Put Catcher to Rest Already

Remembering the writer, not the myth

(NEWSER) - The myth of JD Salinger the withdrawn man doesn't match Salinger the writer, Adam Gopnik writes. On the page, Salinger was charming, expansive, and relentlessly engaged with the world. "No American writer will ever have a more alert ear, a more attentive eye, or a more ardent heart," Gopnik writes in the New Yorker . "A self-enclosed writer doesn’t listen, and Salinger was a peerless listener: page after page of pure talk flowed out of him, moving and true and, above all, funny." More»

Novel by 'JD California' may be a hoax

(NEWSER) - Lawyers for the famously reclusive author JD Salinger are considering legal action to block an unauthorized sequel to his classic The Catcher in the Rye, reports the Telegraph. The new novel, by a Swedish-American named John David California, is titled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. It follows the Holden Caulfield-esque wanderings of Mr. C, a 76-year-old man who has escaped from a nursing home. More»

As the reclusive author turns 90, we're left to wonder who he was; will he publish again?

(NEWSER) - JD Salinger turns 90 tomorrow, but the milestone brings no new clarity to the life of the mysterious recluse, who has maintained four decades of closely-guarded silence. The New York Times does some close reading of the literary icon's work in a search for clues. The most critical questions: Has he been writing all this time, and will he ever publish again? More»

From Hunter to Ayn, the Telegraph lists books you can 'wear like a leather jacket'

(NEWSER) - It’s hard to define the "cult" book, but the Telegraph compiled 50 of the top contenders that “rewire your head.”

• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe (1968)
• Baby and Child Care by Dr Benjamin Spock (1946)
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (1922)
• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943)
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Though pushing 60, Holden Caulfield's story never gets old

(NEWSER) - Holden Caulfield was an angsty teen before James Dean and rock and roll made alientaed youth an icon. "There's really not the sense of teen culture that there is now," says the producer of "Gossip Girl." NPR takes the measure of Holden, J.D. Salinger, and the 1951 classic The Catcher in the Rye. More»