> Oh yeah...and lest I forget, one of the neatest intros to a book: > "If there is an amateur reader still left in the world - or anybody > who just reads and runs - I ask him or her, with untellable affection > and gratitude, to split the dedication of this book four ways with my > wife and children." I also was pleased with his dedication to the amateur reader. But I also feel that just by writing to this list, I am stopping being an amateur reader and more and more of a damn analyst. I mean, I like his stories because they're so great, and this is exactly the reason I'm so tempted to analyze his stories. It's a dilemma of sorts, because I too, really identify with the amateur reader. That and the fact that I'd really like to be able to split the dedication of one of his books. But my point is: Salinger doesn't like us talking about Salinger. I don't either, in a way, I think that his writing is strictly to be enjoyed and not ripped apart. This disturbs me. Thoughts? Someone mentioned the cheap volumes of Salinger that you can buy: My interpretation of the Little Brown paperback editions of Salinger that you see floating around is that they're great - I am sick of paying more than ten bucks for a good novel, and this way, his books are accessible to more people. They are a bit ugly, but what the hell.