Dr. Frank's What's-it

I liked that interview, Frank. Just to weigh in on the whole "Catcher" thing. See, I never actually read "Catcher in the Rye". I don't remember it being assigned in high school, and I never really had a desire to read it. But after getting "King Dork," I kind of thought I should read "Catcher" so that I'd fully appreciate all the intertextuality and irony and stuff.

So I checked "Catcher" out of the library and read it. I didn't like it much -- I thought the scenes with Phoebe were well written, but the rest of it...there was evidently some kind of post-WWII pre-snark movement in American letters (Heller, Vonegut, Salinger) that I just don't respond to. I got about 2/3 of the way through "Catch-22" and stopped; read "Cat's Cradle" and would have done the same thing except it's so short. And if it hadn't been a prerequisite for reading your book, I wouldn't have bothered finishing "Catcher".

So I'm planning on delving into "KD" next, although I have to confess I just got a book arguing the impossibility of the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and the need to end the conflict by creating a single, non-sectarian state, so I might not get to "KD" this week.

But I promise I'll read it

I liked King Dork. I would give it a solid B grade. The first half was a solid A plus, but it fell into the C range in the latter part of the book (His analysis of the school system, and of the modern family structure was hilarious; but the "mystery" was just too unlikely and seemingly hurried in tying up the loose ends. Still, the work is worth purchasing if nothing else for the first hilarious half of the book).

"and if you say that you are in a rock and roll band, you pretty much are in one"

I remember you stretching this reasoning on other occupations too, ha ha.

This is my favorite part:

"Anything can be a band name. That’s really the lesson. I just noticed a brazil nut on the linoleum there in my kitchen. Brazil nut linoleum, that’s a band name."

That's so how it goes too.

My 17 year old niece informs me that "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe is the new "Catcher in The Rye." She's in all AP classes, and has had to read Catcher once and TFA about 4 times since 7th grade, she estimates. She and I give King Dork an A plus. However, she won't let her mom, my aunt, read it as she fears it will lead to a family discussion of oral sex.

I today have just got my hands on a June 13 issue of th San Francisco Chronicle datebook section. Call me 'behind the times ' I don't care. I'm forever paying attention to something/someone else. Call me 'attention-deficit' I don't care AND I don't know what you're talking about.
Call me depressive and post-traumatized and you'LL FIND YOURSELF CLOSER TO REALITY THAN EVER BEFORE.
I learned that King Dorf has taken off because a writer has devoted 300+ pages of time and energy to writing associatve thought, of all things..
I can't wait to get my hands on the book and read it.
Is the text online? OR where can I possibly buy the hardcover book?
More later.
--Roberta
vermont2@peoplepc.com