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Uppity Water Nymph from the Land of Funk
- Feb 12, 2007
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A Prayer for Owen Meany is a novel by American writer John Irving, first published in 1989. It tells the story of John Wheelwright and his best friend Owen Meany growing up together in a small New England town during the 1950-60s. Owen is a remarkable boy in many ways; he believes himself to be God's instrument and journeys on a truly extraordinary path.
The novel is also a homage to Günther Grass' most famous novel The Tin Drum. Grass was a great influence for John Irving, as well as a close friend.
The main characters of both novels, Owen Meany and Oskar Matzerath, share the same initials as well as some other characteristics, and the stories show some parallels too.[1] Irving confirmed this explicitly in interviews and articles.[2] "A Prayer for Owen Meany", however, is a completely independent story and in no sense a copy of "The Tin Drum".
I love that book.
Some of my favs:
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (arguable the most perfect novel ever written)
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (even better than A Fire Upon the Deep)
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Steig Larsson
- His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
- The Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin
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