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About a week ago I have finally finished reading ‘Reading Like a Writer – A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them’ by Francine Prose.
I purposefully took quite a long time to read this book, for a number of reasons. The two most important ones are the book advises taking time to actively read books and also the book itself has a plethora of fantastic excerpts that were well worth reading nice and slow, to absorb and enjoy them to the fullest.
However the primary reason to pick up this book would be to learn at least how to read books and hopefully how too write them. ‘Reading Like a Writer’ goes a long way to helping people learn how to both read and write books. It is a fantastic read, well worth the investment in time and money to pick this book up and find it a place on your shelf.
At first glance, this book seems like it is so well structured that it will be too rigid to deal properly with the artistic side of writing. A look at the table of contents reinforces that with chapters starting with ‘Close Reading’ and going through what appears like a grammar lesson. As soon as you start actually reading the book you see that Ms Francine Prose is not going to write nearly as rigid as the table of contents hints. She weaves tales about times when she was a professor, laced with lines from famous books and filled with advice on how to read books. While she does her best to give definitive answers to any questions that come up, she quickly presents examples of excellent writing that breaks any rules that she tries to present. The second to last chapter ‘Learning from Chekhov’ is pretty much an exercise on how to break any and every rule in writing and get away with it.
The overall theme of the book? Pay strict attention, and do your best to follow the rules of writing, except when breaking the rules would be much more entertaining.
This book is well written, one not to skip over for the serious reader and the future writer.
Title: Reading Like a Writer – A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them
Author: Francine Prose
Date Published: 2006
Publisher: Harper Collins Press
Format: Hardcover, 268pp
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-077704-3
About Writing and Courage...
When we think about how many terrifying things people are called on to do every day as they fight fires, defend their rights, perform brain surgery, give birth, drive on the freeway, and wash skyscraper windows, , it seems frivolous, self-indulgent, and self-important to talk about writing as an act of courage. What could be safer than sitting at your desk, lightly tapping a few keys, pushing your chair back, and pausing to see what marvelous tidbit of art your brain has brought forth to amuse you?
And yet most people who have tried to write have experienced not only the need for bravery but a failure of nerve as the real or imagined consequences, faults and humiliations, exposures and inadequacies dance before their eyes and across the empty screen or page. The fear of writing badly, of revealing something you would rather keep hidden, of losing the good opinion of the world, of violating your own high standards, or of discovering something about yourself that you would just as soon not know - those are just a few of the phantoms scary enough to make the writer wonder if there might be a job available washing skyscraper windows.
Francine Prose - "Reading like a Writer"
Renaissance Jack
Just Jack, but I wish I were a true Renaissance Man. I dabble in all, am a master of none. I am the voice of reason even when I look like a fool.