John Irving is Back in the Book Case

The Book Case

ABC News

Fiction, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.1 • 766 Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When this podcast was in its infancy, John Irving joined us to talk about his work and what he described as “his last big novel,” that was, at the time, still being written. It is now “in better bookstores everywhere” as they say. And “big” is something of an understatement. “The Last Chairlift” is close to 900 pages! Is it worth that much an investment of time? If you’re a John Irving admirer—how can you say no? And we are among John’s many admirers. The novel has all of John’s familiar themes: the search for an unknown father, sexual politics, a highly unusual family, ghosts as well as skiing, wrestling and Exeter Academy. John even includes a couple of screenplays as part of the story. Reading “The Last Chairlift” is a significant investment of time, but it is both moving and entertaining. This is our second conversation with John Irving, and he never fails to fascinate us. Books in this podcast: The Last Chairlift by John Irving Setting Free the Bears by John Irving The Water-Method Man by John Irving The 158-Pound Marriage by John Irving The World According to Garp by John Irving The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving The Cider House Rules by John Irving A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Trying to Save Piggy Sneed by John Irving A Son of the Circus by John Irving The Imaginary Girlfriend by John Irving A Widow for One Year by John Irving My Movie Business: A Memoir by John Irving The Fourth Hand by John Irving Until I Find You by John Irving Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving In One Person by John Irving Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Moby Dick by Herman Melville Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy A Saint from Texas by Edmund White A Previous Life by Edmund White Original Prin by Randy Boyagoda Dante's Indiana by Randy Boyagoda The Absolutist by John Boyne The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne A History of Loneliness by John Boyne The Way Home by Kardea Brown South of Broad by Pat Conroy Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This holiday season, surprise everyone on your list with the best gifts.
0:04.3	Tickets to see their favorite artists live.
0:06.5	Choose from thousands of concerts and comedy shows, including Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Matt Matthews, Metallica, Thomas Rett, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Sarah Silverman, and so many more.
0:19.4	Share a memory together or give a gift they'll never forget. Find the most
0:23.6	exciting gift for every fan at LiveNation.com slash gifts. That's livenation.com slash gifts.
0:29.3	Welcome to the bookcase. If you've been here before, welcome back. If not, we're rolling out the welcome
0:45.0	mat for you and only you. I used to love those ads for the Motel 6, the Tom Bodette. I'm Tom Bodette.
0:51.6	We'll leave the light on for you. So if you're new, welcome to the bookcase,
0:55.9	we've left the light on for you. And I'm here, I'm here, too, Charlie Gibson, I'm the father,
1:00.9	and we welcome you to the bookcase. And this is a big show, big show, big show, big book, big show.
1:07.6	Why? Well, it's a big book we're talking about, and so it ought to be classified as a big show. Why? Well, it's a big book we're talking about, and so it ought to be classified
1:12.2	as a big show. John Irving is our guest. John was kind enough to help us inaugurate this podcast
1:20.1	many weeks ago, and we've always enjoyed talking to, and we are both big fans of his. He told us
1:26.8	in the podcast a few weeks ago that he was
1:29.8	really working on his last big book. That as he approaches and it now has passed, his 80th birthday,
1:37.3	he doesn't know if he has many long novels left in him. And he thought this would be his last big one.
1:42.8	And boy, is it big. The last chairlift?
1:45.9	How long, Kate? Close to 900 pages. I think the exact number is 889, but I could be wrong.
1:52.1	I would hate to think, you know, John says he writes in longhand. So if you put the pages together
1:57.9	of the legal pad, I think if, I mean, I don't even want to picture what it
2:02.9	would have looked like. John writes about lovable characters based in reality who are
2:11.6	pretty weird. I mean, they're unusual. They're eccentric.
	...

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