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Tag Archives: John Irving
“We Don’t Know Anything About Other People. We Can Only Know Them From the Outside. This Is One Of the Great Joys Of Life.”
So says Irish writer John Banville in this awesome recent interview about his new book that has set my mind spinning. There’s so much in it. So much to think about. There are only a couple of writers today where … Continue reading
Posted in writers
Tagged A.S. Byatt, Cormac McCarthy, Joan Didion, John Banville, John Irving, Joseph Ellis, Katherine Dunn, Michael Chabon, Nancy Lemann
6 Comments
7 Weird Reading Facts
Got this from ricki. 1. I am very sensitive to typeface. I will NOT read a book if I find the typeface grating or unfriendly. I have bad eyes, too, so a good typeface is important. Penguin Classics USED to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Personal
Tagged A.S. Byatt, Cormac McCarthy, Elinor Lipman, Hopeful Monsters, Jeanette Winterson, John Irving, Lives of the Saints, Lorrie Moore, Madeleine L'Engle, Margaret Atwood, Mating, Michael Chabon, Nancy Lemann, Nicholas Mosley, Norman Rush, Ring of Endless Light, Robert Kaplan, The Passion
54 Comments
Culture Snapshots
— I’m reading A Widow for One Year by John Irving and also The Fortune of War by Patrick O’Brian. Awesome counterpoint. Both superb writers in their own way. — Thank you, dear Siobhan, for introducing me to the amazing … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged family, Gary Cooper, John Irving, Master & Commander, Patricia Neal, Patrick O'Brian, snapshots
16 Comments
The Books: “A Prayer for Owen Meany” (John Irving)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Excerpt from A Prayer for Owen Meany – by John Irving I’ve written quite a bit about my reading of this book. So far, I’ve only read it once – I think the whole bursting-into-sobs-at-the-last-sentence … Continue reading
The Books: “The Cider House Rules” (John Irving)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Excerpt from The Cider House Rules – by John Irving Mitchell has been known to get teary-eyed just thinking about Homer Wells. I believe this one is my dad’s favorite of John Irving’s. It’s a … Continue reading
The Books: “The World According to Garp” (John Irving)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Excerpt from The World According to Garp – by John Irving Ah, Garp. What a book. I come from a huge family of John Irving fans – and Mitchell and David and I were always … Continue reading
Michael Chabon: “He dumped the entire 660-page draft”
A fascinating report from Elegant Variation – who was there last night at the LAPL to hear him speak. I’m excited to read Chabon’s latest. This part really got to me: Was originally in first person but “the main character … Continue reading
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Jessa Crispin has an interesting interview with Peter Boxall, editor of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I loved what Boxall said at the end: Having benefited from an extraordinary number of emails and letters as well as … Continue reading
Posted in Books, James Joyce
Tagged 1984, A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Tale of Two Cities, A.S. Byatt, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Alice in Wonderland, Amongst Women, Animal Farm, Annie Proulx, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, At Swim-Two-Birds, Atonement, Cat's Eye, Catch-22, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, D.H. Lawrence, Don DeLillo, E.M. Forster, Edgar Allan Poe, Edna O'Brien, Emily Bronte, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Finnegans Wake, Flann O'Brien, Flannery O'Connor, Frankenstein, Franny and Zooey, George Eliot, George Orwell, Great Expectations, Gulliver's Travels, Handmaid's Tale, Herman Melville, House of Leaves, Hunter S. Thompson, Ian McEwan, In Cold Blood, J.D. Salinger, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Ellroy, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Jeanette Winterson, John Irving, John McGahern, John Steinbeck, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Heller, Kazuo Ishiguro, Leo Tolstoy, Lewis Carroll, Lord of the Rings, Margaret Atwood, Mark Danielewski, Mary Shelley, Master and Margarita, Middlemarch, Mikhail Bulgakov, Moby Dick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Notes From the Underground, Possession, Pride and Prejudice, Primo Levi, Sexing the Cherry, Stephen King, The Catcher In the Rye, The Country Girls, The Great Gatsby, The Hobbit, The Passion, The Shipping News, The Things They Carried, Thomas Mann, Tim O'Brien, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Ulysses, Underworld, Vladimir Nabokov, Wuthering Heights
9 Comments
Happy Birthday, John Irving!
One of our best storytellers. I’ve been reading John Irving’s books since high school when I first read The World According to Garp. I think, in retrospect, my favorite of his books is The Cider House Rules – (can’t even … Continue reading