'Catcher in the Rye' author, J.D. Salinger dies

Growing up I did not read as much as I should have. Sure my father may have forced me to read a book here and there, such as The Hobbit, but I hated every minute of it. Why did I abhor reading so much? As I got older I realized that I do not hate to read, I just had no interest in what I was being forced to read.

I found it unbearably difficult to keep track of the story lines that I was reading and forced myself to move forward. In the pressure to get to the next page I always seemed to forget what had just happened on the previous couple of pages, rendering any surprises meaningless to me. But sit me down with a biography or some other non-fiction piece of literature and now we're in business.

My problem is not that I don't appreciate good writing. How else can I explain my somewhat snobby attitude towards movies and TV shows that seem "beneath me"? I enjoy a plot that is well developed and not just slopped together in order to star Will Ferrell so it will be deemed "the funniest movie ever" by those younger than me who fail to recognize the importance of a good script.

Unfortunately for me my animosity toward fiction has left me out of the loop of so many well-respected authors. Today one of the best in the literary world, J.D. Salinger, passed away at the age of 91. Salinger is best known for his classic novel, The Catcher in the Rye, a book I am sure was required reading material at one point in my high school years that I trudged and stumbled through. Shame on me.

Feel free to share your thoughts on one of the greatest authors to put a pen to a paper below.