John Irving: American Author Challenge

John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt, Jr. on March 2, 1942) in Exeter, New Hampshire. He is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. Irving pursued wrestling and worked as a teacher before shooting to fame with his best-selling 1978 novel, The World According to Garp, which won the National Book Award. For his 1985 novel The Cider House Rules, he also wrote the screenplay adaption, winning an Oscar for his efforts. He has written many other novels, including A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Widow for One Year, as well as two memoirs.
He is still actively writing and has homes in Vermont, Toronto, and Pointe au Baril.

**This is part of our American Author Challenge 2016. This author will be read in September. The general discussion thread can be found right here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/209611

I must have read Garp around 1980 or so. Definitely before the excellent film adaptation came out in '82. I was immediately smitten. I was still a fledgling in "fine literature" at the time but this one rang all my bells. I have read seven of his novels. It feels like it should be more, considering it has been over 35 years. Garp remains my favorite but The Cider House is right there too. Owen Meany is terrific too.

This time around, I will read Avenue of Mysteries, which was his last novel and somehow got by me. I would also love to revisit Garp on audio but that may be a pipe-dream, at least for September.

What is everyone else going to read?

I'll read something Irving has written. I'm being browbeaten by virtually every 75er to read A Prayer for Owen Meany, including one who has pointed out that the story and characters are sort of, well, weird, thus insinuating that, you know, weird_o...

buffering...buffering...buffering...

I read Garp when it came out in paperback in 1980, and it absolutely stunned me. There's nothing happy about it IMO, and some of the scenes roll over you again and again until something pops, usually bad. But I love it and still have my original paperback copy.

I've read A Prayer for Owen Meany but for some reason don't have a copy of it any more. I have 6 of his books on my shelves unread, and IF I join the challenge, I think I'll read A Son of the Circus. If. :)

I have a couple unread on the shelf. Not sure if I'll get to them this year though. Depends on my mood.

I love John Irving.

I plan to read Avenue of Mysteries.

If anyone out there has not yet read Owen Meany, this is a great opportunity to do so. I'm still a fan of Garp but A Prayer for Owen Meany is a truly special read. This means, you, Bill. xo

If I have time (ha), I may also read In One Person. I have it on the shelves but haven't gotten to it yet.

I have several of his books on my shelves, but if I find time I will read World According to Garp.

I read Son of the Circus and liked it - it made me think that a vacation to Goa would be a good idea. I also read and loved that most presbyterian of novels Prayer for Owen Meany. I think that Irving must love "little people" but will have to read more of his work to see if that is a theme.

Ok, the Irving I read, years ago, was A Widow for One Year which I remember enjoying. I have A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Son of the Circus on the shelves.

I am going to read Avenue of Mysteries and looking forward to it as I will be reading it one vacation. Hoping to get pulled into a good book!

I have more books lined up than time in September. I'm not sure I'll get to Irving, but if I do, it will probably be A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Any suggestions for a good Irving book to start with for someone who's never read him before?

I may own Hotel New Hampshire but I'm not positive.

>13 lindapanzo: Linda, I read and loved Hotel New Hampshire back in the 1980s. The World According to Garp was my first Irving and the only one I've reread (I've read it three times, once for a Modern American Novel class in college in, um, 1983). It was his first widely praised work and put him on the literary map. His works are not really interrelated other than a New England theme in much of his early work, at least. I'm a huge fan of Owen Meany and it is probably his most loved work. So, any of those three would be good starting places based solely on my own experience.

>14 EBT1002: Thanks for the suggestions!! I graduated from college in 1982 and I recall a lot of talk about The World According to Garp at the time.

The only Irving I've read is 'Garp,' which I read for summer reading in high school and loved.

Unrelated side note: the movie of the novel was partially filmed at my high school (the bits at the boarding school).

For September, I will be listening to Irving read The Pension Grillparzer, which is one of Garp's fictional works mentioned in the novel. My selection is based mainly on its short length, as September is a bit of a hellish month for me, and I intend to focus most of my reading on light, escapist fare, which Irving is definitely not!

I have several other Irving novels on my To Read shelves, and I'm sure I'll get to them. Someday.

Well, I definitely need this challenge as I have five of John Irving's books sitting on my TBR shelves. The tough decision is going to be deciding which one to read. They all are reasonably substantial...

>17 HelenBaker: Which ones were you leaning towards, Helen?

>18 msf59: I have chosen by pagination. The Hotel New Hampshire is the shortest at 542 pages, as I am behind in my 75 books challenge. I know I should probably be reading A Prayer for Owen Meany.

>19 HelenBaker: I forget how big most of his books are. I think The Hotel New Hampshire was the second Irving I had read and remember liking it, although the page count is very similar to Owen Meany. So?? Grins...

>19 HelenBaker: Be aware that Hotel New Hampshire is a bit of a wild ride, so if you are uncomfortable with rough language and raunchy situations, you might not enjoy this one very much.

I liked A Prayer for Owen Meany by the time I got to the end of it - it seems like a lot of disconnected random stuff until it all comes together astonishingly well at the end. The Cider House Rules is like that too. I didn't really like A Widow For One Year or Last Night In Twisted RIver - had a tough time caring about the characters.

I haven't yet read The World According to Garp, and would also like to get around to A Son Of The Circus.

>15 lindapanzo: I graduated from college in 1983, Linda, but only because I took half a year to bum around Krakow while my dad was on a Fulbright. That is, I "should" have graduated in 1982. So I think we're pretty close to the same age.

A Son of the Circus is on a hard-to-get-to shelf, and Until I Find You was about 5 feet away, so I'm going to read it instead. I've read the first two chapters and really like it so far.

>23 karenmarie: Being retired, you don't have all day to roam around your bookshelves. I completely understand, Karen. Hides a smirk...

I never did read Until I Find You.

I think I am going to try to squeeze in World According to Garp because I have never read it.

I have Fourth Hand on my shelves and I think it only has about 400 pages. Just checked Amazon and the paperback version of that book has 316 pages. Maybe that is the one to go with?

I think of John Irving as a favorite author but there are several I have not yet read:

The Cider House Rules
A Widow for One Year
Until I Find You
A Son of the Circus
In One Person (on the shelves)
Avenue of Mysteries (on the shelves)

Sheesh. I could dedicate September solely to him and have plenty to keep me entertained!

>24 msf59: Ha ha, Mark. In this case, hard to get to means getting on a ladder and getting to a shelf 10 feet off the ground. I was being lazy, mostly. Being retired means taking more time to do everything because I used to be more efficient with my time. Now I can drag things out magnificently. Or, not even do them at all. :)

Until I Find You is captivating, told in the third person but with insights into what Jack is thinking and feeling.

(Strange that I'm reading two challenge books right now, the other being Great Expectations and both are about young boys.)

I made a trip to the library and checked out World According to Garp. That will be the book I read for this challenge.

I love John Irving...except when I don't. Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed, Last Night in Twisted River ---these were all stellar reads for me. I wasn't much of a fan of The World According to Garp, and couldn't get involved in either A Widow for One Year or The Fourth Hand (for reasons I don't remember now. Both are still on my shelves, I think.) I know I read Hotel New Hampshire, but don't remember it, as it was probably 30 years ago. I started Son of the Circus when it first came out, and again found it hard to get into. I may try that one again. I want more of what he's so good at---the layered complex story-telling and peculiar characters (and bears, don't forget the bears). The trouble with that is that sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't. Everyone's mileage will probably differ.

This a tough month for challenges. I went with my usual method of choosing a book for this challenge - the slimmest looking volume that I might be able to relate to. I picked The Water-Method Man as I thought I would be able to relate to what the character was going through. I read a few pages and realized it was not for me. So I went back and got A Widow for One Year as I think I will probably be able to relate to the character better. Unfortunately, it is a lot longer than the first one that I chose and it looks like all the LTers that read it weren't impressed.

We all know, I rarely abandon a book but I listened to an hour of Avenue of Mysteries and decided to jump ship. I have read quite a few of Irving's books and he is usually very good at grabbing the reader early on, sometimes with stunning effect. I did not feel it this time. It flat-lined and did I want to spend another 19 more hours, slogging along? Nah! The audio narrator was just okay and, one of the other things that bugged me, was that the main character has a disability, (bad limp) and Irving has to mention this constantly...the cripple this, the cripple that. That always needles me.

I have decided to do a reread of The World According to Garp, so I have that lined up on audio and hope to start it tomorrow.

Hmmm, so far Mr. Irving is not wowing us, is he?

>31 Familyhistorian: I remember reading The Water Method Man way back in college and it fell flat for me, too.
I am actually thinking that Linda may be onto something -- that John Irving is great except when he isn't.

>32 msf59: Avenue of Mysteries is the one I brought with me to NC. I hope it works better in print than on audio. If not, I'll be happy to pick up In One Person when I return home. It has been on my TBR shelves for a long while.

>28 karenmarie: I should have noted that karenmarie is enjoying Until I Find You, one of the Irvings that I haven't yet read.

I have always found Irving to be an uneven author and have wondered what the fuss is about him. Prayer for Owen Meany was the first novel of his that I managed to finish. I listened to Son of the Circus and before it got going I would have ditched it. However, I listened to it and at the time there were not many recorded books so I stayed with it. I have not started Garp yet, but I will get to it soon.

>33 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! Until I Find You does what Irving does a lot of - repetition - but the obsession is working so far for me. Jack is a darling boy, alternately confused and insightful. Coming to or already here in NC? I live south of Chapel Hill in Pittsboro.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to welsh on John Irving by reading My Movie Business. I've made too many promises for the month, too many BIG books with endless pages. My wife just read ...Owen Meany; does that count for me? We share the same surname.

I finished The World According to Garp. It has a lot of the themes that I associate with Irving novels: there is a character who is a writer, with a lot of involvement in his mindset and how his experiences affect his writing. There is his signature cleverness in the way clues to the storyline are dropped so gradually and softly that sometimes I have to backtrack to see if I missed something. There is even the requisite involvement of a bear, although that is sad. Irving does terrible things to his characters, and this book is no exception to that either. I didn't really like the characters, but stuck with it to see what happens, which turns out to be the point Irving is trying to make.

He is such a vivid writer that I get caught up in his storytelling, even when I'm not sure I like where it's going. Eventually it reaches those satisfying little clicks when the pieces start to fall into place; this book takes longer than most to get there. I didn't enjoy it as much as The Cider House Rules or A Prayer for Owen Meany.

I might try Son of the Circus sometime.

My first Irving was The World According to Garp and I loved it! Hubby got it for me for Christmas the year it came out. (yes, I am that old) I also loved The Hotel New Hampshire. Bears, hotels, dreams and sorrows; what more can you want out of a novel.?.
Whisper1 has been nagging me, sweetly of course as everything about our Linda is sweet, to read A Prayer for Owen Meany forever so looks like this is my year to commit to that one.
Nice to see so many old friends here.

Started The Hotel New Hampshire. Enjoying it so far.

# 61 My Movie Business by John Irving Completed 9/15/16

 

I enjoyed the heck out of this short memoir by John Irving. Its focus is on the adaptation of Irving's novel The Cider House Rules to the silver screen. Irving worked on the project for 13 years (!!!), writing countless draft scripts for several studios, directors, and producers. When it finally made it to the screen, Irving won the Academy Award for his work (specifically for best adapted screenplay). But this book is a memoir by a gifted storyteller, who rambles from time to time, citing people and incidents seemingly far afield. All have some bearing on Irving's "movie business."

You can read The Weird Report^™ in its entirety here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/230175#5733677

I've been making steady progress with Until I Find You and I'm really enjoying it very much. The first 100 pages or so were okay, but as I get to know Jack Burns more and more, I find that I'm anxious to continue. Wrestling does play a prominent role, but there's been only one mention of a bear..... :)

I'm at page 333 of 820. Another chunkster this year for me - I've already read 15 books with 500 or more pages.

Karen, I'm impressed that you read so many chunksters this year. I long for the days when I am fully recovered from neck/spine surgeries and have the attention span to read so many great books that I have on hold.

Happy Sunday to you! John Irving is one of my all-time favorite authors. A Prayer For Owen Meany remains on my top three books of all time. I simply love this magical book. I attended a brown bag luncheon book talk meeting at Lehigh University (where I work). The English Professor who spoke related the book to an anti Viet Nam message. I didn't get that when I read it.

Hi Linda! Even though it was relatively minor compared to your surgeries, my inability to read well or much after my cataract surgeries was frustrating and scary. To those of us who love to read, not being able to read what we want is just plain awful. I hope you're fully recovered sooner than later.

I have read Garp, Owen Meany, and The Hotel New Hampshire. I may have read them when I was too young, because I can see now that they probably had much more to say than I picked up on.

#42
I totally got the anti--Vietnam thing in Owen Meany. In fact, that's what I thought the whole book was about.

Well, maybe not the whole book - but a good portion of it.

Well, I survived The Hotel New Hampshire and I gather from reviews it is not typical of his story lines, although it still features strong characterisations.
Yup >21 Darth-Heather:, I think he tried to cover all forms of sexuality, with gays, lesbians, prostitutes, pornograpy, incest and rape and yet you wouldn't say it was explicit. He made it seem almost every day events and I guess for some it is. It was certainly a different story.
I will try another of his, but perhaps next year.

Whew. What a read, what an accomplishment, if I do say so myself!

Until I Find You by John Irving





From the last paragraph of the description of the book from Amazon: A melancholy tale of deception, Until I Find You is also a swaggering comic novel, a giant tapestry of life’s hopes. It is a masterpiece to compare with John Irving’s great novels…

Had I read any description or review of the book before I read the book itself, I might never have read it. However, it grabbed me, as the voice of the four-year-old Jack is so authentic and sweet as he and his mother go to Europe to track his father, William, down. The characters are larger-than-life and focused in the way of people who love what they do - tattoo artists and organists, novelists and actors, wrestlers and teachers. Jack’s life is as rich and eccentric and thoughtful as it is tragic and sad.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. It is long and very detailed. I found myself rooting for Jack to be happy, to be whole, to understand his life and the love waiting for him. I wasn’t disappointed.

It took me a couple of tries before I found a John Irving book that worked for me. I came up with A Widow for One Year which is a interesting story of a family changed by a tragedy that pulls it apart. In the throes of reinventing themselves the principle characters draw other characters in for support.

Although long, it was an interesting book. I could get to like Irving's writing if I am selective of which of his books I pick up.