electric and got a kindle,

Why do I feel like Pete Seeger, backstage, at Newport Folk Festival when I read that?





Judas!

:-)

 

[stony]

Before I went all electric and got a kindle,

Why do I feel like Pete Seeger, backstage, at Newport Folk Festival when I read that?





Judas!

:-)

I resisted the urge to get a kindle until I borrowed my daughters and was hooked. I had hold of it for so long she got fed up and bought me my own.
Its great, you don't have the dilemma of whether or not to break the spine and it holds loads of books. It doesn't hurt your eyes and the best bit is that you can change the font size so you don't need to wear glasses if you're a bit of a Mr Magoo.

 

[Allendintiers]

It's not the greatest piece of literature ever written, but it's a good read if you're a 15-21 year old and trying to figure out the world.

I read it twice, once at 18 and then again at 24.

At 18 it was like a calling, at 24 it was a bit of an angsty rant from a posh kid.