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JD Salinger wrote the one book that transformed my life, and to some degree still guides how I live my life today, even in my near-50s.

That said, I tried reading his other books and as far as I can tell, he was a one hit wonder, so the deep fascination with him is strange to me.

If I had to guess I'd think you are talking about Catcher in the Rye.

The thing is, the other books are a set of tales all about or written by someone of the Glass family. So all three other books work as a sort of programatic novela as a whole.

Which is not only ingenious but revolutionary for the literature itself.

The misticism about his (and his character's) unpublished work is a amazing too.

For me, The Catcher in the Rye was what led me to his other books. Franny and Zooey was my favorite book for a long time (although it's been nearly a decade since I read it) and I think The Catcher in the Rye is probably the weakest of his four books in my opinion (and very likely the most polarizing).
He's really only got three other books, and only one of them's a novel, the others being a short story collection and a pair of novellas/novellettes.

I read Catcher first and found it just OK. Franny and Zooey was my gateway deeper into Salinger (and Stoicism) back in high school. Liked Nine stories quite a bit on my first visit, but didn't care for Raise High & Seymour at all until a re-read over a decade later, and now that might be my favorite of his books.

It seems so strange to have such a large exhibit when he was so private. The family photos are wonderful and the entire exhibit seems lovely. It would be incredible to read through the spiritual journals mentioned in the article.