false 11768 39 Quirky, bizarre, tragic, fiendishly funny, "The Hotel New Hampshire" is anything but a conventional family saga, though a family saga it certainly is. The Berry family are different. Love abounds - both healthy and incestuous. It is the overwhelming desire of the Berry father to run a hotel, which he does, with dubious success, in both a former girls' school in New Hampshire, and in Vienna. It is the Berry children who grab the readers' attention, sympathies and love - all five of them: Frank (the eldest), Franny (the weirdest), John (the narrator), Lily (the writer) and Egg (the youngest). When Irving, or rather John, writes 'Frank's queer, Franny's weird, Lily's small and Egg is Egg' the initiated reader can do no other than shout a deafening 'yes, I know what you mean!' From there on, the reader is held spellbound as the family Labrador, Sorrow, is first stuffed then becomes the cruel victim of a plane crash; and as John and Franny realise their incestuous desires. Stunningly readable, mercilessly involving, "The Hotel New Hampshire" is peopled with characters - and bears - that you'll never forget. 1786995 book 1981 The Hotel New Hampshire total:9975|5:2465|4:3846|3:2860|2:665|1:139| 9975 37758 11548 472 4 29 false false Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jan 06 07:50:07 -0800 2009 Tue Sep 01 05:40:54 -0700 2009
First off, most Irving novels have some general characteristics:

- They typically have a Dickensian plot, in which you follow the characte...more...]]> 4 4 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Dec 15 12:34:31 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 12:35:24 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 4 false false Wed Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 17 09:29:53 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 07:36:51 -0700 2008
John Irving is one of America’s great writers. Happy Days was one of America’s most popular television shows. (Don’t worry this will make sense later)

Happy Days was beloved, but everyone knows there was one episode where e...more...]]> 4 4 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 15:00:47 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 15:08:04 -0700 2007
Anyway, the story revo...more...]]> 3 2 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Aug 21 09:04:34 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 02 11:14:25 -0800 2008
BT, yet again your 5 star rating is WRO...more...]]> 1 3 false false Wed Dec 03 19:13:17 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 03 19:16:47 -0800 2008 5 2 false false Thu May 07 09:30:41 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 08:49:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 2 false false Sun Apr 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 02:04:48 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 27 11:05:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Mar 21 10:00:37 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 21 10:06:03 -0700 2008
I really liked this book for the way in which it make...more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue May 15 20:22:47 -0700 2007 Tue May 15 20:26:34 -0700 2007
but this is one of my favorite books. it would be desert island number three, but it's a little too sad... i don't think...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Dec 12 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 12 10:16:17 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 10:16:17 -0800 2008 Has a lot in common with Garp an The Cider House Rules: casual storytelling, sympathetic characters, ...
If you like these two books, definitely read this one too.]]> 5 0 false true Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1984 Mon Aug 17 19:31:56 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 19:32:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1984 Mon Aug 17 19:06:26 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 19:28:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 14 07:21:18 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 07:30:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 true false Wed Mar 05 11:55:00 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 08:29:42 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Sun Jan 11 15:49:45 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 15:33:03 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Nov 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 15 14:15:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 15:14:19 -0800 2008
Italian food is good and it's satisfying. You're never hungry after an Italian meal, and some part of you realizes when you're looking at an Italian menu it's all the same thing, with minor twists. Spaghetti's your basic Italian ground zero - pasta, tomat...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Mar 05 14:19:03 -0800 2007 Mon Mar 12 09:46:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false true Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 14:19:55 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 11:53:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Jun 21 16:36:30 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 21 16:36:30 -0700 2007
I'm not a huge fan of John Irving, but I did managed to read several of his books during my early adu...]]>