Blue Like Rye

Looking over my post from yesterday, I'm noticing a lot of "or something"s and "or anything"s, which is usually a good indication that I'm rereading The Catcher in the Rye.

But I'm not. Do you think I have time to read?

Well, I guess I do cause I just finished a book called Blue Like Jazz. It's a collection of "new realism" essays written by this Christian guy who lives in the Northwest--like Seattle or Portland, I forget which. I say they're "new realism" essays because this guy is not your typical Christian writer. All throughout the book he keeps saying things like, "I was having some beer with this guy" or "I was watching South Park with my friend" and you're not quite sure at the end of the book if he still makes a habit of that kind of stuff. Plus he smokes a pipe. That's just not typical "Christian writer" behavior.

Anyway, I mention that book because it was chock-full of "something"s and "anything"s and the telltale "and all"s. So I figured this guy must have been reading The Catcher in the Rye when he wrote his book, but it turned out to be more than that. In the last chapter of Blue Like Jazz, he said he has an "emotional relationship" with that book. I don't know what that means.

Naturally, he put that little tidbit in at the end, so as the reader read through his essays with all the "something"s and "and all"s, he wouldn't be thinking, "Man, he's just ripping off Catcher." That ploy didn't work on me though.

I suspected him the whole time. It's cause I have to constantly suspect myself the whole time.

I mean, it's easy to fall into that crummy writing habit.