Catcher in the Rye

Catcher in the Rye is on the BBC list of books I'm reading this year.  I am not, however, going to read this one.  I started, but I'm not going to finish based on the following recommendation from Nancy Pearl, the author of a book called Book Lust.  Pearl is a librarian and voracious reader who recommends "reading for every mood, moment, and reason."  She says,

One of my strongest-held beliefs is that no one should ever finish a book that they're not enjoying, no matter how popular or well reviewed the book is.  Believe me (and I do), nobody is going to get any points in heaven by slogging their way through a book they aren't enjoying but think they ought to read.  I live by what I call "the rule of fifty," which acknowledges that time is short and the world of books is immense.  If you're fifty year old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up.  If you're over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100--the result is the number of pages you should read before deciding.  Keep in mind that your mood has a lot to do with whether or not you will like a book.  I always leave open the option of going back to a book that I haven't liked (especially if someone I respect has recommended it to me) sometime later.  I've begun many books, put them down unfinished, then returned a month or two, or years, later and ended up loving them.

I live by this in my reading, but I have a confession to make.  I'm not giving Catcher even fifty pages.  I have read two chapters and I can't stand it.  I asked Kent if he had read it and he had.  I asked what he thought and he used words like "overblown teenage angst" and "overrated for an adult audience."  This is pretty much how I feel.  Wikipedia says, "Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion."  There might have been a period in my life when I was interested in reading a novel with foul language about teenage angst and rebellion, but now is not that time.  I am marking it in italics on my list and moving on to other things.  Like The Wind in the Willows.