Every Book by John Irving

a list by Peter, the avid reader who runs Flashlight Worthy

Irving, more than any other author that comes to mind, wrote his books along a perfect bell curve of quality.

He started out a bit odd ("Setting Free the Bears," "The Water-Method Man," and "The 158-Pound Marriage"), then wrote "The World According to Garp" -- a a 20th Century classic. He dipped just a bit with "The Hotel New Hampshire," but then wrote two more great ones: "The Cider House Rules" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany."

Sadly, nothing he's written since (especially his most recent) has come close to Garp, Cider House, and Owen Meany. :(

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Until_I_Find_You_2005');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345479726'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Until_I_Find_You_2005');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345479726'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Until I Find You (2005)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
At over 800 pages, John Irving's Until I Find You is a daunting proposition at best. Anyone who finishes it will have acquired forearm muscles, sore shoulders, and not much else. The story is self-indulgent, repetitive and, ultimately, boring, that cardinal sin that readers can't forgive. Longtime Irving readers have stayed with him through a few hits and a miss or two, but this is an all-time low. We are accustomed to Irving's work as quirky, bizarre, and off-the-wall and have forgiven all by calling such high-jinks and characters "imaginative" or "absolutely original." The only thing original about this tome is the descent into soft porn.

There is a bit of a twist at the end. If you, somehow, actually finish this book, you deserve to find out what it is on your own. Call it a reward.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Until_I_Find_You_2005');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Until_I_Find_You_2005');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345479726'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 848 page paperback |$10.85 |250 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Sound_Like_Someone_Trying_Not_to_Make_a_Sound_Childrens_Book_2004');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0385746806'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Sound_Like_Someone_Trying_Not_to_Make_a_Sound_Childrens_Book_2004');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0385746806'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound (Children's Book, 2004)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
In John Irving's ninth novel "A Widow for One Year," a creepy children's book author writes a bedtime story about things that go bump in the night. That odd, gently comical tale is brought to life here with Tatjana Hauptmann's shadowy, moonlit pencil illustrations. Not too scary, nor too comforting, Irving's picture-book debut imaginatively captures that late-night world where everything looks and sounds a little like a monster.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Sound_Like_Someone_Trying_Not_to_Make_a_Sound_Childrens_Book_2004');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Sound_Like_Someone_Trying_Not_to_Make_a_Sound_Childrens_Book_2004');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0385746806'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 40 page hardcover |$10.85 |3 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Fourth_Hand_2001');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345449347'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Fourth_Hand_2001');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345449347'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Fourth Hand (2001)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
While reporting a story from India, New York journalist Patrick Wallingford inadvertently becomes his own headline when his left hand is eaten by a lion. In Boston, a renowned surgeon eagerly awaits the opportunity to perform the nation's first hand transplant. But what if the donor's widow demands visitation rights with the hand? In answering this unexpected question, John Irving has written a novel that is by turns brilliantly comic and emotionally moving, offering a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Fourth_Hand_2001');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Fourth_Hand_2001');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345449347'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 352 page paperback |$11.66 |276 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/My_Movie_Business_Memoir_1999');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345441303'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/My_Movie_Business_Memoir_1999');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345441303'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">My Movie Business (Memoir, 1999)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
After two producers, four directors, thirteen years, and uncounted rewrites, the movie version of John Irving's acclaimed novel, "The Cider House Rules," at last made it to the big screen. Here is the author's account of the novel-to-film process. Anecdotal, affectionate, and delightfully candid, My Movie Business dazzles with Irving's incomparable wit and style.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/My_Movie_Business_Memoir_1999');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/My_Movie_Business_Memoir_1999');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345441303'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 192 page paperback |$10.36 |22 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Widow_for_One_Year_1998');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345424719'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Widow_for_One_Year_1998');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345424719'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">A Widow for One Year (1998)

by John Irving

Amazon readers say:

"A story of a dysfunctional family that never recovers."
"A magnificent exploration of grief, love and family."
"Characterization through sex - interesting approach."
"The old John Irving is back!"

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Widow_for_One_Year_1998');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Widow_for_One_Year_1998');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345424719'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 576 page paperback |$10.52 |581 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Imaginary_Girlfriend_NonFiction_1996');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345458265'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Imaginary_Girlfriend_NonFiction_1996');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345458265'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Imaginary Girlfriend (Non-Fiction, 1996)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
...a miniature autobiography detailing Irving's parallel careers of writing and wrestling. Tales of encounters with writers (John Cheever and Kurt Vonnegut) are intertwined with those about his wrestling teammates and coaches. With humor and compassion, Irving details the few truly important lessons he learned about writing.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Imaginary_Girlfriend_NonFiction_1996');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Imaginary_Girlfriend_NonFiction_1996');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345458265'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 192 page paperback |$11.16 |7 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Son_of_the_Circus_1994');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417992'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Son_of_the_Circus_1994');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417992'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">A Son of the Circus (1994)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
Though there are flashes here of the dramatic verve of "The World According to Garp" and "Cider House Rules," Irving's long-awaited eighth novel is generally a tedious affair: rambling; lacking suspense; devoid of energetic or lyric prose; sometimes verging on farce and other times almost as lethargic as the sultry atmosphere of Bombay, where it is set.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Son_of_the_Circus_1994');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Son_of_the_Circus_1994');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417992'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 672 page paperback |$10.85 |101 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Trying_to_Save_Piggy_Sneed_1993');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345404742'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Trying_to_Save_Piggy_Sneed_1993');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345404742'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Trying to Save Piggy Sneed (1993)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
A treat for John Irving addicts and a perfect introduction to his work for the uninitiated. To open this spirited short story collection, Irving explains how he became a writer. There follow six scintillating stories written over the last twenty years ending with a homage to Charles Dickens.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Trying_to_Save_Piggy_Sneed_1993');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Trying_to_Save_Piggy_Sneed_1993');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345404742'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 448 page paperback |$10.17 |24 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany_1989');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417976'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany_1989');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417976'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)

by John Irving

Amazon readers say:

"I didn't expect to like it, but it became one of my favorite books..."
"Wonderful read and endearing characters."
"After reading this book I went into mourning."
"Put simply: the best."

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany_1989');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany_1989');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417976'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 560 page paperback |$10.17 |1,061 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Cider_House_Rules_1985');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417941'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Cider_House_Rules_1985');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417941'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Cider House Rules (1985)

by John Irving

Amazon readers say:

"Speechless, fantastic, brilliant."
"Writing and research that earns its respect and interest."
"Marvelous themes of fatherhood."
"This book might make you understand men better."

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Cider_House_Rules_1985');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Cider_House_Rules_1985');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417941'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 576 page paperback |$10.17 |347 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Hotel_New_Hampshire_1981');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034541795X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Hotel_New_Hampshire_1981');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034541795X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Hotel New Hampshire (1981)

by John Irving

Amazon readers say:

"Tragically amusing."
"Strong and disturbing."
"Surreal storyline, but real feeling for the reader."
"John Irving is wonderful, but this is a little out there."

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Hotel_New_Hampshire_1981');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_Hotel_New_Hampshire_1981');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034541795X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 432 page paperback |$10.17 |94 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_World_According_to_Garp_1978');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345418018'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_World_According_to_Garp_1978');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345418018'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The World According to Garp (1978)

by John Irving

Amazon readers say:

"Funny, odd, and rather likeable!"
"The great American novel."
"It made me laugh while at the same time, cry."
"Not a typical classic... but a classic nonetheless."

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_World_According_to_Garp_1978');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_World_According_to_Garp_1978');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345418018'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 464 page paperback |$10.17 |284 reviews

This book also appears on John Irving's Best Books
 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_158Pound_Marriage_1974');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034536743X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_158Pound_Marriage_1974');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034536743X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The 158-Pound Marriage (1974)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
The darker vision and sexual ambiguities of this erotic, ironic tale about a menage a quatre in a New England university town foreshadow those of "The World According to Garp;" but this very trim and precise novel is a marked departure from the author's generally robust, boisterous style. Though Mr. Irving's cool eye spares none of his foursome, he writes with genuine compassion for the sexual tests and illusions they perpetrate on each other; but the sexual intrigue between them demonstrates how even the kind can be ungenerous, and even the well-intentioned, destructive.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_158Pound_Marriage_1974');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_158Pound_Marriage_1974');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034536743X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 256 pages |$6.99 |27 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_WaterMethod_Man_1972');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034541800X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_WaterMethod_Man_1972');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034541800X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Water-Method Man (1972)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
The main character of John Irving's second novel, written when the author was twenty-nine, is a perpetual graduate student with a birth defect in his urinary tract--and a man on the threshold of committing himself to a second marriage that bears remarkable resemblance to his first.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_WaterMethod_Man_1972');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/The_WaterMethod_Man_1972');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/034541800X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 288 page paperback |$11.16 |42 reviews

 
 
onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Setting_Free_the_Bears_1968');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417984'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Setting_Free_the_Bears_1968');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417984'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Setting Free the Bears (1968)

by John Irving

Amazon says:
It is 1967 and two Viennese university students want to liberate the Vienna Zoo, as was done after World War II. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Setting_Free_the_Bears_1968');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Every_Book_by_John_Irving/Setting_Free_the_Bears_1968');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0345417984'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 304 page paperback |$11.16 |30 reviews

 

Know any books we should add to the list above? .

 
 

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