I just finished ‘catcher in the rye and I
think it is hands down the best book I have ever read. As soon as I put the
book down I began making plans to make a log cabin in the woods and fill stupid
cars up with stupid oil and gas to pay for it. I would obviously be contacted
only through pen and paper, as I would to be a deaf mute and all. It’s a great
read and I can see it being one that sits on my shelf for the rest of my life,
and I will let my son read it when he turned 16, and then I will tell the story
of how I bought it when I was in London one day after getting a hair cut and
searching for something to read over a coffee. I will say how I only ever read
the book in a coffee shop and always with a coffee, and that I was stuck on
page 208 for a week because I couldn’t get in the right mood to finish it.
There were too many people talking, or I was too tired, or I felt like writing
myself, or I couldn’t get the caffeine dosage right to take in every last bit
of Holden’s incredibly thought narration. I have a hunting hat as well, which I
bought two weeks prior to purchasing the book and every time I even look at it
now I think of “turning the peak around to the back, just the way I like it”. I
do wear it like that and I had been two weeks prior as well. I was wearing it
in Edinburgh when I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and I said to Mitch
“Fuck I look stupid in this thing” and he said, “I could have told you that 2
weeks ago” and I laughed and wore it for the rest of the day. I probably
wouldn’t have if I weren’t feeling a bit like Holden. I think Holden and the
way he wears it is a sign of his distancing ideals towards people, because he
is beginning to lose faith in society the further he mulls it over in his mind.
I just wear it and I don’t want to think too much about it other than I just
like it. I think it’s a book that everyone should read. I might build a book
shelf when I get back to put in on, I’ll have some time and I think I need
something to rest my books on, so I don’t lose them. I have already lost quite
a few this trip. I have upped my reading to maybe 2 hours a day, which is quite
absurd to think that considering a year ago I wouldn’t of even thought of 10 minutes
a week if it weren't in a Text book entitled "Understanding Health". The last
thing I read that really did it for me (other then Catcher in the Rye of
course) was a short story by Kurt Vonnegut called the “euphio question” which
is really good and I suggest that you read it because you would enjoy it.
Probably. (I sound like Holden Caulfield there). I have mentioned how I usually
read in coffee shops. Coffee shops are a great love of mine. I find some
harmony in them that I don’t get at home, because home is too goddam
distracting. I probably spend an hour or two in one per day these days. I think
about my old mans view on coffee and how it doesn’t extend too much further
than beneath the lid of a Nescafe gold tin and drank over his school reports,
but I see it as so much more. He sees it as a right waste of money to have a
real espresso made coffee at $4.50 a pop, but I will buy him one from have ya
bean, and we’ll sit down and talk about a book or something. I like having a
chat at a coffee shop, probably more so than having a chat over a beer I
reckon. That’s why I do not get too annoyed when people are having a
concentration interrupting discussion when I’m trying to read or something. I
see them as place were my usually unproductive day turns to something more
worthwhile. I will do more uni work in coffee shops I reckon. They’ll make
something of me yet. I got to go to work once again. I don’t really mind though
because I’m feeling pretty good. I didn’t last shift and other than shooting
some shit, with the old guys at the pub I felt quite miserable. I was made more
miserable when the girl at work asked if I was ‘alright’. Mitch knows well enough to know I’m fine
and was having a down day, maybe unconsciously missing home and worrying about
my friends. But it annoyed me. I don’t know. Haha. Anyway read Catcher in the Rye and add me on skype because I
really would love to chat. Tom.barnard92 (do it, it’s pretty
regularly on).
