On John Irving

We were wowed by a review copy of this author's book, and we called Dave. Could his friend come and sign books for us while he was in town? No way he'll agree, Dave told us. But I'll give you his address and you can ask him yourselves. Dave did, we wrote a letter, and the answer was, 'Sure, put some beer in the snow and I'll come in one night after we get off the slopes.' Invitations have gone out, but no matter how we enthuse, no one seems ecstatic at the prospect of meeting this little-known novelist. ......