It was all right. He's been one of my favorites for years, but the books since The Fourth Hand have been hit or miss. Until I Find You was abysmal, but the last two have been a better. Still not as good as pre-The Fourth Hand, but better.
What Are You Reading?
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My very first was The Fourth Hand. ugh. Made me not want to read another thing of his.
In my opinion, Irving hit his stride with Garp (the first three weren't all that good), then did well until The Fourth Hand--that one was iffy. A Prayer For Owen Meany is in my top 5 books ever--phenomenal storytelling. I'm always hopeful when I see a new one coming out, but he may have peaked, TBH.
I loved Garp the movie. And I started reading Owen Meany but got interrupted. I have so many books in my TBR pile, so many. And I haven't been in a real reading mood lately. Haven't even finished Finders Keepers.
Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, Cider House Rules & Prayer For Owen Meany are the best ones (and I think they were consecutive)
A Prayer For Owen Meany is one of my very favorite books. If you ever want to try again, start with Owen Meany.
I haven't read him since Until I Met You. I'm with skimom on that one.
That happens. I go through periods where I just can't read anything--generally when I'm editing, whether for myself or for someone else. By the end of the day, all I want to do is stare at the idiot box for an hour or two and then collapse.
Right now I'm flying through the Blackwater series
None of the books are long (3 books in each volume = the size of one 'normal' book), and they're crazy fun. I have to take the books back to the library in two days, but I only have 1.5 books until I'm finished with the saga--lol. Shouldn't be any problem.
Irving books have a couple of good movie adaptations. The Cider House Rules is a very good movie despite having a huge chunk of the book cut out (the book was large). John Irving did the screenplay and did an excellent job at truncating his novel for the screen. Another good adaption is "Door In The Floor" with Jeff Bridges. I liked what the filmmakers did there by not trying to make a movie from the entire 600 page book. The movie is only the first third of the book and it works very well. (the title of the book is Widow For A Year)
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I never saw that movie, but I really enjoyed A Widow For One Year. That was the last one of his to get my unqualified thumbs up--lol. After the godawful 'Owen Meany' rip off movie (I can't even remember the name right now), I was wary of The Door in the Floor. Have you read his My Movie Business, about making The Cider House Rules? Very, very good book, as well.
I have his book "My Movie Business" but it is in the gigantic pile of unread books.
If I remember "Widow For A Year" correctly, it was divided into 3 sections that were almost stand alone stories and the movie was based on the first part. It is a very good movie, you should hunt for it.
Thank you! I do like Jeff BridgesI have his book "My Movie Business" but it is in the gigantic pile of unread books.
If I remember "Widow For A Year" correctly, it was divided into 3 sections that were almost stand alone stories and the movie was based on the first part. It is a very good movie, you should hunt for it.
I thought I had enough to keep me busy for a while as I'm only about 300 pages into the 3rd Game of Thrones book but Steve added two more books for me to take home from the office TBR bookcase (those sent in by publishers and authors)--The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore. He'd already read them and thought I should because I would like them, too. 
Has anybody read either of those?
Has anybody read either of those?I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple of recs here for The Girl on the Train (danie & TrueGeneration , maybe?). Never heard of the other one.
Havent read either of them but have heard a lot of good about The Girl on the Train. Both from this board and other sources. Never heard about the Poison Artist.
I thought I had enough to keep me busy for a while as I'm only about 300 pages into the 3rd Game of Thrones book but Steve added two more books for me to take home from the office TBR bookcase (those sent in by publishers and authors)--The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore. He'd already read them and thought I should because I would like them, too.
Several have comments within this thread - Becks/ Cat/ AchtungBaby/ OldDarth. Most are very favorable re The Girl On the Train
additional edit: The Poison Artis not released yet- Jan. 2016 SK compares to Red Dragon.
I am reading Summer of Night by Dan Simmons, and also finished The Regulators.
The Girl On The Train was fairly good.
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