An Invincible Summer - A Woman's Journey

The Boy Scout finished reading the World According to Garp to me and I enjoyed it tremendously. What a writer! I can't pick out any particular sentences, or point to a paragraph that I think was a masterpiece, but I was amazed at the depth in which Irving could make me feel. One minute such grief that a couple of times I had to ask him to stop reading, then dread and disappointment with the characters, and then with such hilarity that the Boy Scout was unable to read through the spasms of laughter and tears rolling down his face. Irving seems to love his characters but allows them to be so very human. Cannot wait to start A Prayer for Owen Meany but we thought we would mix it up a bit. Now we are navigating Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. Thus far, I am finding it to be subtle and quiet with a poinency that aches. Family, love, revenge and faith.....the writing is simply lovely. “Once in my life I knew a grief so hard I could actually hear it inside, scraping at the ...

The Boy Scout and I are in the middle of the World According to Garp by John Irving. It’s my first Irving novel and I’ve never seen the movie so I had no preconceived notions of what to expect. I’m finding it far more than just enjoyable, it’s hilarious. The man, using his deep, beautiful voice, is reading to me last night. He, with his head at the top of the bed next to the reading lamp and me, with my head at the foot of the bed, playing a game of solitaire on my iPad while he reads. Not uncommon for me to be lulled to sleep by the sound of his voice so the Solitaire keeps me wide-awake during the readings. Smack dab in the middle of the book we are reading a short story by Garp that he has given his wife to review. The story is about an accident Garp hears near his home. He approaches the scene and finds a rather large man still in his seat, drunk enough that he seems unaware that he is hanging upside down. At some point he starts talking to a bowling ball, calling it Roger. ...