You Are Not Your Own Substack

You Are Not Your Own Substack

How (and Why) to Read The Catcher in the Rye

Against the critics

O. Alan Noble's avatar
O. Alan Noble
Mar 13, 2026
∙ Paid

books on brown wooden shelf
Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

J.D. Salinger’s most popular novel receives a lot of negative criticism. In part, this is the lot of being an author’s most popular novel. I was just on a podcast with Mike Cosper where he admitted to not liking Moby Dick. I’ve heard other people complain about The Great Gatsby. Popular works draw more readers, and the more reader…

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