#JD Salinger put so much of himself into this book | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

collecting-stories · 4 years

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Streetlight - JJ Maybank

Request: Could you do a reader x jj where she’s a shy bookworm kook with no friends, jj is doing some work at her house and she finds him intimidating, he’s curious about her. He sees her getting picked on somewhere by some other kooks and he protects her somehow and comforts her. I dunno something like that, your so good at writing I know you can make this so much better that how I explained it ahah

Outer Banks Masterlist

☮︎ ☮︎ ☮︎ ☮︎

The compromise was one night out doing normal teenage things to reassure your parents that you had friends and weren’t missing out on all the fun summer stuff people were supposedly doing this time of year and you could have the Grove Press first edition unrevised version of On The Road that someone was selling on ebay. It was a necessity, a collectible item that you would treasure for the rest of your life and it would look amazing in the glass cabinet that you’d gotten from ikea at the beginning of the year.

“One party and you can have the book.”

“I hate kook parties,” you tried to reason, eyes drifting passed your dad to the boy cutting your lawn. It was stupid and never in a million lightyears would anything ever happen but you had the smallest, tiniest, barely there crush on JJ Maybank, the pogue your dad hired to do odd jobs all summer. Clean the pool, mow the lawn, wash the cars, wash the boat, service the boat, service the cars, whatever he needed done JJ did it. For an extremely good deal, your dad definitely paid better than most. But you’d gotten used to seeing JJ around all summer. You hadn’t spoken to him but you knew of him and his friends. They threw epic parties.

“It’ll be fun.” Your dad replied.

The mower cut and JJ stopped to wipe his face on the shirt he’d taken off and hung over the handle of the mower. When he looked over your eyes went wide and you turned your attention back to your dad to pretend you weren’t just staring.

“It won’t be fun but fine.” You agreed. It was the only way to get that book and you wanted that book. The agreement was in place and your dad, satisfied with your decision to give into his compromise, switched gears from hassling you to focusing on lunch. He’d been claiming for the passed three days that he was in the mood for something pizza related but now he was debating between frozen pepperoni or frozen plain.

“Thoughts?” He asked, standing in front of the fridge, holding the two pizza boxes in hand.

You shrugged, “I don’t know, whatever you want?” You were working your way through a Whole Foods fruit salad and trying to organize your planner for the upcoming school year despite it only being the beginning of August.

Your dad nodded, laying them both down on the counter and turning the oven on to preheat before walking over to the French doors that lead out to the backyard.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting a second opinion.” He replied. He opened the door and shouted for JJ over the hum of the motor. When it finally cut out JJ turned to look at him, slightly startled.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve got some pizza for lunch, you want some?”

“Uh sure, is that okay?”

“Of course, I’m offering it.” Your dad replied, “should be a few more minutes, finish up and come on in.” He let the door close behind him as he walked back into the kitchen. You had turned in your seat to watch and you followed your dad’s movements back to the oven to put the pizzas in. “What? You complain about ‘kooks’, you don’t like those kids either.”

“No. I didn’t say anything.”

“He seems like a nice kid.”

“I’m sure he is.”

“He’s obviously not sitting at home alone all summer either.”

“I’m not sure what you want from me.” You replied, “don’t get in trouble but also you don’t have enough friends so find some’.”

“I just think you’re a great kid and people don’t get to see that. They think you’re snobby and rude when you don’t talk to them.”

“I’m not.” You insisted. You didn’t have a problem with JJ or his friends. It wasn’t that you didn’t talk to them because you thought you were above them. You just didn’t like talking to people.

“They don’t know that.”

“What happened to not catering to other people and their perception of me?”

“An important rule…one you’ve clearly mastered sitting here doing arts & crafts while other kids your age have jobs or go hang out with friends.” He pointed out.

“It’s my day planner. Sue me for wanting it to look nice.” You huffed.

The door opened and both of you looked over as JJ came in. You turned back around quickly and refocused your attention on copying out the class schedule you’d been emailed that morning to avoid looking at a shirtless JJ as your dad pointed him toward the bathroom to clean up for lunch.

“Schedule in being more sociable.” He teased.

“You’re so funny.”

JJ came back into the room and you sucked in a breath, already feeling like you were starting to clam up with him so close to you. Especially when he sat down beside you at the island. You pushed the plastic container of fruit more toward him, avoiding eye contact as you spoke.

“Fruit?” Not the most astounding of questions but you couldn’t help it, he always made you nervous.

The kook party was as awful as you had imagined it being in your head. People you suffered through at school crowded in the first floor of someone’s house while music blared through surround-sound speakers. The party overflowed to the pool and you managed to find a quiet spot away from everyone, sitting on a lounger reading by the light of a tiki torch that was a hazard without the gathering of rowdy, drunk, teens. Not everyone was a kook, you’d spotted JJ and his friends almost instantly, obviously here because of Sarah and Kiara but you ignored all of them in favour of finishing the book you’d been working your way through for the last week and a half. An biographical look at the life of JD Salinger through the eyes of his daughter, you’d been more than thrilled when you managed it find it at the little bookshop on the island. Better than having to go to the mainland and suffer through the idiots that worked at the only Barnes & Noble in a 25 mile radius. You’d been making headway too when the book was pulled out of your hands and someone yanked you out of your seat.

“Hey! Give me that back!” You tried to pull away from the person holding you but you couldn’t get loose. As you struggled Scarlett flipped through the first couple of pages in the book, pretending to read it.

“What is this dumb trash anyway? Dreamcatcher?” She laughed.

“Just give it back Scarlett!” You insisted, pulling against her boyfriend once more. Other kooks had gotten wind of what was happening and stopped to watch.

“You shouldn’t bring books anyway…accidents are bound to happen.” She said, grabbing a few pages in her hands and ripping them out, watching as they fell to the ground.

“Stop! Seriously, please stop.” You nearly cried as she continued to rip pieces of the book out.

A small break in the crowd had JJ pushing through with his friends to see what the commotion was. If he was being honest he didn’t know you very well despite working for your dad all summer. He had seen you around and you’d always been polite to him but never quite friendly. Kiara had told him you were shy though, and that you hated stuff like parties or crowds. This was torture already but now you were standing at the poolside, Scarlett’s boyfriend holding your arms so you couldn’t get away as Scarlett tossed the book into the pool.

“No! Fuck, are you kidding me!” You yanked against Scarlett’s boyfriend and he laughed.

“You wanna go in too?” He taunted, “go get it.” And he shoved you forward, both of them laughing as you tripped and fell into the pool.

JJ ran over without thinking, pulling off his shirt and jumping in the water. He grabbed your waist, helping you to the side of the pool as you sputtered out breaths, too upset by the whole ordeal that you hadn’t been able to focus on actually swimming. Kiara and John B helped you out of the pool while Sarah grabbed a towel for you, wrapping it around your shoulders as you sat on the edge with your legs still in the water.

Despite the warmth of the summer night you were shaking from the sudden chill that came from being wet. JJ pulled himself up on the concrete beside you, pulling his boots off and tossing them behind him before placing a hand on your back, rubbing up and down.

“Are you okay?” Sarah asked, kneeling down beside you.

You nodded, “I’ll be fine. Thanks, but I should go.”

As you started to stand up JJ stood too, grabbing his t-shirt and boots, casting one last look at the unsalvageable book Scarlett had tossed into the pool. “Let me walk you back?”

“You don’t have to, you should stay and enjoy the party.”

“I don’t want you walking home alone. It’s already pretty late.” He reasoned. It was already dark and your house was three blocks away. Not a bad walk but you were still soaked from the pool and wouldn’t hate the company, even if you did get tongue tied whenever JJ was around.

“Okay.”

You kept the towel around your shoulders as JJ led you away from the party, Scarlett shouting after you about your taste in pogues and Sarah telling her off. You were too in your head to say much even as you got away from the party and the blaring music and the crowded rooms. Walking through the streets with JJ, both of you barefoot and carrying your shoes. Soaked still from the pool, he had his shirt draped over one shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?” JJ asked, glanced over at you.

“You having to dive in and get me out of the pool and walk me home. I ruined your night.”

He shrugged, “not really a fan of kook parties anyway, Sarah wanted to go so…”

You watched as he pulled a tin out of his pocket, rattling it for a moment before opening it up and smiling, holding it so you could see the blunts rolled up in colourful paper, a lighter and juul wedged in next to them. “Are they dry?”

“Yeah, this thing is waterproof. Bought it last year cause I always forget to empty my pockets when I surf.”

“Well I’m sure all the fish are happy. Probably trippin’ out.”

JJ laughed at the joke as he picked out a blunt and lit it up, “you want some?”

“No, I don’t smoke.”

“Do you care if I do?”

You shook your head. You were almost home anyway, then he could leave. Or were you supposed to ask him to stick around? Offer him some clothes from your dad and dry his wet shorts since he’d been nice enough to dive into the pool after you.

“So…you and Scarlett aren’t exactly friends huh?”

“I’m not exactly friends with a lot of people, Scarlett is just one of many.” You replied. “I was only there tonight cause my dad made me go…he says I need to socialise more.”

“You don’t really go out much.”

“I obviously have a good reason.” You said, looking down at your wet clothes.

“Not everyone’s like Scarlett.” He replied, blowing out smoke as he talked. “We’re going on the boat tomorrow, you should come.”

“Maybe.”

“I’d like it if you did.” He admitted, shrugging his shoulders in attempted indifference.

“Okay, but I’ll think I’ll stick to not swimming, if it’s all the same to you.”

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mansvisharma · 6 years

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Why is the Catcher in the Rye the finest coming of age story ever put on paper?

I recently finished reading the Catcher in the Rye for the 13th time. I have been trying to analyse this book for quite a while now, and trying to understand why I'm so drawn to it, still I can't put a finger on it.

When I finished the book for the first, I didn't think much of it, to tell you the truth. The writing style seemed half baked, the author seemed immature and even the plot was going nowhere really. Then there were the "and alls" over and over again to an extent that it got into your vocabulary unwillingly. One thing that stuck with me though, was Holden Caulfield. Holden was weird and erratic and irrational and rude and even violent at times, but he still came off as loving and kind and caring and even intellectual. He calls himself stupid a line after giving some great insight. He'd tell us that he hates cinema, then go to watch a movie with his date. He'd tell us and make us believe that he doesn't like most people, then he'll miss them all. He'll lie just for the heck of it and then not feel any remorse for it. He'll be curious about the stupidest things like where do ducks go when the lake freezes over, he'll even ask people about it. All of this silliness transcribes into a character that has been meticulously crafted to be as relatable but still distant from us. We hear his monologues every now and then, but we don't really believe them as we've learnt to be skeptical, we see him getting drunk while being underaged, but we understand the urge. We see him go home trying to sneak in just to meet his sister and give her a record, we know it's a stupid move, but we understand it. He teases us with some issues but then just brushes them off by simply stating "I don't wanna get into all that now" and again, we get it.

After I was done reading it for the first time, all I could think was, what a waste of time. I gained nothing from reading it, it went nowhere, his life didn't get better, he just roamed around glorifying and dishonouring New York, thinking completely random things. I was thinking why did I even keep reading, there wasn't much content in there. A few days went by and I started to feel a void, like I was missing a friend, a constantly talkative friend whom you find annoying mostly but when they're not there, you miss them terribly. It was a classic case of catch-22. So I started to carry that book in my bag, every so often I'd just open it and flip through pages reading some bits and pieces. This went on for months, and I realised I'd read the book 3-4 times again. I could tell you every event in the book even if asked me in my sleep. What I couldn't do, was explain those moments and their significance. Maybe because they didn't mean anything, or maybe because I couldn't find the meaning. I still can't, I don't think I want to now.

Holden is my friend now, I've heard him talk more times than I've probably heard my closest of friends. I'm not sure if other people feel this connected with the book, but I do. Maybe because I read it in my teenage years, maybe because I was uncertain about my own future when I read it or maybe just because it's a brilliant and enjoyably book. I don't know, I still can't put my finger on it.

While reading it, you know there's another story in there, the story of the author, JD Salinger, a story of war, a story of lost love, a story of lost friends and a story of committing every part of your life to the typewriter, but that's a story for another time.

After 13 complete readings of this marvel I can certainly say this though, no other book captures the teenage angst and fickle mindedness like this one does. It stays true to the character it built up from the start even when it means being untrue to the reader. That's where the beauty lies, I guess.

#the catcher in the rye #jd salinger #teenage #coming of age #novel #new york #greatest

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iammariatsmith · 4 years

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What Are Some Of The Best Christmas Books To Read This Year?

Christmas brings us joy and most importantly, holidays. Nothing excites more than a cup of coffee with a good book to read. We have brought you some of the best books you should read this Christmas. A good holiday session should be greeted with the joy of books and the good warmth of coffee. In this article, we have compiled a good list of some books that have proven to be the best. Books are an excellent source of learning and as per experts, they are also a good source of knowledge and empowerment. So, reading these books will bring some very intense changes in your knowledge as well as you will never ever ask any of your friends to “write an essay for me”. So, keep reading as this article is getting more excited.

4 3 2 1 (2017) by Paul Auster

Auster’s work is for all seasons: I would choose The New York Trilogy for Spring, Sunset Park for Summer, Brooklyn Follies for Fall … Save yourself any time for 4 3 2 1, an instant classic. Because in the almost thousand pages he takes up the playful structures of his first novels — in this case telling the life of the same person, who looks a lot like Auster himself, with four different destinations — but this time the background has more power than artifice. His definitive treatise on youth, love, and art.

Berta Isla (2017) by Javier Marias

After meeting Berta, the cloud of smoke is going to stay a long time in your head. It would have been fairer to highlight Your face tomorrow, but we will give a little to the pressure of editorial news. If that trilogy marked you deeply (like me), Berta Isla is a very joyful return to the world of spies and counter-spies, now with the added perspective — and humanly even more interesting — of the woman of one of those chosen. The approach with Homeric dyes reaches the root of the concept of loyalty, analyses and shapes the material from which personal ties are made and further obscures that shadow over the identity of oneself and others that Marias has forever cast on all Your readers.

The map and territory (2010) by Michel Houellebecq

In times of suffocating political correctness, any text by Houllebecq is, to put it finely, a good host all over the face. The classic of nihilism the elementary particles, the fantastic Lanzarote, the (too much on purpose) controversy Submission … I especially recommend the map and the territory because it walks through areas so far unexplored of the always intriguing relationship between reality and art. And because Houllebecq has the great idea of killing himself — he also showed himself at the movies, he doesn’t quite like him. Of course, if you’re on a bad run with your father, maybe you cut your veins a little. This is a manual of feelings and not self-help books.

Pride and prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen

If you think it is a novel for women, it is true, it is wonderful for women. Exactly as wonderful as for men. With just 20 years, Austen marked one of the most vigorous portraits about desire and its containment, about love and its social fit, about honor and its impossible complete realization. Pure chemistry, a million times imitated and inimitable at the same time, which takes place in the recurring London countryside of the early nineteenth century.

Crime and punishment (1866) by Fiador M. Dostoevsky

Crime and punishment, a cliff-hanger in his time. Raskolnikov is an intelligent, cultivated and attractive twenty-three-year-old boy who lives in a St. Petersburg attic. From the beginning of the novel, a plan to steal and kill a heartless lender urges, for him, the old woman’s meanness justifies the crime. It was published the first time for deliveries, often Cliff-hanger, it would be something like the Stranger Things of the time.

The Foreigner (1942) by Albert Camus

Albert Camus’s foreigner inspired the first single from The Cure, Killing an Arab. The work investigates the circumstances that lead a man to commit a seemingly unmotivated crime. The outcome of his judicial process is meaningless, as is his life, corrupted by everyday life and weariness. A reflection on how responsibility and guilt, how is the first thing that the human being strips when other forces govern his soul.

The forge of a rebel (1941–1944) by Arturo Barea

The Clash group owes its name to the third part of the trilogy The Forge of a rebel by Arturo Barea. Exiled in England since 1938, Arturo Barea expressed his experiences in his autobiographical work, The Forge of a Rebel, a trilogy that is among the best-selling Spanish books abroad. In our country it is practically a stranger, because the work was banned during the Franco regime and only saw the light in its original Castilian in Argentina in 1951. The Clash group takes its name from the third part of the trilogy, which was titled “He calls it and addresses the Civil War” as lived by Barea. In my opinion, the work that best explains the conflicts of Spain in the early twentieth century.

The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by JD Salinger

The guard in the rye of JD Salinger caused a great controversy when it was published because of the provocative language he used and the crudeness of his protagonist. The adventures of a teenager in a New York recovering from the war influenced successive generations around the world. In his sincere and direct confession, Holden reveals to us the reality of a boy faced with school failure, the rigid norms of a traditional family, his first sexual experiences.

Kill a Mockingbird (1956) by Harper Lee

The novel is inspired by the author’s observations about her family and social environment, focusing on an incident that occurred near her city in 1936, when she was 10 years old. It speaks of inequality and injustice, but also of integrity and morals.

The teacher and Margarita (1967) by Mikhail Bulgakov

Although the novel was written in the 1930s, it did not see the light until 1966, in Moskva magazine and in a censored edition. It is not surprising, because the work is a hard and incisive satire of Soviet society, its corruption, its mediocrity, and its hunger. He inspired the theme Sympathy for the Devil of the Rolling Stones.

Blade Runner: Do androids dream of electric sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick

Masterpiece of the cyberpunk subgenre, in apocalyptic and technological key, rabidly known for the film adaptations of Ridley Scott. It is not only a novel about the use of science fiction, but it addresses ethical and philosophical issues such as the vague limit between the artificial and the natural, the decay of life and society and the limits of morality.

Slaughterhouse 5 (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut

The novel is based on the experiences and memories of a soldier during the end of World War II. It focuses on the Allied bombing of Dresden, which the author lived in his own skin and that marked him deeply. Not only is it a diatribe against war, but it addresses issues such as the futility of existence or the insignificance of the human being, all with a corrosive and lacerating mood.

Postman (1971) by Charles Bukowski

Postman is based on the experiences of its author, Charles Bukowski, who spent 12 years working for the US postal service. It is a bittersweet satire on the monotonous work of a post office worker, a work that the author did for twelve years of his life. It is the first novel written by Bukowski. Its protagonist, Henri Chinaski, alcoholic alter ego, misanthrope and womanizer of the author will then appear again in Factotum, The Path of the Loser, Hollywood and Women.

Only for women (1977) by Marilyn French

Only for women of Marilyn French is a fundamental book that in our country has gone unfairly unnoticed. The story of a group of women who gradually cease to be mere wives and housewives to become independent human beings who live their own lives and refuse to meet the traditional expectations of society. The book had a great impact at the time, although in our country it went unnoticed. Its reading is now as necessary as 40 years ago.

Watchmen (1986–1987) by Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons and John Higgins

Watchmen is for many the best comic of all time. Watchmen was a before and after in the comics industry, for the first time, the heroes became antiheroes, with very human anguish and flaws. Its peculiar structure, of non-linear narration in which I tell him, jumps through space, time and its own plot, has made many scholars consider it the best album in history.

Read More: https://bestessaywritingservice.org/blog/best-christmas-books-to-read/

#christmas #christmas books #christmas books to read #blog #education #essay #writing #write an essay for me #best essays

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blogjallan · 4 years

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What Are Some Of The Best Christmas Books To Read This Year?

4 3 2 1 (2017) by Paul Auster

Berta Isla (2017) by Javier Marias

The map and territory (2010) by Michel Houellebecq

Pride and prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen

Crime and punishment (1866) by Fiador M. Dostoevsky

The Foreigner (1942) by Albert Camus

The forge of a rebel (1941–1944) by Arturo Barea

The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by JD Salinger

Kill a Mockingbird (1956) by Harper Lee

The teacher and Margarita (1967) by Mikhail Bulgakov

Blade Runner: Do androids dream of electric sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick

Slaughterhouse 5 (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut

Postman (1971) by Charles Bukowski

Only for women (1977) by Marilyn French

Watchmen (1986–1987) by Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons and John Higgins

Read More: https://bestessaywritingservice.org/blog/best-christmas-books-to-read/

#christmas #christmas gifts #christmas day #blog #education #essay #writing #online essay writing #write an essay for me #best essay writing service #custom essay writing service #write my essay for free #best essays

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meliorasequentur · 7 years

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Would you mind elaborating a little more about 'the death of the author'?

Anon asked: what do you mean by death of the author phase?

————–

Hey, anons! So if it wasn’t clear I’m a huge academic nerd. In literary theory circles in the twentieth century, there have been a lot of different theoretical approaches to take when reading a text. These approaches vary enormously and some of them work well together or proceed from one another, and there are lots of them, seriously, it’s like tumblr discourse for tenured professors. A very famous academic introduced the idea of the Death of the Author, which is basically that once a text is written, its import is based on the values attributed to it by the reader. The justification for this is that all the reader has access to in that moment is the text and the text is independent of the author anyway. (Example: JK Rowling is not a wizard, the text does not rest on her background, and her comments about the books after the fact aren’t technically canon [mostly].)

I don’t have a lot of appreciation for this line of thought. Firstly because I’m more naturally inclined to the opponents of the academic who suggested it – these other academics look at things from a historical perspective, to put work in context. A text doesn’t spring from a void, it’s written by a particular person from particular circumstances often trying to make a particular point. I find that information not only valuable but necessary. (Example: Catcher in the Rye makes waaaaay more sense if you do some background on JD Salinger’s experience in WWII.)

This all gets quite complicated quite fast, into questions of what’s real and what matters – especially since textual interpretation is always subject to a lot of murkiness anyway. However, one of my biggest complaints about the Death of the Author thing is (it seems to me) it has contributed to the public sense that anything goes, essentially. If the author and their intentions have no bearing on a book after it’s been published, then it’s all about the reader and then any reader with any given set of pre-existing values can read it any old way they want and no one can tell them any different because they’re valid. [Yes imagine my tone to be snotty on valid.] That’s very much not the case. Not all interpretations are equal. The pro-Death of the Author academics would agree with me (to an extent) because the validity of any interpretation depends entirely on whether the text can support that interpretation. (Example: It’s perfectly reasonable to interpret Dumbledore as gay without Rowling’s comments as guide. It is not reasonable to interpret, say, interpret Holden Caulfield as Byronic hero. The textual evidence just isn’t there.) But in this modern world, it’s quite common to encounter opinions that are insufficiently supported by textual evidence, and those opinions don’t hold a lot of weight. But because if this negation of the author and prioritizing of the reader, there’s a lot of bullshit going around.

My favorite example of this issue is actually Machiavelli. If you’re unfamiliar, the term Machiavellian is derived from his name; he’s presented publicly as The Evilest of Evil Politicians. He wrote a book that describes how the ideal Prince would behave, and it’s all quite despotic. But, in actuality, that book was satire. He dedicated it to an Italian ruler from a very corrupt family, and who had had Machiavelli tortured. So you’ll have high schoolers or undergrads or even grown-ups read this book, somehow miss the sarcasm, not know anything about the context, and proclaim to the world that Machiavelli Is The Worst – when really he’s actually a badass. Justice for Machiavelli.

That’s a fairly simple example though. And in this case, Harry is repeating a watered-down version of Death of the Author that gets throw around a lot: it’s up to interpretation, it means different things to different people, etc etc. To a certain extent that can be true, but not to the degree that’s become popular. Think on the other side of interpretation too: imagine someone watching Brokeback Mountain or reading Oscar Wilde and not getting that it’s queer. Like, that could conceivably happen, someone could miss that. But their interpretation would be…well, wrong. When I was in high school I had to read a Hemingway short story and none of it made sense because I didn’t catch that there was some sex stuff going on (I was innocent) and understanding some of Hemingway’s life later helped me get the subtext.

So this is very convenient for Harry, who doesn’t want to or can’t explain what his music means to him. The text-based approach to these songs (so far) leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Even with context, however, interpreting them as about the closet or anything else is getting quite difficult because Harry won’t give any guidance, or he’ll say different things in different interviews. The combination of the Death of the Author and the lack of/misleading guidance from Harry himself is driving me up the wall, not just from the perspective of fandom, but also from my academic training. Also, I think it’s bullshit, because I struggle believing anyone would put that much effort into creating something and be totally chill with anyone thinking anything at all they could imagine about it.

So. That was long. Make sense though?

#Anon #ask #watch Angela come for me #image manipulation #the pink album #music and lyrics

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