John Irving

My absolutely favourite Irving novel is A Prayer for Owen Meany. I also think - if you like Irving - you'd really like T Coraghessan Boyle (who tends to get abbreviated to TC Boyle these days). He's a storyteller like Irving is a storyteller . . .

I really liked Widow for one year but I know lots of others who hated it. It was great - like a whole years worth of soap opera in one book. Also loved Prayer for Owen Meany and missed the production of it at The National which everyone said was fab. Wonder if they'll bring it back?

i'm wondering why they hated it? although i'm not sure where he's going with the prostitute bit but maybe that will be revealed soon.

OOOH That's the good bit. Quite eerie though! Keep reading and let me know what you think!

He's a good writer, but he wants to be such an aristocrat in real life. He would die to be a cultural "mandarin." Did I spell that right? Life According to Garp was absolute fun to read. The best part iswhere some kind of harmless male, a munchkin of sorts, has sex with Garp's mother in the hospital. She approves of the harmless male as her bedfellow while she is anaesthized, is it? Well, she's in the hospital for one reason or another. I found that to be a very clever way of explaining the birth of Garp. Some of the themes in his novels remind me of the movies of Aldomavar. A man does not want to sin because homosexuality is a sin, so he gets a sex change. A football player who gets a sex change, that's gotta give new meaning to the joke, "What's the object of Jewish football?" Answer: "To get the quarter back."

Will do!

Garp's mother is in hospital because she is a nurse. Garp's father is a brain damaged ex airforce person with a functioning dick. She grabs the chance to inseminate herself. Frankly, who wouldn't. Given the choice between a vegetable about to pop his clogs and a useless man who will inseminate you and then hang about annoying you to death for the rest of your life wouldn't we all choose the cabbage?

Um.... it doesn't seem to be quite as straightforward a dilemma as you offer here... but I think we could squeeze a good 15 minutes out of this on Good Morning or possibly Claire's up-and-coming new version of Trisha, working title Ask Auntie C. Vegetables are so imminent, aren't they.

yes, nearly as imminent as rachel being exposed as the marchioness but who really cares, it's been obvious for so long. It's sad to see a person talk to themselves (plural used advisedly.)

Marchioness and Rachel aren't the same person they're two very different babes.

Thank you Flash. Actually I don't recall ever having 'spoken' to Marchioness before but I'm sure Mrs. Potato head has a Masters in ABC Tales Forums and will be able to prove me wrong quicker than I can get my peeler out.

She/he probably just thought that cos we have the same IP thingymejiggy. Back to John Irving...have just finished the prositute bit and i see what you mean. Didn't expect that to happen at all! Can't believe Ruth didn't try and save her but i guess she would have been asking for it too. I love it when you read a book and you feel like you're there with the characters.

You always feel like that in an Irving book. Hotel New Hampshire is a gem too. I've read everything by him - and the only bad one is Son of the Circus. If you like Irving then try Tom Robbins - he's even better and that takes some doing!