Vote for the John Irving novels you just couldn't put down. If you haven't read a book, don't downvote it.
List of the best John Irving books, ranked by voracious readers in the Ranker community. With commercial success and critical acclaim, there's no doubt that John Irving is one of the most popular authors of the last 100 years. So far Irving has had five of his novels turned into movies, including A Cider House Rules and A Prayer For Owen Meany. If you're a huge fan of his work, then vote on your favorite novels and memoirs below and make your opinion count. This poll is also a great resource for new fans of John Irving who want to know which novels they should start reading first. With memorable characters and excellent storytelling, there's no reason why you shouldn't check out his work if you're a big reader.
Examples include A Widow For One Year and The World According to Garp. What are John Irving's best novels? Vote on this list and help us definitively answer that question.
A Prayer for Owen Meany was the seventh novel by American writer John Irving. Published in 1989, it tells the story of John Wheelwright and his best friend Owen Meany growing up together in a small New Hampshire town during the 1950s and 1960s. According to John's narration, Owen is a remarkable boy in many ways; he believes himself to be God's instrument and sets out to fulfill the fate he has prophesied for himself.
The novel is also a homage to Günter Grass' most famous novel, The Tin Drum. Grass was a great influence for John Irving, as well as a close friend. The main characters of both novels, Owen Meany and Oskar Matzerath, share the same initials as well as some other ...more
The World According to Garp is John Irving's fourth novel. Published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years. It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 1979, and its first paperback edition won the Award the following year.
A movie adaptation of the novel starring Robin Williams was released in 1982, with a screenplay written by Steve Tesich.
BBC Radio 4's Classic Serial broadcast a three-part adaptation of the novel by Linda Marshall Griffiths in January 2014. The production was directed by Nadia Molinari and featured Miranda Richardson as Jenny, Lee Ingleby as Garp, Jonathan Keeble as Roberta and Lyndsey Marshal as Helen.
Author: John Irving
First Published: 1978
Subjects: Popular literature, Women, United States of America, 20th century
The Cider House Rules is a 1985 novel by John Irving. It is Irving's sixth published novel, and has been adapted into a film of the same name and a stage play by Peter Parnell.
A Widow for One Year is a 1998 bestselling work of fiction by John Irving, the ninth of his novels to be published.
The first section of the novel was made into the movie The Door in the Floor in 2004.
Last Night in Twisted River is a 2009 novel by American writer John Irving, his 12th since 1968. It was first published in the Netherlands by De Bezige Bij on September 1, 2009, in Canada by Knopf Canada on October 20, 2009, and in the United States by Random House on October 27, 2009. The novel spans five decades and is about a boy and his father who flee the logging community of Twisted River on the Androscoggin River in northern New Hampshire after a tragic accident. While on the run, the boy grows up to become a famous writer, writing eight semi-autobiographical novels. The book was included in Time's 2009 list of "the fall's most anticipated movies, books, TV shows, albums and ...more
