I don't know about it being better than Catcher, but it is surely a worthwhile, enjoyable read. Franny is quite interesting but not altogether a great story, but Zooey is fantastic. They're not as immediately engaging and intimate as Catcher, so maybe you can't really compare them, plus they're written in the third person whereas I always felt Salinger worked best in first person. If you really want to read a great work of Salinger's, I always liked "Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters," I thought that was almost on par with Catcher. It was written alot like Catcher only without any smut and with a well-to-do army man as the protagonist rather than a disaffected teen. It's the part of the Glass legacy dealing with Seymour's wedding, which I guess would place it as first in the series. I hope this helps and I must say it quite enjoyable being able to finally discuss old J.D. with so many people as he has always been a fave. I look forward to other people's interpretations of F&Z Steve PS- Isobel really digs F&Z for whatever thats worth. She seems much smarter than I so maybe you should take her word for it. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+