Trying to Save Piggy Sneed
20th Anniversary Edition
John Irving, Susan Cheever
- 460 Pages
- February 2, 2016
- ISBN: 9781628726282
Description
A commemorative hardcover edition of the only collection ever published of the celebrated novelist's shorter works.
Here is a treat for devoted fans of John Irving. First published twenty years ago, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed contains a dozen short works by the author, beginning with three memoirs. The longest of the memoirs is "The Imaginary Girlfriend," his candid account of his twin careers in writing and wrestling, which, as the Denver Post observed, is filled "with anecdotes that are every bit as hilarious as the antics in his novels . . . [and] combines the lessons of both obsessions."
The middle portion of the book is fiction. Over a career that spans thirteen novels, these are the six stories that Mr. Irving considers finished. Among them is "Interior Space," for which he won the O. Henry Award. In the third and final section are three homages: one to Günter Grass and two to Charles Dickens. To each of the twelve pieces, he has contributed author's notes, which provide some perspective on the circumstances surrounding the writing of each piece. For readers who prefer a hardcover, this commemorative edition is a book to treasure. For new readers, it is a perfect introduction to the author of works as moving and mischievous as The World According to Garp,A Prayer for Owen Meany, and In One Person.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fictionnovels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Here is a treat for devoted fans of John Irving. First published twenty years ago, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed contains a dozen short works by the author, beginning with three memoirs. The longest of the memoirs is "The Imaginary Girlfriend," his candid account of his twin careers in writing and wrestling, which, as the Denver Post observed, is filled "with anecdotes that are every bit as hilarious as the antics in his novels . . . [and] combines the lessons of both obsessions."
The middle portion of the book is fiction. Over a career that spans thirteen novels, these are the six stories that Mr. Irving considers finished. Among them is "Interior Space," for which he won the O. Henry Award. In the third and final section are three homages: one to Günter Grass and two to Charles Dickens. To each of the twelve pieces, he has contributed author's notes, which provide some perspective on the circumstances surrounding the writing of each piece. For readers who prefer a hardcover, this commemorative edition is a book to treasure. For new readers, it is a perfect introduction to the author of works as moving and mischievous as The World According to Garp,A Prayer for Owen Meany, and In One Person.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fictionnovels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Authors
John Irving is the author of thirteen novels. He won the National Book Award for his novel The World According to Garp. He also won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie based on his novel The Cider House Rules. His most recent novel, In One Person, won a 2013 Lambda Literary Award. In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Janet.
Reviews
"A rich, wonderful, and diverse look at the creative mind of one of America's most imaginative and passionate novelists." —Denver Post
“Supple and energetic as a stylist, Mr. Irving also knows just how to create in the reader's mind a vivid impression of an existing world—and just how to populate it.”—New York Times Book Review
[This] affable collection of fiction and nonfiction is never less than opinionated."—Detroit News/Free Press
"The essays on himself and other writers make the book valuable, for they tell us a great deal about Irving's view of fiction."—Newsday
"Irving proves himself, once again, a garrulous and engaging raconteur."—Publishers Weekly
"Candid . . . colorful . . . Those who have followed John Irving's writing career will delight in his newest, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed. . . . Readers will leave this book feeling as if they have had a terrific conversation with Irving about why he writes and how he goes about it."—USA
Today
"[This] newest book is a first for Irving: a collection of memoirs, short fiction, and essays. Trying to Save Piggy Sneed features tributes to Dickens and Günter Grass, whose novels percolate with a political and moral courage Irving admires. It also includes six short stories, a form Irving doesn't claim as his own. Reminiscences round out the collection, from his caustic recollections of an awkward dinner with former President Reagan to the title piece, in which the death of his town's garbage collector symbolically sparked the teenage Irving's desire to write."—Minneapolis Star Tribune
"These pieces are worth saving and savoring. . . . Trying to Save Piggy Sneed is a welcome oasis on the long desert passage leading to John Irving's next novel."—Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer
“Supple and energetic as a stylist, Mr. Irving also knows just how to create in the reader's mind a vivid impression of an existing world—and just how to populate it.”—New York Times Book Review
[This] affable collection of fiction and nonfiction is never less than opinionated."—Detroit News/Free Press
"The essays on himself and other writers make the book valuable, for they tell us a great deal about Irving's view of fiction."—Newsday
"Irving proves himself, once again, a garrulous and engaging raconteur."—Publishers Weekly
"Candid . . . colorful . . . Those who have followed John Irving's writing career will delight in his newest, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed. . . . Readers will leave this book feeling as if they have had a terrific conversation with Irving about why he writes and how he goes about it."—USA
Today
"[This] newest book is a first for Irving: a collection of memoirs, short fiction, and essays. Trying to Save Piggy Sneed features tributes to Dickens and Günter Grass, whose novels percolate with a political and moral courage Irving admires. It also includes six short stories, a form Irving doesn't claim as his own. Reminiscences round out the collection, from his caustic recollections of an awkward dinner with former President Reagan to the title piece, in which the death of his town's garbage collector symbolically sparked the teenage Irving's desire to write."—Minneapolis Star Tribune
"These pieces are worth saving and savoring. . . . Trying to Save Piggy Sneed is a welcome oasis on the long desert passage leading to John Irving's next novel."—Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer
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