J. D. Salinger has died. The Times obit here. "I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.” Here's a piece from the Guardian on Salinger's 90th birthday last year. And here is the heartbreaking story "For Esme--with Love and Squalor." (thanks to Tom in Lehigh Acres)

John Dufresne