For Esmé with Love and Squalor

Last week I read "For Esmé with Love and Squalor" by J.D. Salinger, from his only short story collection Nine Stories.

I would feel disingenuous if I sat here and said "yeah, it was pretty good." I mean, come on, it's J.D. Salinger. Of course it's good. So I guess I won't be reviewing it as to how good it was or even how good it was as compared to his other works; I'm mostly concerned with what I saw in it.

Fascinating stuff. Can I really call it disjointed though?

It starts with a man writing a letter to another man about to get maried to the titular Esmé. Turns out she might be trouble. Cut to the same guy, years earlier as a green G.I. on leave walks into a tea house in London on the eve of D-Day, 1944. He meets the girl, who is there with her kid brother and her nanny. ("Meet you at the corner!") The tea house scene flirts with being skeevy. She is 14. He's 22 and already married. She promises to write him.

The last part is months later. He has now seen combat and has, in fact, cracked. So much so - and here's what I really liked - so much so, the possibility remains open as to whether or not the first two parts of the story were a mental fabrication, a halucination induced by PTSD. The ending solidifies that - SPOILER ALERT - she was in fact real. But the fact of the matter is, there's no bridge between the PTSD version of our narrator and the one who was going to send the bridegroom a warning by way of the post office.

In the end, I'm glad I read it. The last time I did was probably about 1999-2000 when I was on my last Salinger kick. You should check it out too. Tell me what you think in the comments.

J.D. Salinger

Noted recluse and occasional author J.D. Salinger was born on this date in 1919.

He is probably best remembered, as an author, as the man who wrote The Catcher in the Rye. I read it for the first time when I was in college; I bought a nice hardbound retro-esque copy of it 10 years ago but still haven't read it. He went on to write numerous other short stories, many of which focus on the Glass family. I'm looking forward to re-reading Nine Stories this year.

He is probably best remembered, as a person, as the old man most likely to tell you to get the hell off his front lawn.

Salinger died last January. I keep hoping that he wrote more stories that were never published, and that they will one day; I consider that possibility less likely by the day.

Reading and Writing Goals 2011

Every year I try my hand at some ambitious laundry list of goals for the coming year. This year, I've decided to come up with some more moderate goals for the next year. These are my reading and writing goals for 2011.

1.) Write six short stories. That's right, one every other month. I know it doesn't sound moderate, but that is 50% of my original proposal of one every month. Possibly even using one or more of Max Barry's suggestions.

2.) Read one short story a week, from January until May.  Frequent readers know I've been stockpiling short story collections for this very purpose. I've found even more collections since my last post. Hello, Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. One a week is certainly do-able, and I'm not going to freak out if I don't.

3.) Read one novel or book every month from June until December. This is where I got in trouble in the past. You should see my reading goals for 2009. I identified no less than a dozen books to read and left plenty of wriggle room to read more. In some alternate universe, I'm still reading in 2009. Realistically, for 2011, I figure this means one book by Ian Fleming (probably Thunderball, which was on the 2009 list!), one by Stanislaw Lem (probably Solaris), and one from my ongoing "read everything I was supposed to but didn't" project (to be determined).

4.) Finish The Stand. If I keep to my projected pace, that shouldn't be a problem.

5.) Use Amazon less and my local library more. 'Nuff said.

6.) Keep up with the Reader. I've enjoyed writing it, and hope to do so for the forseeable future, trying to keep to a M-W-F schedule, with a QOTW every Saturday.

That's pretty much it. I want to read, but I also want to be realistic about it.

And a very happy (early) New Year, everyone!