The List (Part Three)

I once recommended the following books:
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (R.I.P.)

The person who asked me for this short list was a roommate studying for a degree in Microelectronics (or Microeconomics - I have had his work explained to me only often enough to forget what it is actually about).  He was already a casual reader, so he did not need my help.  But I was intrigued.  He had never read any of the above books (not even Salinger's opus).  His background is Chinese, straight from his native land's verdant countryside, which explains why he would not be aware of the trials of Mr Caulfield.  But I wonder about this lack of knowledge.  I wonder how my choices impressed him.