Birthday Book Recs 34/50 : The World According to Garp by John Irving
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Birthday Book Recs: 34/50
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Here’s one I had queued up, at least picture-wise…I took a bunch of pics of books I knew I wanted to include in this thing on a December afternoon and they just sit waiting patiently on my camera roll. But I thought I’d post it now because I read in the paper today that John Irving has two grandchildren competing in the Olympics (!!two!!) and when I shared that in stories, a lot of people replied with basically some version of “I love John Irving!” Because of course we love John Irving! So I’m declaring it John Irving Day today, right here, on this little Instagram account. Very official.
I sometimes think about what books could be considered modern classics. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1984) for sure falls in this category. I think Garp (published in 1978) must as well. Ergo: Read it. (My other faves are The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meaney, which I guess I don’t own?)
Oneother quick note: This copy I have of The World According to Garp as well as the other Irving books in pic 2 except Until I Find You (which, incidentally, I have NOT read even though I bought it in a Charlotte Costco in the Year of Our Lord 2005) are mass market paperbacks. Those are those kind of pocket-sized books that are often more equated with books you’d see at grocery store checkouts. (Am I showing my age?) Anyway, my friend Marcela sent me a great article about the death of mass market paperbacks the other day, and it was the cover story of the NYT Book Review today. It’s a fascinating read…you can read it here. (Thanks, Marce!)
Happy John Irving Day!
You can find all my 50th Birthday Book Recommendations HERE.
originally published on instagram