Book Write-Up - Nine Stories

don't have a title but it's the short story collection by J.D. Salinger

    Simple, simple, simple reading. It's one of my favorite qualities of Salinger, this ease in which I find myself flipping page to page; I'd compare it to walking up an escalator, clearing a story in half the necessary strides. Straightforward plots with understated themes, largely centering around the innocence of youth, and the loss of that innocence through the brutality of war or simply growing older are the backbone of Salinger’s writing. If you hold just these two ideas close to your chest, digging deeper retrospectively on any given short story here becomes trivial. 

My favorites were 'The Laughing Man', 'For Esmé', and 'Teddy' :) 

Originally Published: Oct. 15, 2025

Book Write-Up - 33 1/3 Endtroducing (Archival)

for a now privatized RYM list

    An interesting read to say the least, the sole two chapters present in this are so wildly different from one another that I had to do a double take when I had first reached the second. Now, if you’re just here for Joshua Davis (DJ Shadow) I’m not sure how you’ll take to this opening chapter. It follows Eliot Wilder reminiscing on his life and the music that was present throughout, from his childhood to when he first heard Endtroducing back in ‘96. It acts as a prologue of sorts and while a very nice, easy-to-follow story, it isn't too connected with DJ Shadow until nearing it's end. Following is where the book really pivots, the remaining ¾ths having been made up entirely of transcripts from phone conversations between Eliot and Josh that, when placed together, read like a full timeline of Josh’s musical journey up to this point. 

    Eliot takes the backseat through these calls, present almost exclusively to ask Josh questions. This chapter is the real meat of this book, where we learn practically everything one would want to know about the man behind DJ Shadow. If I could level any critique at this section it’d be that in over 70 pages, any time you put the book down it feels as though you’re interrupting the story. There’s next to no downtime between topics, leaving nearly any pause unsatisfactory, despite this it remained a great read throughout.

Originally Published: Sep. 9, 2022