Catcher in the Rye / What is the What

I spent about 5 hours reading The Catcher in the Rye this weekend.

I've wanted to read this  book since I heard it mentioned on John Legend: Behind the Music on VH1 back in the day.

All I could recall over the years is that Lennons killer, Mark Chapman, was told by J.D. Salinger that he needed to kill John. You can read the true reasons here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_David_Chapman
The book itself was pretty good. I'd say it was great, but the lead character, Holden, was so cynical about everything, it probably rubbed off on me

I saw myself in the main character, and I also saw glimpses of my student's in Holden.

You see, he's a 16 year old boy who gets kicked out of his prep school. He doesn't want to tell his parents, so he wanders around NYC for a few days.

Holden thinks the world is phony, and the world doesn't seem to think much of him. His descriptions of the world (as told in first-person) are still very apt. The hormones that create his cynicism are a staying symptom of the teenage years.

This was one of the more vulgar books I've read from the mid-20th Century. I don't know if I'd ever use it in my classroom for that reason, but I wouldn't necessarily discourage anyone of at least teenage age from reading it either. 

4.5/5 (4.5 paws out of five - I need to photoshop that into this post)

I also finished Stuff White People Like - 2 hours & began What is the What by Dave Eggers.

What is the What is a novel based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee. It follows his life from living in Sudan as a Lost Boy to his resettlement in the U.S. I'm excited to read the rest of the book. So far I've learned many things about Sudan. I look forward to finaly educating myself about the War in Darfur. I've read this for about 2 hours thus far.

4 day weekend reading - 9 hours

Total Running Time: 12 hours