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What to Read to Write

A healthful and growing list of suggestions for reading about writing is going on in a post and subsequent comments on the blog Right Reading.

While I respectfully disagree with the recommendations for Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird” (to me, the chapter on dialogue felt like the only fruitful discussion on writing in the whole book), there are some good books being discussed.

And, of course, there’s the requisite discussion about how true artists shouldn’t need to read “self-help books” and other such pontificating. Sure, a great deal of writing how-to books are horseshit, but I can’t imagine how anyone who loves writing can’t get something out of reading about the process and the craft.

Read the list.

Related posts:

  1. Would You Write the Great American Novel or Screenplay?
  2. A Brief Review of “Stone Reader”
  3. A Star in the Sky to Guide You: Interview with Edward P. Jones, Part 2

Comments 2

  1. Armand wrote:

    thanks for the pointer – I’ll check it out.

    Armand

    Posted 12 Oct 2007 at 12:44 pm
  2. K.G. Schneider wrote:

    I can give most of “Bird by Bird” a pass. But after dissing it for several years, I re-read it and found that the chapter on “S—-y First Drafts” alone made this book worth buying and recommending. Plus she’s very funny and honest about a lot of issues, such as resenting writers who are better than she is. Anyway, thanks for the pointer!

    Posted 14 Oct 2007 at 10:06 pm

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