Irving, John 1942-

The cider house rules : a novel by John Irving ( Book )
121 editions published between 1985 and 2010 in 12 languages and held by 4,670 libraries worldwide
Set in rural Maine in the first half of this century, it tells the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch--obstetrician and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Clouds. It is also the story of his favorite orphan, Homer, who is never adopted.

A prayer for Owen Meany : a novel by John Irving ( Book )
83 editions published between 1989 and 2010 in 12 languages and held by 4,506 libraries worldwide
In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys--best friends--are playing in a Little League baseball game in New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother. Owen Meany believes he didn't hit the ball by accident. He believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after 1953 is extraordinary and terrifying. He is Irving's most heartbreaking hero.

The world according to Garp : a novel by John Irving ( Book )
156 editions published between 1976 and 2011 in 21 languages and held by 4,297 libraries worldwide
The pace and language of this novel (filled with stories) are suited to Garp's life anc career: explosive with energy, full of ribaldry and a sense of doom.

A widow for one year : a novel by John Irving ( Book )
96 editions published between 1998 and 2011 in 15 languages and held by 3,863 libraries worldwide
A girl discovers her mother in bed with a teenage boy and later the mother abandons her. Meanwhile, her father is seducing young girls. So begins the story of Ruth Cole, a famous writer struggling to overcome childhood traumas and find love.

The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving ( Book )
116 editions published between 1965 and 2010 in 19 languages and held by 3,841 libraries worldwide
The Hotel New Hampshire follows the Berry family across two continents and through three hotels. Family members attract friends who substitute lust, violence, laughter and tears for the standard bourgeois components.

The fourth hand : a novel by John Irving ( Book )
70 editions published between 2001 and 2009 in 12 languages and held by 3,339 libraries worldwide
While reporting a story from India, a New York television journalist has his left hand eaten by a lion; millions of TV viewers witness the accident. A well-known Boston hand surgeon wants to perform the first hand transplant on the reporter, but the problem is there is no hand available. A married woman from Wisconsin wants to give the reporter her husband's left hand--that is, after her husband dies.

Until I find you : a novel by John Irving ( Book )
56 editions published between 1989 and 2008 in 9 languages and held by 3,118 libraries worldwide
The story of the actor Jack Burns. His mother, Alice, is a Toronto tattoo artist. When Jack is four, he travels with Alice to several North Sea ports; they are trying to find Jack's missing father, William, a church organist who is addicted to being tattooed. But Alice is a mystery, and William can't be found. Even Jack's memories are subject to doubt. Jack Burns goes to schools in Canada and New England, but what shapes him are his relationships with older women. John Irving renders Jack's life as an actor in Hollywood with the same richness of detail and range of emotions he uses to describe the tattoo parlors in those North Sea ports and the reverberating music Jack heard as a child in European churches.

A son of the circus by John Irving ( Book )
53 editions published between 1993 and 2009 in 11 languages and held by 3,044 libraries worldwide
An Indian-Canadian doctor returns to Bombay to seek a cure for a disease which afflicts circus dwarfs and is caught up in a serial killing of prostitutes. The action is interspersed with commentary on the lot of social misfits: prostitutes, dwarfs, himself--the doctor regarding himself a foreigner in both India and Canada.

Last night in Twisted River : a novel by John Irving ( Book )
29 editions published between 2009 and 2011 in 6 languages and held by 2,779 libraries worldwide
In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County-to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto-pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them. A tale that spans five decades.

Trying to save Piggy Sneed by John Irving ( Book )
47 editions published between 1982 and 2011 in 6 languages and held by 1,956 libraries worldwide
A collection of short stories and essays. The story, My Dinner at the White House, is an amusing piece on a dinner with President Reagan, The Imaginary Girlfriend is on the arts of writing and wrestling, while the title story is on a pig farmer who is being harassed by boys.