554 huge pages. Needed more than 2 weeks to read it and it seemed to become boring, but the first day after I finished I already miss something.
The story starts in New Hampshire and then follows a father and son on their run from the 1950's through 2005 to Boston's Italian influenced North End, Vermont, Iowa, Toronto and the Georgian Bay, North of Toronto.
The 12 year old son kills the father's lover while having sex with him as he thinks that she is a bear. A naked woman falls down from heaven with a parachute and lands in pig shit. The son discovers that his mother had another lover who is kind of best friend with his father. That lover (Ketchum) is an amazing and funny character. John Irving expresses his opposition to George W. Bush with the Ketchum character. .... the book offers even more of these crazy stories.
I will see John Irving during a panel discussion at 92Y here in Manhattan early May.
I read the 2009 hardcover edition published by Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6384-0.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
14th book - "Candide" - Voltaire - 8 points
Candide is a German figure from Westphalia. Really? Yes, this book is "one of the finest satires ever written ... this work says that it is possible to challenge blind optimism without losing the will to live and pursue a happy life".
In this 120 page book Voltaire satirically describes Candide's travel around the world with the statement that "everything happens for a reason". Imagine that we just past the 250th anniversary of the publication of this book, it is just incredible how Voltaire courageously wrote this story. The book was a "bestseller" of it's time and only sold "under the counter".
Francois-Marie Arouet alias "Voltaire" (1694 - 1778) was French.
On April 15th 2010 I attended a panel discussion and theatrical readings from Candide at New York's Public Library with Adam Gopnik and others. NYPL had an amazing exhibition going on, showing all 17 original editions from 1759, the year when Candide was published. I read the 2003 Barnes & Nobles Classics softcover edition in English language with intruduction and notes by Gita May. ISBN 978-1-59308-028-0
In this 120 page book Voltaire satirically describes Candide's travel around the world with the statement that "everything happens for a reason". Imagine that we just past the 250th anniversary of the publication of this book, it is just incredible how Voltaire courageously wrote this story. The book was a "bestseller" of it's time and only sold "under the counter".
Francois-Marie Arouet alias "Voltaire" (1694 - 1778) was French.
On April 15th 2010 I attended a panel discussion and theatrical readings from Candide at New York's Public Library with Adam Gopnik and others. NYPL had an amazing exhibition going on, showing all 17 original editions from 1759, the year when Candide was published. I read the 2003 Barnes & Nobles Classics softcover edition in English language with intruduction and notes by Gita May. ISBN 978-1-59308-028-0
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