23/11/2002 - 10:30 p.m.

If you really want to hear about it

I took The Catcher in the Rye with me to read during the show. I finished it with the final scene tonight. So, it's about a four hour read; 214 pages, that's around a page a minute.

Anyway, I didn't mean to go on about it mathematically. I meant to talk about the book. I like Holden Caulfield. You know how he talks about wanting to call up an author he really likes? Well, I don't want to call up JD Salinger, I want to call up Holden. I want to talk to him, and I want to meet his little sister Phoebe, because she's a sharp kid. I just want to meet them, talk to them like they were friends of mine I'd known forever.

I'm so glad I've never read that book for a class, because that would make it all clinical and analytical, and it's not a book that should get read that way. You shouldn't have to sit there worrying about why he never calls up Jane, or why the book's titled like it is for some essay you have to write for English class (because that's bound to be what some old teacher would ask for anyway).

It's just a book about a kid and some crazy stuff that happened to him because he got fed up. For the first time reading it, I was paying attention to old Mr. Antolini's bit. I mean, I must've read the book a hundred times, but I never payed much attention to Mr. Antolini. Tonight, it made a heck of a lot of sense. Like he was talking to me, rather than Holden. It's like I was saying last night, you've just got to work it out for yourself. However, in the meanwhile, you've got everybody else to deal with. That's the bit I left out. Somehow, you've got to stop everybody else who wants to interfer, just ignore all their crap and do something.

I still would like to give Holden a call.

You know, Holden's about seventy now, and Phoebe's in her 60's. That's depressing, when you think about it. It really is.