Raise High the Roof Beam, Salinger

A corner of my bedroom bookcase is devoted to J.D. Salinger's slim volumes, but winter had me thinking about the classic (and my all-time favorite) "Franny and Zooey."

In it, Lane is a Burberry-coat wearing, insufferable know-it-all who's actually very much in love with his girl, Franny.

He keeps a letter she's written in his inside coat pocket; on one occasion he runs out of places to kiss her and kisses her coat lapel. (Swoon at both of those.)

Anyway, Franny's in the middle of a full-blown spiritual breakdown, but it's the details that get me: They dine on frog's legs and Martinis, rock cashmere like sweats, and get in heated debates over Tolstoy.

The reclusive 91-year-old American author died Wednesday at his home in New Hampshire, to which he'd retired 50 years ago, shirking the literary fame he'd once craved. Rest peacefully.

So Lame

First time I came across the term "landsman" was years ago while reading the Joyce Maynard memoir of her relationship with reclusive J.D. Salinger.

The "Catcher in the Rye" author said he'd read then-18-year-old Maynard's 1972 manifesto about her generation and knew immediately they were landsmen.

Etymologically speaking, it comes from the word for a fellow Jew who hails from the same town or district, usually in Eastern Europe.

I like to think of blogger Amit, the boy genius (above) from Tenn., behind Lame Basics as one of my landsman - only he's so much cooler than me [laughs] and I've told him as much.

When he's not filling out grad school applications, he's documenting his wares aka "lame basics", excavating old Japanese films, or bigging up his girl, Jane, who fashion heads will know from Sea of Shoes.