Catcher in the Rye has always had special meaning for me because I read it when I was young — 18 or so. It resonated with my fantasies about Manhattan, the Upper East Side, and New York City in general.

The Catcher in the Rye was assigned reading for me in seventh grade. I think the reason everybody in the world connects with this book is because it's about being isolated—just slightly outside of what you perceive to be the norm. It's the ultimate story of being a little bit on the outside, and I think everybody sort of regards themselves as being that way. And the language! It was the first book I ever read that made me laugh out loud.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Steve Rogers' climbs in through the window of his apartment after realizing someone has broken in. There are two shelves you see him pass by on his way to see who's in his apartment.

When I was a high school student in the mid 60’s, reading Catcher in the Rye was something of a rite of passage. I don’t know how it is now, but at that time for young people not reading it was out of the question. So, I guess I must have come across it naturally somehow… ah, no that’s wrong. Oh right, I feel like it was recommended to me by a girl in my class. Although it wasn’t a girl who I had any particular relationship with (laughs).

Which book have you read most often? “The Catcher In The Rye, partly because I played JD Salinger in a movie. I love the book, I love the writing, I love trying to get into the mindset of Holden [Caulfield]. And it was also so progressive for its time, in terms of the tone of the writing and it has inspired so many great novels since then. So that’s the one I’ve read most.”