I’m willing to play along, but someone has to be willing to organize and lead.
I, too, am a huge Irving fan, having read pretty much everything except The Fourth Hand and Son of a Circus. I started Son and couldn’t get into it. Oddly enough, though, my favorite of his books is an unpopular choice: The Water Method Man. I loved it and thought it was funny as hell. I liked Garp and Cider House, too. (Btw, I was sitting in the second or third row when he read a chapter aloud during a presentation at UNC in the eighties. Damn, is that man handsome! And what a voice!)
To continue with my odd Irving taste, I didn’t particularly like Owen Meany, but you guys have convinced me to give it a second chance.
I started with Garp and have loved him ever since (except for Son of the Circus). Owen Meaney always leaves me a wreck.
I liked The Fourth Hand quite a bit, but it doesn’t pack the punch that some of his other stuff does.
I started another ill-considered JI thread but will post to this one as well (I blame it on the “Search” function)…
As I stated in the other thread, I just got done reading “The Fourth Hand” and found it not very filling, especially for an Irving book. Not to say that it’s bad, it just doesn’t seem as developed and the subplots just don’t seem to cross like Irving stories typically do. I loved the symbolism of the wedding bands in the later part of the book (trying not to be a spoiler for those who haven’t read it).
“My Movie Business” - haven’t read it yet, on order from Amazon (as soon as Mrs. whoami? makes her reading selections)
“A Widow for One Year” - probably my least favorite - for personal reasons, I lent it to a friend about 2 years ago and really don’t care to get it back… The Amsterdam brothel scenes seemed way too depressing to me (I’m pretty sure Irving wanted to convey the furtiveness and moral desolation as he did, and he was successful if that was his aim). It was a well crafted book, but just was too unsettling for me (my cousin was killed in a car accident very similar to the boy’s accident in the book).
“Trying to Save Piggy Snead” - kind of an autobiography, short story anthology. I bought it for the short stories, but got more out of his wrestling stories. I plan to re-read it in the near future, as I don’t remember much of it.
“A Son of the Circus” - I really felt that this was probably the biggest creative leap that Irving has made in his later work - setting, plot and characters. I love the off-kilter characters, and the secret identity, father-son relationship behind the movies… I respect this book.
“A Prayer for Owen Meany” - I thought it was very annoying how Owen always dialoged LIKE THIS!!, but as a writing device it clearly got across Owen’s voice. I thought that the point-of-view character (John?) was pretty much a continuation of the character in “Hotel New Hampshire” - not literally, but in the sense of “true narrator as character” - a springboard that the other characters acted upon. I enjoyed this book, but it was not my favorite.
“The Cider House Rules” - Dr. Larch ROCKS!!! I enjoy this book every time I read it, and I’ve read and re-read it at least a half-dozen times (the rest, with the exception of AWFOY, I’ve re-read two or three times) Irving’s tone connects to me the best in this book. I feel that its central theme “wait and see” applies to all of his other works, by negative or positive actions of characters. I’ve seen the movie three times now, and I actually enjoy the adaptational differences (rare for me, I’m too picky most of the time). Mrs. whoami? has said that she wants to read the book, after seeing the movie (she doesn’t really appreciate the darkness in Irving).
“The Hotel New Hampshire” - this was the first Irving book I ever read cover to cover, so it has a special place in my heart. I was in early high school, so it must have been '83 or '84. I remember getting in trouble for reading it in English Lit. class, until the teacher made me do an impromptu synopsis for the rest of the class. I can picture Sorrow floating in the cold dark water to this day. I love the Grillparzer substory. I’ve heard that the movie is a bloody mess, AND I tend to steer clear of Rob Lowe’s ouvre, so I can’t really speak of the movie adaptation.
“The World According To Garp” - I read this immediately after reading “Hotel New Hampshire” - I THINK this is probably the closest to an autobiographic character to Mr. Irving. I didn’t see the film until fairly recently (early '90s - hey, I don’t watch much TV or movies…), so I’m glad that Robin Williams as Garp didn’t have the opportunity to warp my fragile young mind (gratuitous South Park reference, for which I apologize profusely). As a male, Jenny (the character) scares the piss out of me, rightly so.
“The 158-Pound Marriage” - I can’t honestly say I remember anything about this book. I’m pretty sure I’ve read it - I mean, it’s got dog-eared pages and has been in my garage collecting dust. I will have to re-read this one.
“The Water Method Man” - I read this right before I finished up my thesis project (Architecture), so I probably don’t remember this one very clearly either. I remember it as a somber, desolate piece… I need to re-read this one, too.
“Setting Free the Bears” - What could be cooler than tooling around late '60s, early '70s Austria on a motorcycle, if just in your mind? As a first novel it has great power. It has a Kerouac feel to it for me. I really enjoyed it. Again, I don’t remember much beyond general plot - so I guess this month will be spent boning up on early Irving.
I have this mental picture of Irving as a fairly accessible, egotistical man - anybody ever met the man?
Ohhhh… “The Pension Grillparzer” appeared in The World According to Garp. 
I am in total agreement.
To comment on Irving, I find that I can pay him the best compliment I know how. When you are reading John Irving, you know you are reading John Irving. And, because his style is so unique, you find yourself falling in love with his books. Finally, not knowing exactly what it is about his style that you love so much, re-reading him is really easy and rewarding.
Every one that I really like has read Owen Meany.
Hmm, I started with Garp in tenth grade; I read during my precalculus class–since I was on cruise control (real easy teacher). Unfortunately, I would hit a line like “there’s no sex like trans-sex”, and fall out of my chair laughing. The only thing that saved me from being banished from class was that I finished it so quickly. And then I was hooked…
my husband loaned my owen meaney when we were dating, and i loved it. so much, in fact that in the next year i read everything irving had written up to that point. when i go into the local barnes and nobel, he’s on eof the first authors i look for. i’ve read everything but 4th hand. i love owen meaney, and to this day i get tears in my eyes when i think of the minister saying “give him back to us. i will keep asking you.” damn, my throat just got all closed up. son of the circus was all right, cider house rules was great. i’m an irviphile, proud of it.
Garp was the first “adult-themed” book I ever read. Big thanks to my 10th grade librarian for believing me to be mature enough to handle it. I distinctly remember having to read the paragraph where Pooh shot Garp several times before I would let it sink in. I had never been blown away by a book like that. Owen Meany is one of the very few books I feel good about recommending to anyone (my tastes tend to lean toward sci-fi).
As for movie adaptations, Garp is one of the few movies that nearly brings tears to my eyes since I am such a big fan of the book and I know what’s going to happen.
Hotel New Hampshire is an abomination.
Thankfully, Owen being turned into Simon Birch failed so miserably that John took his name off the project. When I read that the book was going to be adapted into a movie, I was hoping the studio would go bankrupt before the movie could be completed. This is one of the few non-sci-fi/fantasy movies that could not be properly translated onto film.
Garp is my absolute favorite 20th century book. It’s a masterpiece. I consider it to be about the sexual mores of the time. Garp is about as sexually normal as a person gets. He loses his virginity with the bad girl (Cushie, who dies making a baby), marries his childhood sweetheart, has 2.5 children, and has a serious affair and a few one-night stands on the side.
Most everyone else in the book is sexually warped, especially Jenny & Roberta. The attempt to silence Ellen James’s rape and the punishment for Helen’s affair are the two best handled ideas in the book. And of course, the accident scene is written superbly, and has been quoted in several other books.
Wouldn’t a biography of Ellen James make a great book?
I’ve read several of John Irving’s novels, since he’s a local (or was) writer. I still can’t figure out if I like him or not. As has been stated by others, I too am put off by the whole “bears, prostitutes, Vianna, oh my” repeative themes he uses. Yes, some writers reuse themes, but I’ve never read anyone who used so many of the same things in different novels. Well, amend that, there’s a rival in VC Andrews, especially in the novels she “wrote” after she died. Either way, I don’t really enjoy being able to predict from the outset if it’s going to have his favorite x,y,z themes in it. I try not to over-use themes, and there are probably only half a dozen people who have read several of my stories each (me not being a published novelist and all) so it strikes me as just weird that he’d purposely and unappologetically throw the same old themes at his vast readership.
I couldn’t finish (oh hell, I barely started) Son of the Circus, but his other novels are engrossing if odd. I’ll go against the majority, too, and admit that my favorite is not **A Prayer For Owen Meany **(though it is second) but is A Widow For One Year. There’s something tragically endearing about Ruth’s origins that just gets me. Born only to asuage the parents loss…
My final comment on John Irving is that he should never ever agree to let anyone make another film adaption of his books. They ruin them all. The only one that’s even bearable to watch is Cider House Rules(the movie is lacking, too, though. The book left me at odds because I wanted to be able to hate St. Cloud by couldn’t, while the movie didn’t evoke that response at all.) The Hotel New Hampshire, though, is an act of…of…something bad, anyway.
Irving is far and away my favorite writer.
I must’ve read and re-read the last couple of chapters to Owen Meany about a dozen times after the first reading. Incredible. Still moving.
Cider House, New Hampshire and Garp follow-up my list of faves. Like many others though, I could not get into Son of the Circus…it was so abysmally bad for me that I’m fearing that it’s put me off of Irving for awhile. I picked up a copy of Piggy Sneed, but I haven’t opened it yet and haven’t even purchased copies of Widow and Hand.
But, after having perused this thread, I think I may again be inspired. Thanks to all for posting here for the encouragement.