An Excuse To Use The Word 'Samizdat'

As an avid reader from an early age, Catcher In The Rye was the first of many books that would alter my world view. J.D. Salinger's classic of teenage angst hit me like a freight train and wherever I have lived over the years, I always make sure that the thin Signet paperback edition that I bought with money from my paper route at age 12 and read twice through -- as well as several more times over the years -- is on my bookshelf.

And so I have followed the author's legendary disappearing act with interest over the years, out of which has grown a cottage industry in speculation about what lurks inside the head of the now 90-year-old Salinger. This is interesting in and of itself because the authors of these pieces obviously don't have a clue -- witness Charles McGrath's 1,200-word piece in the New York Times that breaks no new ground but does use one of my favorite words -- samizdat.