I loved the Holmes books too. The first exposure to that character was through the hokey Rathbone movies but then I read the stories and so hokey paid off, I guess. I only like Curtains of the Christie. We used to have a table just like the one that was so important at the end of that book. A lot of times it was what can I get my hands on in the house which was full of books so I was reading Dostoyevsky at 12. I didn't get most of it, of course, but I just loved the exotic--the places far away from where I was--which was waist deep in snow a good chunk of the year.

Good observation by Kim. It is true that a lot of that should not be called literature. It's not Ethan Frome. It isn't As I Lay Dying--two books I got to read in a literature class when I was about Kim's age. I remember being floored by As I Lay Dying as I got to decoding it. A strange and wonderful thing. Novels can be like that too? A world of possibilities. It was exciting to be shown other ways of seeing what art could be. Plus, the story of gallows humor rural horror was not too unfamiliar to me.

Both Catcher and To Kill came out at maybe just the right time. They were books of decent people trying to make their way that came out when there was a lot of change afoot as we moved away from WWII. Right book right time. Why books hold their appeal after 50+ years. Catcher is in many ways about how confusing it is to be that age for young men. To Kill A Mockingbird is always a book about standing up against morons--the confederacy of dunces.

Well, time to wind up the day and go sit on the subway and continue to re-read Barry Hannah's odd and funny as hell Yonder Stands Your Orphan. A beautiful day here in Bostontown. Going to a nice partk in the city--former home of the hideous expressway-- to the birthday party of someone I've never met.