you'd stay home, oh, if only they'd let you

I will preface this by saying I usually like books and writing in general not because they are good, but because I somehow managed to read them. That somehow by reading them and making it through the texts they become 'good' to me.

So sad, really.

But I am pretty sure that JD Salinger is good. I'm sure of it. And I love Nine Stories. Mostly I love "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut."

1948. Things were very different then. But parts of this remind me of how I manage to reminisce about college. The dialogue reminds me of the way memories are recollected together, especially among women.

I'm not saying that in my life I have much to do with either of these characters. But I am vastly interested in them.

"Well, wudga marry him for, then?" Mary Jane said.

"Oh, God! I don't know. He told me he loved Jane Austen. He told me her books meant a great deal to him. That's exactly what he said. I found out after we were married that he hadn't even read one of her books. You know who his favorite author is?"

Mary Jane shook her head.

"L. Manning Vines. Ever hear of him?"

"Uh-uh."

"Neither did I. Neither did anybody else. He wrote a book about four men that starved to death in Alaska. Lew doesn't remember the name of it, but it's the most beautifully written book he's ever read. Christ! He isn't even honest enough to come right out and say he liked it because it was about four guys that starved to death in an igloo or something. He has to say it was beautifully written."

***

Belle & Sebastian - Put the Book Back on the Shelf