The reason most recent offerings from the literary elite leave me cold is that the authors have little say. How much experience can a writer have from college into an MFA program and then onto the NYC cocktail party scene? But the real ones, the great ones, had personal stories to tell -- even if they didn't flaunt them. I was unaware of J.D. Salinger's WWII experience until I read about the latest bio -- which sounds fascinating. I've always thought of Holden Caulfield as a kind of kid gumshoe and Catcher in the Rye being a great noir -- no wonder.