To read John Irving is to surround yourself in his world and enjoy his amazing story telling ability. There are a number of themes throughout his books; his interest in wrestling, his love of the underdog, his battle to glorify small suppressed individuals in society, and help them gain recognition and a right to have their voice heard. The virtues of women, the strive for equality amongst transgenders, and the condemnation of misogynists who choose to vilify rather than praise. 

TS Carp, the illegitimate son of a WW pilot and a mother Jenny Fields who was to devote her life to the wellbeing of women in a world that seems increasingly hostile. From struggling author to devoted father Garp faces many challenges throughout his life devoted to his much admired mother Jenny fields and wife Helen. The writing of Irving is colourful,  attentive to detail, never boring with rich characters in abundance. Highly recommended.

by Washington Irving

This is one of those classics I've meant to read for years. It's written in an older English dialect that adds atmosphere to the narrative and brings the Dutch communities of New England to life with all their customs and superstitions.

Icabod Crane is a schoolmaster who has cast his eye on a local girl, just eighteen. She comes from a family that is as well-off as is to be found in the small community and is also a beauty. While there wasn't as much about witchcraft in the original story as was in the most recent movie version with Johnny Depp, it is mentioned along with goblins and ghosts and especially the tale of the headless horseman who legends say rises from the grave to seek his missing head.

The story was a lot more basic than I expected, with the whole ghostly phenomenon more a matter of superstition and practical joking than the tale has grown into with retellings, but it was enjoyable nonetheless to finally read the original material.

by Irving Belateche

This is a fascinating story with enough fact mixed into the fiction to make the reader wonder where one stops and the other starts.

When Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955, his last words were uttered in German to a nurse who did not understand the language. He had been writing something, and this is where reality and fiction diverge. In the story, what he had been writing was a series of equations and the story is told from the point of view of Jacob, a university professor, who believes that those equations hold the secret to time travel.

The early chapters relate his experience of obsession with Einstein's theories and attempts to track down clues that might shed light on the equations and those elusive last words that were never recorded.

Jacob isn't the only person with an interest. In a mind bending series of alternate realities and changed time sequences, contemporaries of Einstein as well as university researchers known to Jacob crisscross time paths, discovering that small changes in events don't have the far reaching effects depicted in science fiction, but change the personal histories of those directly involved.

This is the kind of time travel I like best, because it makes me think and presents theories of time travel Physics that seem just plausible enough to make a good story. There is an aspect of espionage in this one that makes it gripping and fast paced in the later chapters, while making the reader question the nature of reality. An easy five stars!

John Irving's novels are recognizable "in general" by their mighty page content and some might not feel comfortable with the committment needed to finish such a wordy novel, but that would be unfortunate.

In essence "In one Person" is a study of attitude and tolerance (or not) towards our individual sexuality and in particular it addresses variance in sexual preference/behaviour from what is perceived as normal. The story is told through the eyes of Billy Dean, his colourful family and their life in small town rural America. In particular special mention, and indeed praise should be directed at Miss A Frost, librarian, a wonderful lady with a secret, brave and courageous past.

I love this story; it is offbeat, it is brave (encompassing the cruel burden of the aids epidemic and the destruction it reaped on a young mostly male population) it implores you the reader to rethink and question how we judge those who do not conform, and by so doing accept it is not wrong to be different. Highly recommended.

Dear Saint Nick, it would be really nice if one of these years I'd find some of these under my Christmas tree:

* The Oxford Companion to the Book

* The Henry Irving Shakespeare editions (all 8 volumes)

* Granville Barker's Prefaces to Shakespeare (the complete set)

* Will and Ariel Durant's History of Civilization (all 11 volumes)

* Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey / Maturin novels (all 20 volumes completed by O'Brian -- I can do without the unfinished 21st one)

* Jacob Burckhardt's Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy

* ... and last but not least, the two-volume Norton Anthology of Literature by Women

(Task: Write a book wish list to St. Nick / Santa Claus for books that you’ve been eyeing but can’t justify the expense of purchasing.  (E.g., art books? Collector’s editions? Boxed sets?))