I chose to give A Prayer for Owen Meany because the story is one of those that a person wants to read again and again.  Besides being incredibly well written, the story itself is one that stays in your heart and mind.  When you read a lot, you read many good books.  But, every so often, you feel truly fortunate when you pick up a book that is a joy to read because of the quality writing and the unforgettable characters.  In this case, there is a powerful story in A Prayer for Owen Meany that stays with the reader.  The story stays with you so much that you want to read it again and you want others to read it, too!

Susan Mee, Global Education Librarian and Online Learning, University Studies, CMS Library Liaison at Rochester Institute of Technology

I am giving away copies of A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. This novel remains one of my favorites for its meditation on fate and friendship, war and religion, difference and acceptance, self-exploration and sacrifice. Like The Tin Drum, from which Irving borrows several notable characteristics of his young protagonist, this is a funny novel about a serious character you will never forget.

Karen vanMeenen, Director of Special Projects at Writers & Books.

About the Book:

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.

In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary.