The Hotel New Hampshire

The Berrys' are a somewhat quirky New Hampshire (USA) family, with parents who fell in love Summer working at a local resort; they have five kids, including John who narrates his family's story from some unspecified time in the future. Their family saga owning and running not one, not two, but three......more

Win(slow) Berry is a dreamer never satisfied with life, as it is. Always wanting to climb over the hill to see what's on the other side. It will always be better over there! An unhappy childhood with only one parent to raise him, a physical fitness fanatic rather cold but a good man... The single f......more

I've never much liked fancy dress. I've never been very good at it, either. It's my mum's fault, really. Every Halloween when I was a child, my mum would throw a black bin liner over me, colour in my nose with her mascara, and attach a sock she’d stuffed with newspapers to my bottom, before declarin......more

"So we dream on. Thus we invent our lives. We give ourselves a sainted mother, we make our father a hero; and someone's older brother, and someone's older sister - they become our heroes, too. We invent what we love, and what we fear. There is always a brave, lost brother - and a little lost sister,......more

This is one of my favorite books of all time, and is-for what it's worth-my favorite John Irving book in a world where everyone else picks The World According to Garp. It's the perfect blend of sad and sweet and strange, a combination that is quite difficult to pull off. Irving himself doesn't alway......more