Classics Book Club: Catcher in the Rye

This group is a quarterly opportunity to read, analyze and discuss important books that have made unique contributions in their fields. We will take an interdisciplinary approach that includes a wide range of areas such as history, law, business, literature, and biography. This group is open to the public at large and requires no on-going commitment. Members can simply come for whatever book they are interested in that quarter. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school… Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning. Facilitator: Bennett Smith is the President of the Clear Lake Library Foundation and is an instructor in history and political science at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC). He is also an instructor in various lifelong learning programs including the NIACC lifelong Learning Institute; the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Iowa State University and the LIFE program at Rochester Community and Technical College in Rochester, Minnesota. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in speech communication and a Master of Arts degree in history from Iowa State University. He is from Clear Lake, IA, and currently serves on the Clear Lake City Council.