"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" by J.D. Salinger is a strange little story that I enjoyed even as I pondered the meaning. First, let me get this out of the way: on my first read through, I was partially convinced that Seymour, our protagonist, was a pedophile. A Michael Jackson-type pedophile, trying to recapture the innocence of childhood, but still too bound up in the sexuality of adults. Second read through didn't do much to dissuade me of this notion; although there is no clear, definite proof. At its core, this short story reflects upon the difficulties of communication, the inability for anyone to truly know anyone else. I recommend focusing on that while reading rather than thinking about the strange kissing of the foot.
Buy | Borrow |
Accept | Avoid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll admit it. I love Nora Roberts. Before The Great Book Purge a few months ago, I owned a copy of every book she wrote. Many I had read multiple times.
Blood Brothers is the first in the Sign of Seven trilogy, and this was my second time reading it. After reading
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, I figured I needed a light read. The premise is lovely: three boys celebrate their 11th birthday camping in the woods and accidentally - or fatefully - release an ancient evil. The rest of the book - and the next two - deals with countering the evil they unleashed...and
having unabashedly hot sex falling in love.
Buy | Borrow |
Accept | Avoid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I read
"The TV" by Ben Loory based on the recommendation of Megan at
Leafing Through Life, and I loved it. In this surreal short story, a man ditches work and begins flipping channels only to find a channel featuring a show starring himself. As he sits there, he watches himself arrive at work and go about his daily life. Soon his channel flipping reveals this other version of himself doing all sorts of things. And then things get weird. Loved. It.
Buy |
Borrow | Accept | Avoid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dead and Gone is the ninth book in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, and I really felt like writing a full review of it would be rather redundant. I've already reviewed 8 of these books, and let's face it, there's not much more to say. The supernaturals have their Political Disputes and Big Revelations; Sookie's Frustrating But Beneficial Talent, well, it frustrates her and benefits her; Eric's Super Hotness had me drooling; etc. I did enjoy this one more than many of the previous books though.
Buy |
Borrow | Accept | Avoid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I read "The TV" by Ben Loory based on the recommendation of Megan at Leafing Through Life, and I loved it. In this surreal short story, a man ditches work and begins flipping channels only to find a channel featuring a show starring himself. As he sits there, he watches himself arrive at work and go about his daily life. Soon his channel flipping reveals this other version of himself doing all sorts of things. And then things get weird. Loved. It.
Nice mini-review of Sookie -- I agree, after awhile, there's only so much you can say about it! I hear Eric gets better as the series progresses, though, so I suppose I'll keep on truckin.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little embarrassed to say that the Nora Roberts interests me. It is the type of thing I read for about ten years somewhere in the middle of my life. The TV sounds kooky and fun!
ReplyDeleteThat bananafish short story is very strange. I don't think I really understood it when I read it a few months back.
ReplyDeleteHubba hubba...
ReplyDeleteSorry - distracted by the last photo! The TV book sounds really good! And the Salinger story - hmmm. Did you think Seymour was a prat? (see comments on my F&Z discussion - I have not read this story...)
Where did you find that banana/fish picture? That is great!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of great pictures, I just can't help but mention that my freshly-minted 4-year-old girl was sitting on my lap as I read this post, and when she saw that last picture, here is what she said: "Look, mama, a boy! I like that boy! Is that who I'm going to marry?"
Love the minis! Especially interested in "The TV" and I haven't read "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" yet!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I've read that Nora Roberts one too... I read the first 2 in the trilogy and have the 3rd one. I liked them, but I don't know that I'll ever get around to reading the last one!
ReplyDeleteI never thought of Seymour as a paedophile at all! Have you read any of the other Glass family stories? Maybe the way he's represented there influenced how I read the story (which is one of my absolute favourites). One of the reasons why I loved it was because his friendship with the little girl was so sweet - and there was something so harrowing about seeing someone capable of such tenderness do what he does at the end.
ReplyDeleteBibliolatrist - Eric is definitely my current literary crush even though I'm not a fanatic about the books.
ReplyDeleteSandy - Nora Roberts was my go-to guilty pleasure for years, so I have read almost every book she's written.
Amanda - Bananafish is defintely a short story that I was a bit iffy about.
Care - Hubba hubba indeed! It's been so long since I've read any other Salinger that I can't really make a firm opinion about Seymour.
Kathy - LOL! I'm laughing too hard about your daughter's comment. Tell her he's mine but I'm willing to share. ;)
Andi - Minis are nice to write every now and then as I don't feel any pressure at all.
Jenny - It definitely wasn't Roberts' best trilogy, but much better than the most recent one.
Ana - I haven't read any of the other stories so it's my only vision of him. I sway back and forth between sweet and creepy when I think about it. Perhaps I should stop watching so much cop drama on tv - Law and Order SVU has definitely skewed my thinking.
Nora Roberts is my guilty pleasure. Blood Brothers is seriously a creepy series. The last 2 books were dark and kinda scary.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I'm intrigued by the premise of The TV. And it makes me think of my own life being televised ... boring. I wonder what my alter-ego is doing.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm thinking I need to read the next Sookie book soon. They are like a palate cleanser between bigger books.
Jess - She sure does know how to give me good dreams. ;)
ReplyDeleteJenners - My life is on TV..or is it my life is tv? I agree about Sookie; they help you decompress after a chunkster or a complex read.
I love you for putting that photo up :)
ReplyDeleteJess - He is so freaking delicious.
ReplyDelete