I have just read a delightful book titled Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose. (Link to Amazon is just for your information--feel free to check it out from the library!)
This book is about reading carefully for its own sake, but also for what it can teach you about writing. Ms. Prose (yes, that's her name) discusses how careful reading can help you with your writing. She has chapters with titles like "Words", "Sentences", and "Paragraphs". She talks about how careful reading can show you ways to handle your own writing, by having a selection of writers to read when you are stuck and in need of inspiration or instruction by example. Her book mentions a variety of authors and books to start you on your way.
I enjoyed this book just because I like to read about books, but it also inspired me with regard to writing. Read the reviews at Amazon and see if you think it would be a book for you.
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2 comments:
I would like to get that book. A few years ago, I found a book of my dad's from College that contained Essays. I loved the questions at the end and the commentaries that discussed such things as tone or what a writer may be trying to convey about his view of the "common man."
One of my favorite essays was about Christmas. The gist of the essay was that a master writer could really build up to that most holy day and describe all the majesty. He spoke of the flowery language and such worthy of the ocassion.
Then he constrasts by sharing the actual scriptures which were simple in language as the First Christmas is foretold. Simple and ever eloquent!
I am not sure if we still have the book or the name. I think it was published in the late 1960's.
Now that you mention it, Barb, I have a few of those anthologies that I bought for college classes. Some stories, some poems, and some essays. Like you, I enjoy the questions in the books because they help me to get more out of the reading and notice different things.
That Christmas essay you mention sounds interesting.
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