John Irving-a legendary author

A special event occurred last night that I want to share but also to remember the details. At UVM, I had the privilege of attending John Irving's reading of a section from the manuscript of a book that he is currently writing. John Irving is one of my all-time favorite authors. He tops the list along with other notable authors I admire such as Chris Bohjalian (a local Vermonter), Wally Lamb and Barbara Kingsolver. I have most, if not all, of their books which are worth reading over and over. In my mind, the fact that I reread those authors' books makes them legendary. It is so rare to find books that you are willing to reread. I'm not a classics person so the classics are not my cup of tea. I have no doubt that John Irving's books will become classics when my grandchildren are grown.

Prior to John's reading of his manuscript, he seemed to falter as he spoke a bit about his life growing up with his friend who introduced him and who is happening to be running for Senator in Vermont. This event turned out to be a political propaganda intertwined with a reading which I found amusing. I started thinking that maybe John was one of those authors who just don't have the public speaking skills. He changed my mind after he read from his manuscript. I was able to follow along using a copy of his manuscript from the interpreters and lipread him. That experience was the very first time I truly enjoyed a book reading. It is impossible to enjoy his words through ASL because interpretation is involved so I would not reading John's OWN words. I was thankful that he trusted the interpreters with his manuscript even with an unfortunate past experience with interpreters who kept the copy of his manuscript and made copies of it to share with others. John read from his manuscript beautifully, emphasizing certain words and adding his own facial expressions. I was able to read ahead a couple of sentences at a time and then lipread him speaking those sentences, read ahead again, look up to lipread those sentences, and so on.

After the reading, John spoke without faltering and answered questions with humor, unlike his speech before the reading. Through the reading of his manuscript, his true personality came out. He is truly as funny as he is in his books, even funnier when reading from his manuscript. For the first time that I can remember, I was able participate a reading from an author and truly enjoy it. Through him, I learned more about the characters in his books, Owen Meany, Johnny Wheelwright and Garp, for example. He also shared how he wrote his books: always beginning with the end, the last sentence or the last paragraph(s). Once he knows what happens at the end, the whole story is already in his head and all he has to do is sit down and deal with putting the story into the English language. If the story does not have an end, there is no book. John also has no mapping system or fancy techniques of keeping his story straight. The only thing "special" that he does is write his drafts by hand because it forces him to slow down and really focus on the language. Writing his drafts by hand leads to less mistakes with the language compared to typing it out. Learning this tidbit about him made him more real, for me at least. Now when I read his books, I can imagine how it was done.

John also shared a humorous moment from the Oscar awards night when his screenplay for "Cider House Rules" was up for nomination. The award for that category was near the very end. By that point, John really had to use the bathroom after drinking copious amounts of water. When he received his award and walked towards backstage, the first thing he knew he had to do was find a men's restroom. He asked Tom Cruise but Tom's response indicated that he did not know and John interpreted it as Tom being too cool to use the restroom. Tom's ex-wife Nicole Kidman was able to assist John. Once in the bathroom, John struggled with what to do with his brand-new Oscar while using the urinal. Putting the Oscar on the floor or on the urinal didn't seem right to him. A booming voice in an Austrian accent asked John if he could be of any assistance. John, having lived in Austria for some time, recognize the accent but as he looked up, it was Arnold Schwarzenegger, the very last person he would want to run into at the urinals. John responded that he was fine. When he told his wife the story, she wondered if Arnold meant to assist with the Oscar or with something else. At that point, the audience, including myself, was in hysterics.

After the question and answer session, John sat to sign books. I had brought his Until I Find You book because one, it's only one of the three hardcover books I had of his and secondly, this book was more personal for him with the incorporation of his life stories and personal experiences, I felt it was more appropriate for him to sign it. While he signed my book, I thanked him for allowing me to read from his manuscript. He responded that it was no problem. Seeing John in the flesh was amazing for me and I saw that he is a very warm and gregarious man. Not only that, he is so very passionate about women's right to choose and marriage equality for all. For someone of his generation, it's amazing to see that passion. When he made flippant remarks about religion, I then realized that he and I were more alike than I ever imagined we could be. It was a privilege to meet such a legendary author and my most favorite author to boot. My fascination with him all began with Owen Meany (A Prayer for Owen Meany) and I was hooked from then on. Now I just need to collect and read four books that I don't have of his: Last Night in Twisted River (the newest book), My Movie Business, The Imaginary Girlfriend, and Trying to Save Peggy Sneed.

If you have not read any of his books, please go and do so right NOW. Start with A Prayer for Owen Meany which I've probably read 3 times and even backpacked Europe with it. It is *that* good. You won't regret it. :)