Trying to Save Piggy Sneed is a most interesting assortment of memoir, short stories, and essays. I enjoyed Irving's stories about wrestling and being a referee for that sport, his intriguing short stories, and the explanations of them that followed. Also, he has quite a few interesting anecdotes, especially the one about meeting Thomas Mann's daughter on a plane, quite by coincidence. (Elizabeth Mann Borgese was an oceanographer who had trained her dog, Claudio, to play piano. I am not making this up.)

John Irving's stories and commentary about other writers and novels always inspires me to read more. That Great Expectations was the work that made Irving want to write may propel me to read it again sometime, and certainly to read more Dickens.

Of the short stories featured in this collection, I was especially captivated by The Pension Grillparzer, and the commentary that followed. Shockingly, I have still not read The World According to Garp, but when I do, I will have a special appreciation for it...

My copy of this book is a paperback that is identified as fiction on its spine. As usual, that's not the entire picture. Anyone who enjoys John Irving will find much of interest in this memoir.