Nine Stories

Nine Stories (1948-1953) by J.D. Salinger. Most of the stories in this collection are a pleasure to read, and some are a delight. Salinger frequently inserts fantastical stories-within-the-stories, and is always dryly humorous. My favorite is "For Esme -- with Love and Squalor." I first read it in a college literature class, and every time I reread it, it holds some new revelation for me. Some of the stories will seem a bit dated to the modern reader -- there are far too many relationships between adult men and young children to be acceptable in fiction today, for example. But for most of them, the original wit and style remain. It is not hard to recognize the voice of "The Catcher in the Rye" among these stories. Grade: A-