A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

    Când am început cartea asta am avut senzația că o să-mi notez o mulțime de citate din ea. A fost printre puținele cărți la care, citindu-le pe Kindle, mi-a părut rău că nu o am în format fizic - aș fi subliniat o mulțime de pasaje în ea. 

   

Your memory is a monster; you forget—it doesn’t. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you — and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!

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It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change.

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I’m not afraid, but I’m very nervous.

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“Further along” is fairly specific compared to other New Hampshire forms of directions; we don’t enjoy giving directions in New Hampshire—we tend to think that if you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t belong where you are.

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     John Irving scrie atât de frumos că și cel mai plictisitor subiect m-ar ține cu sufletul la gură, doar ca să văd cum înlănțuie cuvintele. Dar A prayer for Own Meany nu are un subiect plictisitor, este povestea profundă și captivantă a vieții și a relației dintre doi buni prieteni, John Wheelwright și Owen Meany, atingând teme precum destinul, credința, prietenia și sacrificiul într-un mod remarcabil.

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Citită în noiembrie 2020

The World According to Garp - John Irving

"If you hated it, why'd you read it, Jillsy?" John Wolf asked her.
"Same reason I read anythin' for," Jillsy said. "To find out what happens."
John Wolf stared at her.
"Most books you know nothin's gonna happen," Jillsy said. "Lawd, you know that. Other books," she said, "you know just what's gonna happen, so you don't have to read them, either. But this book," Jillsy said, "this book's so sick you know somethin's gonna happen, but you can't imagine what. You got to be sick yourself to imagine what happens in this book," Jillsy said.
"So you read it to find out?" John Wolf said.
"There surely ain't no other reason to read a book, is there?" Jillsy Sloper said. 

LE:

With his eyes, Garp tried to reassure her: don't worry - so what if there is no life after death? There is life after Garp, believe me. Even if there is only death after death (after death), be grateful for small favors - sometimes there is birth after sex, for example. And, if you are very fortunate, sometimes there is sex after birth! [..] And if you have life, said Garp's eyes, there is hope you'll have energy. And never forget, there is memory.