Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.)

Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose.

In Reading Like a Writer, Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers—Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov—and discovers why their work has endured. She takes pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's Middlemarch. She looks to John Le Carr? for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail, and to James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield for clever examples of how to employ gesture to create character. She cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted.

Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.

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Smarter Choice Reading Like a Writer From the Publisher:Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to...	23,982 reviews *smarter certified	$7.49	See it
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for... Authorship Language Arts - In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine...	Barnes & Noble	$14 $10.07 Coupon 2 coupons available Code:J7M3C9V Detail: 20% off single item when you use Master card at Barnes & Noble Expires:Dec-31-2009 Restriction:Unknow Code:No Code Required Detail: Free Shipping on orders of $25 at Barnes & Noble Expires:Jun-30-2010 Restriction:see site for more details	See it
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ProductReviews83/100 (88 Reviews)

Recent Reviews

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Sep-21-2009; Read this, and go back to the classics; I'm only 60 pages into the paperback version, which I just bought a few days ago....and I can't wait to finish it, just so I can go re-read all the classics that I feared, like Moby Dick. Ironically I recently got half way through Moby...; read full review | report as inappropriate

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Sep-12-2009; a "must-read" for book lovers; I'm a "love to read, wish I could write better" kind of person. I love how the author lays out the craft of composition through examples of great writing, reading this book is absorbing as well as a treasure of writing advice.; read full review | report as inappropriate

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jul-05-2009; Read to learn how to write; write to learn how to read; If you have been exposed to Literary Criticism or Creative Writing, you probably dash for the bar or the loo when a practioner comes within range. Here, though, is one you can stick around for. Perversely for her type, Ms. Prose loves...; read full review | report as inappropriate

3/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jul-03-2009; Another similar book; I saw some of the preview pages and got the impression that there is a lot of talking around the subject without getting to the nuts and bolts. Comparatively, a book that has a lot more meat and does a great job of dissecting the prose...; read full review | report as inappropriate

Selected Reviews

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Sep-21-2009; Read this, and go back to the classics; I'm only 60 pages into the paperback version, which I just bought a few days ago....and I can't wait to finish it, just so I can go re-read all the classics that I feared, like Moby Dick. Ironically I recently got half way through Moby...; read full review | report as inappropriate

3/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jul-03-2009; Another similar book; I saw some of the preview pages and got the impression that there is a lot of talking around the subject without getting to the nuts and bolts. Comparatively, a book that has a lot more meat and does a great job of dissecting the prose...; read full review | report as inappropriate

1/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jul-10-2008; Great concept. Poor execution; The concept is great. The product did not meet the promise. The presentation style was just too artsy-fartsy, like a bunch of undergraduate girls from the Seven Sisters, sitting around saying "Look how smart I am."I couldn't finish the...; read full review | report as inappropriate