Here is a treat for John Irving addicts and a perfect introduction to his work for the uninitiated.  To open this spirited collection, Irving explains how he became a writer.  There follow six scintillating stories written over the last twenty years ending with a homage to Charles Dickens.  This irresistible collection cannot fail to delight and charm. A first for Irving: a collection of memoirs, short fiction, and essays. Trying to Save Piggy Sneed features tributes to Dickens and Gunter 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 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. "An absolute must." -- London Free Press "His characters delight, their situations intrigue and the world takes on new and meaningful hues." -- Peterborough Examiner "Hilarious.  Highly enjoyable stories with zany plots and unforgettable characters, made all the more readable by Irving's silky smooth prose." -- The Independent Here is a treat for John Irving addicts and a perfect introduction to his work for the uninitiated. To open this spirited collection, Irving explains how he became a writer. There follow six scintillating stories written over the last twenty years ending with a homage to Charles Dickens. This irresistible collection cannot fail to delight and charm. "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." *The New York Times Book Review "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." *The Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer "ENGAGINGLY CANDID . . . The essays on himself and other writers make the book valuable, for they tell us a great deal about Irving's views of fiction, much in the public eye since the success of Garp in 1978." *Newsday "A rich, wonderful and diverse look into the creative mind of one of America's most imaginative and passionate novelists. . . . Irving again proves he has enough imagination for 10 writers." *The Denver Post John Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp . In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules —a film with seven Academy Award nominations.