Fresh out of graduate school in the mid-1990s, Joanna Rakoff started her first full-time job at an oddly antiquated New York literary agency. Using a Dictaphone and typing her eccentric boss's correspondence - on a typewriter! (there were no computers) - Rakoff soon learns that J. D. Salinger (known as "Jerry") is one of the agency's clients. My Salinger Year chronicles just over twelve months in this bright young woman's life, as she immerses herself in her work - responding to Salinger's passionate fan mail, searching for gems in the "slush pile" of manuscripts, and even sharing the occasional telephone exchange with the famously reclusive Jerry - all while trying to write her own poetry, scrounge up enough money for rent, and keep her personal life together. This smart, funny, vivacious memoir offering a delightful peek into the world of books and publishing, is both a charming coming-of-age story and a romantic ode to the power of literature.