If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where this bar is and what its lousy childhood was like, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap. But we don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores us, and in the second place, J.D. Salinger would probably have two hemorrhages apiece if he was still alive to see this slick new saloon, inexplicably named after Holden Caulfield, one of the most enduring characters in modern American literature. Welcome, phonies! more ›

The 33-year-old author using the pen name J. D. California, who penned a sequel of sorts to the classic Catcher in the Rye, should have known that J.D. Salinger doesn't take too kindly to phony folk. California's book is described as “An Unauthorized Fictional Examination of the Relationship Between J. D. Salinger and his Most Famous Character,” and prior to its U.S. release it has landed in the courtroom. Unsurprising, since Salinger has even kept the likes of Steven Spielberg from touching his characters. While he hasn't published a new work since 1965, he's done a good job at preserving his old ones (often through lawsuits like this one). more ›

Have you re-read the classic coming-of-age JD Salinger novel, Catcher in the Rye, lately? amNewYork takes a trip down memory lane, and 5th Ave, with a pair of Holden Caulfield-tinted glasses. Apparently people like the Central Park Conservancy historian get a ton of inquiries about the New York references in the novel. The most popular question, "Where do the ducks go in the winter?" Referring to the ducks in the Central Park pond that our... more ›

, isn't the standard memoir. It's not about getting addicted to drugs and going to rehab or about living on the streets and selling her body. It's about what happens when you start doing stand up for ten minutes every night at the dinner table when you're eight because you don't want your adopted parents to send you back to the adoption agency because you didn't provide the "hours of entertainment" that they expected and never stopping, not when you're meeting Jon Stewart on your first day at the Daily Show, not when you're going through a divorce, and not when you meet the friends and family of your live in boyfriend for the first time after the death of his wife. For this reason, Weedman's memoir is non-stop funny and provides "hours of entertainment". And she'll be reading at McNally Robinson on October 10th and the UCB Theater on October 11th. more ›

to realize that while on the surface it seems pretty different from his prior three novels, damnit, it’s just as good. more ›

voice. Gothamist can’t remember such a wacky review since she favored us with her thoughts on Candace Bushnell’s Trading Up, said thoughts taking the form of a memo from Elle Woods to Bushnell’s protagonist. (Seriously, read it. It’s crazy.) While it’s hard to say that Michi’s grasp of voice is absolutely secure—however many tokens of authenticity are included to assure you that yes, like you, Michiko Kakutani has totally seen Legally Blonde and knows her Catcher in the Rye—we do like seeing things mixed up a bit. Especially since this treatment seems to be reserved for drubbings, it’s less dreary than a full-on dismembering of the book (though probably no more pleasant for the author). more ›

And, no, you may not touch the carvings: You'll be escorted in the rooms in groups of give, under a guard's supervision. more ›