I guess I'll have to read it to find out what all the fuss is about. Don't know how I got to age 51 without having done so, but I guess I was never in a 'rebellious' enough frame of mind.
You were lucky in your English teachers, I suspect. Not many people read these books by choice.
I loved "Catcher" when I read it at age 14. Don't know if I'd still like it. Dad was in the IV infantry division in Europe with Salinger during WWII and actually knew the guy. By the time the IV got from the beaches of Normandy to Germany they had suffered a casualty rate of over 200%. However, Dad said that Salinger was a real oddball.
I will say that my daughter recently read Catcher (high school assignment) and liked it a lot. She is a no nonsense, no frills, upbeat, happy kid, so that amounts to a recommendation, IMO.
As for Hemingway, I have always adored "The Old Man and the Sea" and don't get the scorn being heaped on it on this thread. Influence of PC, I guess. I understand that Hemingway was supposed to have been a jerk, but he certainly could write!
Some folks seem to want to call those whose literary taste differs from there own liberals. An unhealthy habit, I think.