Yay! I’m finally getting around to reading those CBR Exchange books that I’ve lovingly admired but not cracked open on my shelf. And books are meant to be read. So, A Prayer for Owen Meany comes to me courtesy of Malin from CBR7’s Book Exchange. It’s a long read and uneven in parts, but very much worthwhile in the end. Consider this a journey that you must be willing to embark upon for the payoff to arrive. I dig into the reasons why in my […]
Not my favorite Irving, but still a good one
I have been reading this book since January. I had also picked it up and put it down again as early as 2012. And today (or yesterday rather) I sit before you finally victorious! I was a big fan of “World According to Garp” and enjoyed “A Prayer for Own Meany,” but for some reason, this read was just like taking my medicine. I wanted to do it, I knew it was good for me, and I did it, but I didn’t particularly enjoy the […]
The Fourth Hand by John Irving
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so “meh” after a John Irving book. But this was definitely one that I finished, set down and thought “Well, okay then” rather than continuing to mull the story over for a week or two while everything settled in my brain. Instead, I finished this book a week ago and I’m struggling to remember what it was even about. John Irving books, to be fair, are rarely “about” anything, but that’s okay because they’re driven by fascinating characters in absurd […]
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
I really like John Irving novels. I like how they have no real plot, that they’re just sprawling histories of an individual, or a family, and that he sucks you into these peoples’ lives over the course of 500 pages or so. While The Hotel New Hampshire was not my favorite of what I’ve read of Irving’s so far, I still enjoyed it and the themes that he tends to hit on again and again. “Human beings are remarkable – at what we can learn to […]