my new prized possession
best gift ever:
thank you.
i had a terrific weekend: apartment-hunting in the sweltering heat punctuated by pouring rain, then the discovery of a gorgeous used bookstore, then an excellent brunch this morning with all my best dc friends.
also, i still cannot get over this new sufjan stevens album.
karl rove needs to resign.
posted by stefanie @ 8:05 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Stef, what happened to your current apartment? I thought it was supposed to be awesome?
ah - good eye, dan! i suppose that was a bit ambiguous. i wasn't looking for an apartment for myself - i tagged along with my friend chris, who was hunting for an apartment for himself. by the by, he found an absolutely gorgeous place in a totally sweet dc neighborhood called friendship heights. it's about 300 times cooler than my place, i might add. beginner's luck!
but even in light of chris totally schooling me in apartment-coolness, i do still think my apartment is pretty great.
you're welcome!
I've come to the conclusion that the reason I like Bogdan so much is that he is Holden Caufield personified.
“I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn’t have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something, they’d have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it to me. They’d get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I’d be through with having conversations for the rest of my life.”
Good point, Carin. Should we start calling him Holdgdan?
or we could switch the syllables in the other direction - still call him by his name but when we say it, we'll imagine an "en" on the end, which will sound the same, but we'll know that the "en" comes from the second half of holden, not the second half of bogdan.
it'll take some dedication but i think we can do it.
I don't know who this "Bogden" is of whom you speak, but I have some thoughts on the issue.
You see, I recently had a huge craving to read some Salinger so I re-read Catcher for about the fiftieth time, expecting to once again find reaffirmation that there are other people like me out there. However, I last read the book with I was 17, and I think things have changed for me. Whereas I once found Holden myself personified (much like this Baugdon, who I've never met) I now found him immature and ignorant. It's strange; I first read the book when I was 13, and I was all like, "Wow, he's so grown up and wise. He sees right through people and their phoniness. I admire him, and I hope to one day become him." Then I read it a few more times from 15-17, and I was like, "Wow, this is me. I mean, this is me! It's as though Salinger ripped my brain out of my head and showed it to me." But I read it now and I think, "This reminds me of myself when I was young and foolish. What an idiot I was. I am embarassed to have been like that."
It's a strange progression. I think the biggest change was the phoniness. I once agreed with Holden, that phoniness was detestable and ever-present, and people should just stive to be sincere. But now I see that Holden himself wasn't sincere. He was just a little ball of resentment and depression, and lashed out at other people's faults when he should have looked inward. I also now see that phoniness is a necessary evil. I hate talking to people, but it's just one of those things you have to do to get things done. And the only way to make those conversations go as quickly and painlessly as possible is to be phony. Just say nothing but trvial little banalisms, and you'll be out of there before you know it. I have a feeling that if we got a glimpse of Holden's later life, he would have realized that too. Either that, or become a hermit, which is exactly what Salinger himself did.
However, I can't deny that Catcher is a universally fantastic book. It's great appeal is that everyone who reads it either thinks, "Wow, this is me" or "Wow, that was me." But it has recently been proposed to me that not everyone feels this way. I'm shocked to find that many girls who have read this book didn't feel as strongly about it as me. Indeed, now that I look back, when I (or someone like me) was dating Alison's sister, I was shocked to find she had never read Catcher. So I bought her a copy, made her read it, and was further shocked when I found she didn't care much for it. That was the first unavoidable clue that things weren't going to work out, but that's beside the point. I've heard from a few other girls who say they didn't much care for it. It never occurred to me that some people, (for example, half the earth's population) might not like the book because I had only been talking about it with other guys. But maybe there's something in there that appeals specifically to guys and coming of age as it relates to men. I don't know.
But I love coming of age stories. I love love love them. Are there any good ones you people can recommend? There's something about angst, feelings of isolation, and awkward, fumbling, embarassing sexual experiences that speak very strongly to me at this, and all times in my life.
By the way, I was recently chatting with the owner of a small used book store (non-phony chat, thank you) about Catcher and he says it is next to impossible to find a used copy of Catcher. And when he does, it is rarely sold for less than $8, for which one could buy new.
Also, on the topic of apartments, I am also soon to move into my new apartment. And I expect it to be anywhere between a billion and a fifillion times cooler than your apartment, your friend's apartment, the playboy mansion, and the fortress of solitude combined. Its name: The Masturbation Station.
Sorry for such a long comment, but it's been so long since I commented that I figured I should make up for lost time.
I've also read Catcher a zillion times, the last time being right around the cusp of highschool-college. I think that although Holden has his own problems, he's still able to see and comment on problems in the world. Of course he still acts phony sometimes as you can see in the difference between his dialogue and his inner monologue. He's just like everyone who disagrees with certain traits or behaviors in others yet seems compelled to possess or perform them himself in order to 'get through it'. I don't think that makes him foolish though, just realistic. His ideas are revolutionary and outlandish, but they're just that: ideas. Hasn't anyone else ever desired to break off all human contact and disappear, stop faking the vagueries of social existence for a little while? Or maybe I'm just as kooky as Holden.
But yeah Bogey, I totally loved the book. Maybe I should read it again now, but then again I have no free time as it is.
Funny story about my first time (reading the book): We had an assignment in an English class to choose a book from a huge list of literature to do a book report on. I couldn't decide so my step-dad said, "Why don't you read Catcher in the Rye, it's a classic?" And I replied, "Well, I don't really like baseball." :)
i'm trying to remember whether i really identified with holden the first time i read catcher in the rye, at which point i was about 15. i actually didn't care for it the first time i read it, but i wanted to understand why it was such a classic, so i re-read it at 17 and absolutely loved it. i think it's not so much about the plot, or whether i identified with the character, as it is just about really fucking good writing. but obviously the two are related. i wouldn't be so in love with the same story told by a different storyteller, but there are stories by the same author that i don't love as much as i love that one.
and yes, my copy is a real secondhand bookstore treasure and the funny thing is that chris, not 2 minutes before, said "what do you think the odds are that we'll find catcher in the rye?" and i laughed at him and said, you know, "one in a zillion." then, wham, there it is. and it only cost a dollar.
also, this is the same edition as the one that john chapman had with him when he shot john lennon.
shit, i meant mark chapman.
the only copy of catcher i've ever owned is from a used book fair. and it is the classic yellow text on red cover.
The best gifts I have ever received are books:
1) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater;
2) a replacement copy of The Snows of Kilimanjaro (because I had given my previous copy to an undeserving boyfriend);
3) Sad Little Breathing Machine.
Also, I'm really into lists right now, hence this comment. Another also: I hope you enjoy these responses which are only superficially related to your posts. Ahhh, superficiality!
K
I am indifferent to Catcher in the Rye and Salinger in general.
While I don't think it's a bad book or anything like that, I can't figure out what the fuss is over. Maybe because I am a girl.
As far as good coming of age novels, as I am traveling and using sparcely stocked libraries I am limited to bestselling authors for the most part. That said, Tim O'Brien is truly a genius and I cannot recommend any of his works more, particularly if I die in a combat zone and the things they carried.
Also, I read a more traditional coming of age novelish thing, The Provinces of Night by William Gay (who you may remember read at Knox a few years back with an incomprehensible hillbilly accent) which I very much enjoyed.
On a third note, last week I read 'thinks...' by david lodge, which all you cognitive psych people might find particularly amusing, i know i did after reading stephen pinker as per stef's recommendations.
now i sound all snotty but let you all know that i have no television, and while reading this much is great, i also seriously miss staring blankly at boxes.
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