Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger

Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger, is a 1953 collection. Most of these stories were originally published in The New Yorker. Many reviews claim the stories are metaphorically rich, require careful reading, have complex use of symbolism, etc. I'm not interested in deep analysis of the stories at this point in my reading life. I find some of the stories thought-provoking, and I enjoy coming back to think about them; but let's not try to make reading these sound difficult. That's fine fun for those who want to play at the deep end, but I'm just splashing around in the kiddie pool. They are enjoyable enough even at this level.

The book contains these:

"A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos"
"The Laughing Man"
"Down at the Dinghy"
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor"
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes"
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period"
"Teddy"

Some of these can be read online, including Teddy. I had to finish it online, because the book The Younger Son loaned me was missing its last couple of pages.

Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut (online here) has a few references to Akim Tamirof. One of the characters describes him this way: "He's in the movies. He always says, "You make beeg joke -hah?" I love him..."

As I expected, there are connections to the Ghost in the Shell Laughing Man.