We'll have a review of the documentary Salinger in next week's Mercury; it opens here on September 13. In the meantime, Portland's Salinger obsessives might be interested to know that Powell's has a few copies of the hefty hardcover Salinger, billed as "the official book of the acclaimed documentary film"—which is an interesting way to sell it, since the film hasn't screened for many critics yet, and the few who have seen it don't seem super impressed. (If they did jump the gun with an overly optimistic tagline, it reminds me of ye olde Last Action Hero novelization, based on "the new summer blockbuster from Columbia Pictures!")

I picked up the book this afternoon; I'll likely try to get through at least a chunk of its 600 or so pages before I screen the film next Tuesday. I'm curious how the film works out, given both its subject matter and the fact it's written, directed, and produced by Shane Salerno, a Hollywood screenwriter who's worked on everything from Armageddon to the Shaft to Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. (He's also been tapped by James Cameron to help with the sequels to Avatar.) Not exactly the dude I'd guess would be behind a documentary and a book (the latter co-written with David Shields) about one of American letters' most respected and reclusive figures, but there you go. If Salerno has managed to get more info of the sort that the New York Times reported, it seems like his documentary could be worth seeing no matter what.