Showing results by author "John Irving" in All Categories

“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.” So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the strange times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they “dream on” in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel.

In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is called, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Little Ray becomes a ski instructor. Her son, Adam, grows up in a family that defies conventions and evades questions concerning the eventful past. Years later, looking for answers, Adam will go to Aspen. In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts; they aren’t the first or the last ghosts he sees.

Of all of John Irving's books, this is the one that lends itself best to audio. In print, Owen Meany's dialogue is set in capital letters; for this production, Irving himself selected Joe Barrett to deliver Meany's difficult voice as intended. In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys – best friends – are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary and terrifying.

The opening sentence of John Irving's breakout novel, The World According to Garp, signals the start of sexual violence, which becomes increasingly political. "Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater." Jenny is an unmarried nurse; she becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing. Her son, Garp, is less beloved, but no less polarizing.

From one of America's most beloved and respected writers comes the classic story of Homer Wells, an orphan, and Wilbur Larch, a doctor without children of his own, who develop an extraordinary bond with one another.

Born a Parsi in Bombay, sent to university and medical school in Vienna, Dr. Farrokh Daruwalla is a 59-year-old orthopedic surgeon and a Canadian citizen who lives in Toronto. Once, 20 years ago, Dr. Daruwalla was the examining physician of two murder victims in Goa, India. Now, 20 years later, he will be reacquainted with the murderer.

Lors d'un voyage aux Philippines, Juan Diego Guerrero, écrivain américain célèbre et vieillissant, revit en rêves récurrents les épisodes de son adolescence au Mexique, à la lisière de la décharge publique de Oaxaca où lui et sa sœur Lupe ont grandi. Des émotions, il en aura tout au long de son périple, notamment avec Miriam et Dorothy, mère et fille aussi désirables qu'inquiétantes.

For an atheist it’s a great deal, though it does suggest atheism may have a weak point. For those of faith it’s a matter of jam now and purgatory tomorrow. A bargain many artists feel is something they can live with. For agnostics it’s usually a question of can the afterlife really be that bad, would workplace regulations reach all parts of heaven and hell. However, in this volume the terms are agreed and the Devil pays his fees and the character his dues, each happy to wait a few decades for the eternal payback.

Trying to Save Piggy Sneed contains a dozen short works by John Irving, beginning with three memoirs, including an account of Mr. Irving’s dinner with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The longest of the memoirs, The Imaginary Girlfriend,” is the core of this collection.

Juan Diego und seine stumme Schwester Lupe sind Müllkippenkinder in Mexiko. Ihre einzige Überlebenschance: Der Glaube an die eigenen Wunderkräfte. Denn Juan Diego kann fliegen und Geschichten erfinden, Lupe sogar die Zukunft voraussagen, insbesondere die ihres Bruders. Um ihn zu retten, riskiert sie alles.

Dedicated to the memory of two wrestling coaches and two writer friends, The Imaginary Girlfriend is John Irving's candid memoir of his twin careers in writing and wrestling. The award-winning author of best-selling novels from The World According to Garp to In One Person, Irving began writing when he was 14, the same age at which he began to wrestle at Exeter. He competed as a wrestler for 20 years, was certified as a referee at 24, and coached the sport until he was 47.

Eine Liebeserklärung an das Leben! William Dean jr., Sohn eines verschwundenen GI und einer Souffleuse, verbringt seine Jugend hinter und auf der Bühne des großväterlichen Kleinstadttheaters in Neuengland. In den düsteren Dramen von Shakespeare und Ibsen lernt er seine Familie - und sich selbst - in ganz unerwarteten Rollen kennen, die ihn beunruhigen, aber auch faszinieren. Und er erfährt, dass keiner die Person ist, die er zu sein scheint - zuallerletzt er selbst.

Этот роман - настоящая современная классика американской литературы. История сироты по имени Гомер, его взросления в приюте, дружбы со врачом, заменившем ему отца, и постепенном становлении его как профессионала, написана с огромной любовью к человеку и природе. Действие романа разворачивается в середине 20 века, и в романе поднимаются острые и болезненные темы: права женщин, права на аборты, Вторая мировая война...

Aquarian Diary is dedicated to exploring the emerging Age of Aquarius, astrology, spirituality, the Ascension and related social and environmental issues. You can also find me on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/AquarianDiary Or my website at: https://aquariandiary.com/

Few horror stories are as chilling as the ones written by Victorian writers. This collection of eight enduring stories, some well-known, others less familiar, carry you to all corners of the world where terrors lurk. Featuring work by H.P. Lovecraft, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edgar Allan Poe and Vernon Lee, experience the skin-crawling undead, a pestilence that leaves no one unaffected, imagined horrors that emerge from disturbed minds and others that require no imagination at all....

Ruth Cole, geboren 1954, ist weder nett noch hübsch, und man vergisst sie trotzdem nicht. Wir begegnen Ruth an drei Wendepunkten ihres Lebens...

Dies ist die erste Geschichte, die der junge Garp im gleichnamigen Roman geschrieben hat die Geschichte einer Familie, die beauftragt ist, österreichische Hotels zu überprüfen, um zu bestimmen, welcher Klasse sie angehören. Erste Station ist die Pension Grillparzer, die in eine höhere Kategorie aufsteigen will. Doch ob ihr das gelingt, mit all den seltsamen Gestalten, die da nachts umhergeistern?

Während einer Indienreise wird einem Fernsehjournalisten vor laufender Kamera von einem Zirkuslöwen die linke Hand abgebissen...

Literarischer Hörgenuss auf höchstem Niveau. Homer ist anders als die Kinder im Saint-Cloud's Waisenhaus: Er will nicht weg. Nach vier gescheiterten Adoptionsversuchen erlaubt Dr. Larch ihm zu bleiben - unter der Bedingung, dass er in der angeschlossenen Entbindungs- und Abtreibungsstation bei "Gottes Werk" - dem Entbinden - und bei "Teufels Beitrag" - dem Abtreiben - assistiert. Doch das ist nur der Beginn von Homers Odyssee.

Dies ist die Geschichte von T. S. Garp, 1944 unehelich geborener Sohn von Jenny Fields - einer Feministin und ihrer Zeit weit voraus....