John Irving...

Fr Clint Power

Recently I have read The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, and A Prayer for Owen Meany. All were very enoyable, Owen Meaney in particular was excellent (would recommend it to all). I am interested in reading more of Irving's stuff, but from what I have heard about him he tends to be very inconsistent, just wondering if anyone can recommend some of his other books to me?

tSubh Dearg

I read the World According to Garp and then the Hotel New Hampshire one after the other. The two books are very similar, which was a little disappointing. Though TWATG was far the superiour of the two.

I have to agree with you about A Prayer for Owen Meany, that was an excellent read and I plan to re-read it again soon. I recommend it to most people looking to read more of his books.

Bodhidharma

I'm a huge Irving fan and i have read all of his books. The Hotel New Hampshire, Setting free the Bears, and A son of the Cicus are all excellent. Basically all of his books are great although "A son of the Circus" is hard going but worth it in the end.

His earlier books are shorter and slightly better, AVOID "Until I Find You". its by far his worst - ridiculous and so bloody long.

I can see why some people can say his books are similar. He does have common themes running through his books, namely weird sex, vienna, and the search for a father figure.

I advise "Setting free the Bears"

Fr Clint Power

Bodhidharma wrote:

I'm a huge Irving fan and i have read all of his books. The Hotel New Hampshire, Setting free the Bears, and A son of the Cicus are all excellent. Basically all of his books are great although "A son of the Circus" is hard going but worth it in the end.

His earlier books are shorter and slightly better, AVOID "Until I Find You". its by far his worst - ridiculous and so bloody long.

Thanks for that Bodhidharma. I will definitely be picking up more of his books, I am drawn to The Hotel New Hampshire in particular after reading the synopsis.

What did you make of A widow for one year? the reason I ask is that all of his others books seem to proudly boast "by the author of widow for one year".

Bodhidharma

"A Widow for One Year" was good. An enjoyable read, lots of the things Irving is good at, But for me, "Setting Free the Bears" is more of a laugh, more unusual and more entertaining. I think it was his first novel also.

Either one is good but avoid "Until I Find You" - Pap!

elmyra

I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany. I've also read The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp, A Widow for One Year and A Son of the Circus.

I highly recommend A Son of the Circus.

I ordered Until I Find You from amazon or somesuch yesterday, completely devastated now.