i hate Mr. Irving

I say "Mr." not out of respect, but b/c I don't know if it's John or Jon or something else...and I really don't care

He's written two books that look really gut wrenching in the last 10 years, give or take a few...and in both of those books he brags about his elite world of art-making, i.e.: ONE YEAR WIDOW, he basically says "if you wanna be cool like me, here's how", and in one of his more recent books that I can't remember the name of (it has an image of a heart with an arrow on the hardcover edition, has a lot of pink on it) he writes about his filmmaker buddies' lifestyle.

and prior to ONE YEAR WIDOW, I don't know if he's written anything of any substantial weight, and if he had, I don't think I care, b/c it probably wasn't written too long before ONE YEAR WIDOW (THE CIDER HOUSE RULES looks OK...don't know anything about it or the film that was based on it that makes me want to read it...) and he's been doing his line of work for over 20 years (more like 30 I think...) and the only 2 pieces of work I know of his that are from his early days are THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP and THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE (sp?), both of which look mildly interesting and probably also include bits and/or paragraphs about the trials and tribulations of his line of work.

If I wrote books/stories/whatever worthy of publishing, I wouldn't have any reason to read anything by John Irving (I think it's with an "h"...still not 100% sure...). But since the publishing world relies on mediocrity so it can sell more books by more authors, I a) have a better chance of getting published, supposing I could ever finish anything I start writing and b) although, based on what people seem to think of John Irving's writing, he seems more likely less mediocre than some authors, but he's still not good enough to speak for all writers and/or himself. Published books are meant to be READ, by people of all walks of life, and they are meant to be about things that are CORE; important, elemetal to the human condition, not things like fashion, popularity, or all that junk. Writing about a person that wrote something that inspired you to write what you are currently writing is just writing in circles. Like technology, art should progress, not stagnate or go around itself.

Also, art HAS progressed, at least superficially. For movies, the technology that enables them to be made has changed, progressed, thus the audience CERTAINLY does not want to see a soiled old silent film, and, unfortunately, for books, the audience has degressed; is less intellegent, less inclined to read anything long winded and full of minor details, less understanding of a words' meaning etc.;...
So, given that books aren't anything like they were 150+ years ago, what book(s) speak to the hearts and minds of human beings on Earth? What book can be THE ULTIMATE book, the only book that should EVER be read (aside from instruction manuals and non-fiction/"non-fiction"...), the only book to show what generation you are from, to show aliens that your generation is not merely a bunch of ignorant lazy funk-heads and that people in your time, in your lifetime, actually had something to contribute?

What book?

A book that pays tribute to some other book by mentioning "the art of writing", or the very existence of books themselves?