hi everyone - i went to sc for my best friend's wedding for the weekend, and i kept thinking - "damn, i'm gonna so be behind on the list - i wish i could check my email" re: bedside reading try _a medicine for melancholy_ by ray bradbury (if i remember correctly). it's a collection of short stories and it's pretty great. actually i didn't read all of it - i skipped to the end because of the title of the last story _the day it rained forever_. i was so blown away by it i let a friend read it and i haven't seen it since... let me know if the rest of it is any good. to mark sheely: thank you for your insight about finding what mr. tupper cannot categorize - the undefinable. not much else to say about it but thanks. it helps me. to whoever asked about why salinger became such a recluse (sorry i can remember your name :( ) there was an article in esquire magazine recently about jds and the re-release of hapworth. it had some interesting insights, but i don't remember which issue it was (did i forget my medicine today). i do know it was the cover article, and within the last 3 months. melissa- river phoenix would have been perfect for holden, probably a couple of jds's other characters as well. unfortunately... let's move on. ethan hawke was also great in a midnight clear - his best work so far to me. i'm beginning to wonder, is there a holden in hollywood? as for seymour's suicide... i'm not sure i can go there without breaking up. fortunately, you can't hear me cry over email - wait did i just give myself away? :) i had never thought about the chronological order of the stories - that is something i need to find out more about. it would make sense - S's caustic reaction to the woman in the elevator seems very unlike him, but i guess it could also just be yet another indicator of how far gone he was. the girl (who so innocently reffered to him as see more - little did she know), at least for me represented S's last clinging to something still innocent and pure. when she saw the bananafish, that was the end. he had to go. so do i. (but only to a movie) - talk at ya later beth