4 posts tagged “salinger”
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction by J. D. Salinger is the second book I've read from my Summer Reading List.
It's also the last of Salinger's books that I had not read.
This book is actually two Novellas published together. The first, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, is an account of Seymour Glass's wedding day - told by his brother Buddy Glass. Seymour Glass himself never actually makes an appearance in the story. It's an excellent story, and made me love Salinger's writing even more.
The second story however, is quite different. It's an essay, pretty much, written by Buddy Glass. It attempts to be, just as the title says, an Introduction to Seymour Glass. At first it mainly focuses on Seymour's poetry but then gets more general and talks about Buddy's relationship with Seymour, and Seymour as a person.
I think Seymour an Introduction is possibly the best example of why I love Salinger so much, and how talented he is. I mean, goodness. Here's a novella "written" by one of Salinger's fictional characters, about another fictional character, and their fictional family. Nothing particularly sad happens. Seymour's suicide is mentioned in almost every account of the Glass family, and is not the focus of this piece at all. It's just a tribute to his "life" - who he was and what he was like. And the darn thing had me in tears while reading about Seymour and what sort of person he was. It was incredible.
I've now read his four published books, and I've read Catcher in the Rye twice. Now I'd like to go back and read them all again. If forced to choose a favorite, I'm not sure I could at this point. All I know is that it isn't Catcher, though I do really like it. I love the other three so much I can't imagine choosing a favorite. Maybe when I re-read them all it will help me make up my mind.
As much as I wish Salinger would release some new work, since it's been nearly 50 years, I also am sort of ok with just the work that's out there. I like the idea of re-reading his four books many times, and getting to know them very well. I like the idea of trying to track down his uncollected works, as M-----l did. (A few will be on my complete New Yorker DVDs, so I'll start with those.) He has definitely become one of my top five favorite authors.
Occasionally I buy a new copy of a book I already own. The reason I do this is usually one of these three reasons:
1. There's an author event coming up that I plan to attend, and I'll buy a nice hardcover copy to replace my paperback copy.
2. The author is one of my favorites, and I've found a really cool other edition of one of their works. This happens most frequently with Kurt Vonnegut books - I own a lot of new Dial paperbacks that all have similar covers with the V. Strand often has very old (not first editions or first printings, but old nonetheless), very cool hardcover copies that came out within a few years of the original edition. They sell them for $7.50, and I'm always thrilled when I find one I don't have. In fact, they are holding just such a copy of Breakfast of Champions for me, which I'm going to try to pick up tomorrow.
3. I've found a very cheap copy (usually 50 cents or 1 dollar) of a book I absolutely love. I usually find these at Friends of the Library book sales. Often, I give these copies to my good friends - happy to find a cheap copy of one of my favorite books to share with others. However, since I give them away, it doesn't really count as buying a copy of a book I already own, since I wouldn't count new books that I bought as gifts. The occasions where it does count though, is when I buy a copy under the same circumstances, but plan on keeping it as a "lending copy." I don't like to lend books generally, which is horrid but true. Especially nice copies or my favorite books. I've found out too many times the hard way that many other people don't have high standards of taking care of other people's books. I've gotten copies back that I lent out like new, and they've come back months later with dozens of dog-eared pages, bent covers, and blackend edges. But I still like to share books with friends, so if I see a super cheap copy of a great book, I'll buy it and lend it. I just did that with The History of Love by Nicole Krause. I have lots of friends at work who read, and I've been passing the book around from person to person.
So now I've willingly admitted that I'm completely obsessed with books and book collecting, not just reading. (Though if you've read my blog for any length of time, you probably already know that.) My love of reading is the force behind my love of book collecting, but I am aware that it's still a huge fixation.
If I buy another copy of a book for any of the reasons listed above, I don't list them in my monthly Polysyllabic Spree posts. This is because the intent of my Polysyllabic Spree is to track the flow of books acquired (books to read) verses books I've read. Buying another copy of something I already own does not affect this, so I omit them. I also don't list children's picture books, mainly because they can be read in about 5 minutes, and I don't want to falsely inflate my book read list.
Anyway, the reason behind all this back story, is that I want to start posting pictures of some of the cool old editions I find. When I was visiting in Boston a few weeks ago, I went to a great used book store in Concord called Books With A Past. I found two wonderful old copies of J. D. Salinger books.
The first is a Modern Library edition of Nine Stories. It was $10.
I've been enjoying stories of Indian Americans since I discovered Jhumpa Lahiri, and this collection, Karma and Other Stories by Rishi Reddi, looks very promising.
From a Booklist review:
This excellent debut collection is deceptively easy to read. The stories of Indian Americans navigating their way through two cultures can be read in one or two sittings, but they deserve to be pored over slowly. Each story manages to include information about Indian culture, without seeming remotely pedantic or expository. The details make the stories specific to Indians, but the emotions and characters make the stories universal. A teenager tries to gain his father's protection, while also asserting himself. A devoted wife and mother struggles to find her own identity. A hip twentysomething copes with her best friend's upcoming marriage and her own failed relationship. A great recommendation not only for fans of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake (2004) but also for fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald's elegant studies of a culture that is both familiar and foreign.
I've been very into short story collections lately.
The other two books I purchased were the two Salingers I haven't read:
-Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour - An Introduction
-Nine Stories
I also left the store with InStyle Homes, Better Homes and Gardens, and House and Garden - because, well, what can I say - sometimes I just want to look at pretty rooms in magazines.
Needless to say my day got better after this.
I loved the story as well, especially the conversation at the end between Franny and Zooey on the phone - it was beautiful. But the writing was outstanding, and what ultimately gave it a place on my long list of Favorite Books Of All Time. There are countless examples of Salinger's mastery of Dialog, Detail, Gesture, Sentences, and Character.
Here are some of my favorite examples:
"Lane spotted her immediately, and despite whatever it was he was trying to do with his face, his arm that shot up into the air was the whole truth." (p. 7)
"But he got up from the piano bench too restively for it to have been a real gesture of dismissal." (p. 133)
"At one of the bookcases, he gave a misaligned book an orderly little push with his thumb, then passed on." (p. 136)
"At first piecemeal, then point-blank, he let his attention be drawn to a little scene that was being acted out sublimely, unhampered by writers and directors and producers, five stories below the window and across the street." (p. 151)
"Tears, presumably, were imminent, if not already on the way." (p. 150)
"When he moved again, it was as though marionette strings had been attached to him and given an overzealous yank." (p. 182)
Salinger's Nine Stories now holds a place high up on my To Be Read List. I'm also going to give Catcher In the Rye another chance - reading more for the writing rather than the plot, which last time (and only time) I found it hard to relate.
But first - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire awaits my attention, waiving at me from my bookcase reminding me of my quest to re-read all of Harry Potter's adventures before his final one this July.
