Catch-22 was the spark of my first foray into teenage rebellion. My parents both read it and loved it, but said that I couldn't, because I wasn't old enough (at age 13). The next year, I felt particularly smug when my 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Leithen, GAVE it to me to read. She was one of the few teachers I've ever had who would go "outside the curriculum" to try to spark and feed an interest in reading and learning in her students. I took it home and showed my parents, saying "My teacher gave this to me - nyaahh, nyaahh, nyaahh!" or something equally juvenile. My folks wisely just smiled and told me if I had any questions about the book to ask them.

I read it with horrid fascination for the grimness, the humor and the cynicism, and understood a bit better why my parents were out protesting against the Vietnam War...

Rest gentle, Joseph Heller.