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Reading Like a Writer

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 4,071 ratings · 641 reviews

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,...more

ebook, 320 pages

Published August 22nd 2006 by HarperCollins

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Nov 26, 2012 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Those Who Want to Learn Close Reading

Shelves: about-books, observation, writing, writers

Slow down. If you want to read like a writer, slow down. With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up, but it’s essential to slow down and to read every word whenever reading serious literature. This is the the theme of “Reading Like a Writer.” Serious writers put every word on trial before committing to them, and serious readers need to pay close attention to those words. Francine Prose attempts to teach the technique of “close reading.” This may be obvious to some, bu...more

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Sep 07, 2008 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

According to Francine Prose, creative writing cannot, in fact, be taught, but would-be writers can learn by studying the masters -- among others, Bruce Wagner, Jonathan Franzen, Alice Munro, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Scott Spencer. Prose is a proponent of New Criticism -- the philosophy that works can be understood only by reading of the work as an entity unto itself, and not by reference to external indicia, like the author's life or political beliefs. In keeping with that philosophy, Prose sele...more According to Francine Prose, creative writing cannot, in fact, be taught, but would-be writers can learn by studying the masters -- among others, Bruce Wagner, Jonathan Franzen, Alice Munro, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Scott Spencer. Prose is a proponent of New Criticism -- the philosophy that works can be understood only by reading of the work as an entity unto itself, and not by reference to external indicia, like the author's life or political beliefs. In keeping with that philosophy, Prose selects passages that she considers to be prime examples of effective writing, encouraging readers to linger over the words and savor them, rather than speed reading, and to read closely, with careful attention to each word and phrase (a technique you might have encountered as "close reading").

Above all, Prose admires the well-wrought sentence, the result of a painstaking, thoughtful use of language, which in turn she likens to painting or composing music. To show readers how to appreciate the writer's craft, Prose highlights passages from various authors, examining closely how their language creates characterization, rhythm, or mood. Though you might be a bit dubious about this approach at the beginning of this book (didn't we learn how to do this close reading stuff a while ago, in school?), Prose manages to excite, not bore, with her explication of how to discern the many minute decisions that authors have to make with every word, and how those decisions shape a work and a reader's reaction to the plot and characters. By the end, I was eager to go and read many of the books on the list of reading she considers essential -- her "Books to Be Read Immediately."

Of course, as with all such lists, people will take issue with inclusion of certain books and exclusion of others. Some people (I'm talking to you, Bookslut) have criticized this book for its undue attention to "dead white men," presumably because Prose is overly taken with the likes of John Cheever, Charles Dickens, and Anton Chekhov. This criticism is, not to put too fine a point on it, really fucking stupid. I'm all for inclusion and diversity, but good writing is good writing. And yes, Prose focuses mainly on white men, but she also pays close and extended attention to Jane Austen, ZZ Packer, Louisa May Alcott, Mavis Galant, Tatyana Tolstaya, Diane Johnson, and James Baldwin.

On the whole, Prose provides an entertaining and wise take on why good writing can move a reader.(less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Lewis Weinstein rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: writing

Reading Like a Writer has certainly made me a better reader, and perhaps a better writer. I was worried that "reading like a writer" would make reading more of a chore and less enjoyable. Not so. For me, it enhances my reading pleasure to stop every once in a while and consider what the writer is doing, and why, and how well. This approach is very helpful in editing my own writing.

I have accumulated many thoughts about writing, from Francine Prose and other sources, on my author blog. These thou...more

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Sep 03, 2008 C.J. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-on-writing, classics-literary

I really enjoyed this book and the author's focus on the finer points of writing. She references dozens of classic works and discusses word choice, sentences, paragraph structure, voice and many other fundamentals of writing fiction.

Her comments are geared to literary writers and often I felt insulted (as a lowly thriller writer). At one point she says, "Opening a mass-market thriller at random," and she quotes a horrible passage that I didn't recognize. She's telling us that mass-market thrille...more

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Nov 01, 2008 Conrad rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Overall very good. I tend to skim books a lot when I get to parts that bore me, and then I end up falling into the habit and skimming all the time. Reading this restored the pleasure and argued well for the necessity of careful, time-consuming reading (I have no idea how Francine Prose has had time to read everything she's read.)

My favorite chapters by far were the ones on dialog and sentences. Writing dialog is really tricky, and she doles out a lot of good advice.

(Once, in college, I brought a...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Madeline rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: assigned-reading

First, let me get this out of the way: Francine Prose is the absolute best name for an author, ever. Some people get all the luck.

Okay, on to the actual book. Prose basically starts by saying, I'm a creative writing teacher and I kind of dislike creative writing workshops. She then spends each chapter going over a specific element of style used in novels - in case you were wondering, the chapter titles go like this: Close Reading, Words, Sentences, Paragraphs, Narration, Character, Dialogue, De...more First, let me get this out of the way: Francine Prose is the absolute best name for an author, ever. Some people get all the luck.

Okay, on to the actual book. Prose basically starts by saying, I'm a creative writing teacher and I kind of dislike creative writing workshops. She then spends each chapter going over a specific element of style used in novels - in case you were wondering, the chapter titles go like this: Close Reading, Words, Sentences, Paragraphs, Narration, Character, Dialogue, Details, Gesture, Learning from Chekhov, and Reading for Courage. The book ends with her list of Books To Be Read Immediately, which I found very helpful.
The chapter on sentences was my favorite, just for the way Prose just plain geeks out on the subject of sentences:
"To talk to another writer about sentences feels like forging a connection based on the most intimate and arcane sort of shop-talk, much the way mathematicians might bond on the basis of a shared admiration for some obscure, elegant theorem. Every so often I'll hear writers say that there are other writers they would read if for no other reason than to marvel at the skill with which they can put together the sort of sentences that move us to read closely, to disassemble and reassemble them, much the way a mechanic might learn about an engine by taking it apart.
The well-made sentence transcends time and genre. A beautiful sentence is a beautiful sentence, regardless of when it was written, or whether it appears in a play or a magazine article. Which is just one of the many reasons why it's pleasurable to read outside of one's own genre. The writer of the lyrical fiction or of the quirkiest, most free-form stream-of-consciousness novel can learn by paying close attention to the sentences of the most logical author of the exactingly reasoned personal essay. Indeed, the brilliant sentences in Rebecca West's journalism and travel writing often outsparkle those with which she composed her novels. This may suggest the possibility that certain writers' sentences improve in proportion to the density and the gravity of the information they have to impart."

Wow.

Read for: Creative Writing workshop(less)

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Oct 27, 2008 Mandapants rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The trouble with Prose's book is that it's good. It's annoyingly like finding oil changing advice in the New York Times crossword or having your wine snob friend demonstrate the way to lay drywall with metaphors drawn from the bouquet of their favorite shiraz.

Still, Prose brings up several excellent points. Her section on gesture is particularly good; it's easily as illuminating and Stephen King's hatred of adverbs. But I think what I will take away most from this book is her advice for when you...more

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Sep 15, 2007 Lunamania rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all

The NY Times Book Review has a special slot on my Sunday schedule. In this a.d.d. world, it affirms that books, and more importantly, the time consuming process of mulling over words and putting together sentences that convey thoughts clearly--the act of writing, is still valued. Book Reviews in the Times generally go on for 3 pages before even mentioning the actual book and then it gets like 2 paragraphs--with a quick reference to a third book for comparison. I'm fine with that. They're always...more The NY Times Book Review has a special slot on my Sunday schedule. In this a.d.d. world, it affirms that books, and more importantly, the time consuming process of mulling over words and putting together sentences that convey thoughts clearly--the act of writing, is still valued. Book Reviews in the Times generally go on for 3 pages before even mentioning the actual book and then it gets like 2 paragraphs--with a quick reference to a third book for comparison. I'm fine with that. They're always well written and this sort of reviewer is often not a book critic per se, but an "expert" in the subject matter. So historians compare the book with others exploring related disasters/discoveries; political consultants frame the ideas against the prevailing strategies of whatever domestic/foreign policy; and professors parse the un/successful efforts to riff on various writerly, pop culture, way back in the day, or other influence. It's a macro read of the big concepts in a book. I enjoy reading them in part because it's reassuring to know that books are still subjects of and a means to explore big and small ideas.

Those reviews make some parts of my brain feel bigger, but they have never made me feel close to the reviewer or author. I'm often left thinking, "That was a very smart intellectual exercise. So was it a good book? Was it well written? Did it have funnies? Do you even LIKE to read?" Reading with Francine Prose is like the opposite of this macro read. She's like my new best friend. She shares her exuberance for a well chosen quirky word and graceful sentences and reminds me of the pleasures of savoring each word. She loves to read. She writes well about her love of reading--not an easy meta task. This book reminded me of all the reasons why it's SO WRONG that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a book last year. Anyway, I've been carting this around and making mental appointments to read snippets of it at a time--kind of like a cozy coffee date with a new friend. Check it out. (less)

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Jul 09, 2007 shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: bibliophiles

Shelves: loved

I've never read Francine Prose's fiction. But I wouldn't put it past her to be the most well read, articulate and accessible bibliophile currently operating. It seems she knows EVERYTHING, but she never makes me feel stupid or base in my reading choices. Instead, she is absolutely inspirational. It was all I could do not to put this book down at every page and run to the bookstore to scoop up and devour to classics that she brings to life through example, examination and pure joyful love of the...more

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Oct 21, 2008 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction-reference, inspirational-hoohah, craft_and_criticism

[10/21/08: Realized I hadn't yet read the final two essays in this book, so polished 'em off. Still love this user-friendly close-reading instructional, despite its sometimes tendency to verge over into a starry-eyed gee-Mr.-Wizard tone that verges on condescension. Instructional and inspiring even if occasionally annoying.]

I've been parceling out the essays in this book, reading many books between each one, because the book is such a joy. Prose does more to explain how character, tone, what-hav...more

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Nov 11, 2008 Robert rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone interested in literature, especially ficton.

Reading Like a Writer synthesizes Francine Prose's lifetime's experience in literature--as a reader, a writer, and a teacher. It's a splendid book because it is so learned, well-written, and insightful, presenting fiction (that's Prose's literary focus) in its component guises of words, sentences, paragraphs, narrative strategies, and telling details.

Francine Prose emphasizes close reading to best appreciate literary effects. She's not a member of a critical school; that never made sense to her....more Reading Like a Writer synthesizes Francine Prose's lifetime's experience in literature--as a reader, a writer, and a teacher. It's a splendid book because it is so learned, well-written, and insightful, presenting fiction (that's Prose's literary focus) in its component guises of words, sentences, paragraphs, narrative strategies, and telling details.

Francine Prose emphasizes close reading to best appreciate literary effects. She's not a member of a critical school; that never made sense to her. What made sense, from early on, was pondering James Joyce's diction, the rhythms of Tim O'Brien's incantatory sentences, the cunning of Isaac Babel's paragraphs, and the mastery of Chekhov's revealing details. In all cases, and many more (she cites Tolstoy, Cheever, Richard Yates, Henry Green, Kafka, Juan Rulfo, etc.) Prose illustrates her points with excerpts that go on as long as necessary. There are instances of such excerpts lasting a page or even two pages.

Yet this isn't a textbook; it's more a summary of discussions, observations, and debates that have gone on in writing workshops and literary seminars she's conducted at colleges and universities across the US for decades.

Prose excels in offering potential "rules" for writing vivid, compelling fiction, and then debunking those rules. Her penultimate chapter, focused on Chekhov, is a study in what might be called "the exceptionalism of genius."

I found Prose's defense of the sufficiency of fiction unto itself--not needing excessive theoretical interpretation--effortlessly compelling. Without belaboring the point, she frequently adverts to the ways in which fiction points in directions beyond reason and fact toward paradoxically convincing uncertainties. Fiction is best when it's definite and concrete, yet it is never a math problem with a rules-based answer to the calculations it provokes.

The final chapter focuses on how hard it has been for writers like Flaubert, Babel, and others to fulfill their sense of inspiration. Prose makes good use of their letters and diary entries to substantiate the utter uncertainty of a given story or novel, word by word, sentence by sentence.

This book will make better readers of writers, and better writers of fiction. It's written with humility and humor. A lot of fun.

As a bonus, there is a list at the very end of the book suggesting titles that must be read immediately...as if your life depended on it. This is a handy guide for revisiting Prose's observations in the context of complete works, most of them masterpieces, large and small.(less)

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Jul 29, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2007, critical-theory

I was eagerly awaiting the paperback edition to read this, it sounded so interesting. And it was. Is. Grr. Don't worry, it's not about grammar or punctuation. This is about reading for enjoyment and also for inspiration, motivation, guidance, example....

Divided into chapters on words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, dialogue, gestures - you get the picture - Prose (isn't that the most perfect name?!) uses analysis, anecdotes and extensive quotes to bring books and short stories to life.

The f...more I was eagerly awaiting the paperback edition to read this, it sounded so interesting. And it was. Is. Grr. Don't worry, it's not about grammar or punctuation. This is about reading for enjoyment and also for inspiration, motivation, guidance, example....

Divided into chapters on words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, dialogue, gestures - you get the picture - Prose (isn't that the most perfect name?!) uses analysis, anecdotes and extensive quotes to bring books and short stories to life.

The first chapter, on Close Reading, was very reassuring and gave me cause to be quite pleased with myself too. (Writers are perhaps the most needy of people, constantly needing reassurance and a bolstering of the ego.) She offers advice to new writers on reading books like 'professional' writers do:

I read closely, word by word, sentence by sentence, pondering each deceptively minor decision the writer had made. And though it's impossible to recall every source of inspiration and instruction, I can remember the novels and stories that seemed to me revelations: wells of beauty and pleasure that were also textbooks, private lessons in the art of fiction. ... What writers know is that, ultimately, we learn to write by practice, hard work, by repeated trial and error, success and failure, and from the books we admire.

This is so true. From the time I could read - also the time I could write - I was fascinated by how stories were created, formed, structured, plotted. I was the only kid in my class, if not my entire primary school, who wrote what the teachers called "sagas" (a new word for me): very involved stories, complete with dialogue, plot, beginning, middle, ending, and illustrations. Even my punctuation - learnt from reading - was spot-on. I'm sure they weren't particularly original, but they satisfied a great, urgent need in me, and still do. I also learnt - and continue to learn - vocabulary: I can still remember discovering the word "melancholy" from a book I was reading in grade 5, and it was fun to work out the meanings of new words from the context in which they were used. Sadly, this means I often struggle to give a dictionary-definition of a word; I'm more likely to put it in a sentence and expect people to get it like I do. Better get better at that if I want to be a teacher!

Different books got me started on experimenting with different styles. After reading the Silver Brumby books, for instance, I practiced writing description, creating pieces that weren't even complete short stories, often discarded, like sketches. After reading Georgette Heyer's Regency romances (don't knock 'em till you've read 'em!), I practiced dialogue - she has a great knack for it. And so on.

The works that Francine Prose quotes from are a little more sophisticated than the ones I used growing up, but the principle is the same. Her chapters on gestures and details is a great reference for me - they're often overlooked aspects in my writing, that still needs a lot of work. I fear cliches, which are almost unavoidable. She leans towards Chekov, Flannery O'Connor, Joyce, Flaubert, Kleist, Alice Munro, Melville, Austen, Paula Fox and Henry Green, for example - only a few of the books she mentions or uses in analysis have I read. A particularly fun chapter, Character, starts with an anecdote of the time when, slightly out of mischief, she assigned a story by Heinrich von Kleist called The Marquise of O- to a group of students in Utah: all mormons, which was about a lady who was raped by the chivalrous knight while unconscious after he'd saved her from a fire (during a battle), and so on, only to discover that the students came alive in their discussions and talked about the characters like they knew them personally.

The problem with this book is it gets you so impatient not only to start reading these works of literature, but also to go back over your own writing and see what traps, if any, you've fallen into, or how you can lift up a passage of dialogue or even reveal your characters in a different way. It's definitely one of the better writing guides I've come across - and the only one I've ever bothered to read, since it's an informal guide at best, not at all condescending, and lacks a superiority complex. Prose loves to read as much as she loves to write, and teaches as well, and has a real talent for opening up an otherwise dry passage to the treasures going on in the inner workings.

What Prose also mentions is that there are no rules, that every time she tried to give advice to her students such as Don't write from the point of view (first person) of someone who dies in the story, she finds a story - often by Chekov - that contradicts that rule, and works. In this sense, writing is a very distinct artform: you learn how to do it "properly", just as you learn how to draw a face with perfect proportions, before you go all Picasso on it and have the eyes sticking out the side and the nose upside-down. Perhaps an absolute genius would skip that learning stage, but if we do it's like - what's the expression? Learning to run before you can walk? It takes time, and patience, and hard work, and perseverance, but if you have the passion it's not painful in the slightest. And if you lose momentum, or get writer's block, Prose has some great advice: to have a shelf put aside for especially inspiring novels, to pick up one author who excels at, say, dialogue, and read a passage at random for inspiration. She even has a list of "Books to be read immediately" at the end of the book. For myself, I can say that this works, though I usually read the entire book to get into the flow of a style. Even when working on my fantasy story, though, I often prefer to read literature. I find it helps to stop me from slipping into cliche-mode.

(less)

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Apr 05, 2013 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This book is part literary criticism, part writing advice. I read it as writing advice, and really enjoyed it as such. Prose focuses on close reading of various authors to study what they do especially well as a positive example. She focuses on various aspects of fiction writing, with a chapter dedicated to characters, dialogue, setting, sentences, paragraphs, and word choice, along with a few others. She basically gives some basic advice for writing dialogue, for example, then shows several exa...more

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Jun 07, 2008 Jeanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Given my recent resolution to pay more attention while reading (see my Lovely Bones review), I thought this would be a good place to start. Unfortunately I didn't get very far. Francine Prose examines very good literature (Hemingway, Joyce, etc.), and how to read it closely to glean everything the author intended to convey.

What I came to realize very quickly is that I don't read very good literature, and in fact I don't enjoy it. My tastes are shallow. (And this is probably why I developed the h...more

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Mar 01, 2008 Douglas rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who wants to write a great book

Recommended to Douglas by: Debra Hamel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 21, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who loves books

Shelves: literary-criticism

As a late bloomer, many high school topics, including reading and writing were wasted on me. In returning more recently to reading, and to a lesser extent writing, I have started to gain an appreciation of these arts, and in turn to mourn the loss of this early education. Perhaps these are the reasons that I cite in trying to explain why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. And as a hidden gem, what could be more appropriate than reading a book about writing crafted by an author whose name is...more

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Sep 24, 2007 Lord Beardsley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: writers working outside academia

Shelves: read2007

This book is highly influential and inspirational. It really gives me hope as a writer and I think I'll be referring back to it as often as I do Ann Lammott's 'Bird by Bird'. It is a wonderful gift when an author/instructor willingly gives out all their knowledge about their craft so freely and so engagingly. She has very accurate and accerbicly questioning views on how academia can hinder the creative process and how the best learning of the craft of writing comes from reading closely and liste...more

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Sep 05, 2007 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finished2007

I actually took a graduate class with Ms. Prose, and many of the points she makes in the book were made in the class. I was in one of those sessions she mentions in the book, where the majority of an hour and half is spent on the first couple pages of a story. It was a bit overwhelming, and I think her method works better in book form.

I don't think this is a book that will make you a better writer, but it is inspiring and enjoyable. In fact, the book could potentially hinder a young writer, who...more

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Jul 01, 2007 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has a difficult task to accomplish: discussing the craft of writing without being trite while still being helpful. Prose's method is to let great writing speak for itself, selecting careful examples to illustrate her point. This method works rather well when she discusses words, sentences, and paragraphs. I enjoyed having to notice the craft at that level of detail, which is so easy to overlook when you're engrossed in a novel. Her method worked less well when discussing narration or c...more

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Jan 21, 2008 Demetria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: writers

I'm usually not too keen on books that are allegedly for writers, but this one is really good. Francine Prose (gotta love the name) does an excellent job of utilizing literary works and her own experiences to illustrate points without being too textbooky. There are chapters on things like word choice, sentence structure and dialogue, but I swear it's interesting! There's also a pretty handy list at the end, of books that illustrate some of the points Prose makes. This book has actually made me b...more

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May 03, 2008 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I appreciated that Francine Prose let great writing speak for itself. Probably more than half this book consists of examples, and I agree with Prose that the best way to teach readers how to recognize a great sentence or paragraph is to just keep showing us what they look like. However, as a writer, I feel I am constantly bombarded with other, more successful writers telling me "This is what a writer is, this is how a writer should think" or "If you didn't read such and such book by the time you...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Shara (Calico Reaction) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommending this book is a tricky thing: yes, I would recommend it based on the attention given to gestures and the first couple chapters where she does offer points on how to read critically and how to enjoy what you're reading. But for writers looking for in-depth discussion of POV, character, and detail, I'd recommend finding a book devoted to such discussions.[return][return]To those who do love literature, have at it. And to those who simply enjoy reading but have no desire to write storie...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

National Book Award finalist Francine Prose (for Blue Angel) is an evangelist for the practice of improving one's writing by reading the great writers. After reading her extremely thorough and humorous analysis of works that demonstrate the highest craft of wordsmithery, it's hard not to convert to her way of thinking, though not everyone will adore her occasionally dictatorial tone or agree with her choices of who is (and isn't) "great." At the same time, she is remarkably fair-minded in her ch

...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Val marked it as to-read · review of another edition Recommends it for: Readers, Aspiring Writers

Recommended to Val by: NPR

Shelves: nonfiction

This is an AMAZING book. This book has been far more useful than every moment I spent in the MISERABLE creative writing class at the local community college (the psychotic professor condemned us all to reading only living authors, and to reading WAY too many short-stories by ONLY living writers). Time is a great winnowing process -- over time, bad books fall out of circulation and print. There were hundreds of HORRENDOUS books written in the 19th c., but what survives are the best. Just because...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Leisie93 rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I know that most people adore this book. I really don't. It made me feel self-concious, anxious, and angry. I guess a lot of this comes from the fact that I blatantly disagree with the author. I feel that she stresses the importance of wording so much that she acts like plot and character and setting simply don't matter. They matter just as much as sentences. I think more, but many people will disagree with me about that. I was talking to my writing professor the other day (he hadn't read this q...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Susan Oleksiw rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Students who want to write are invariably told to read--read a lot of good books and then read more. Some students never understand this (and never become successful writers). Prose's book gives the reader the skills to take the advice and make good use of it.

She explores the work of prose on successively complex levels, beginning with the focus on words, followed by focusing on sentences, paragraphs, narration, character, dialogue, details, gesture. She includes a chapter on Chekhov and anothe...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Lamora rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: wtf, nonfiction, own-hardcopy, meh, dnf-and-will-never-finish

I picked this up in the streets of Boston where they had those tables where it's like "take a book leave a book: the honor system" so I took this one and left it some harlequin romance book my mom had sitting in her car.

I probably should've kept the harlequin romance, jesus christ.

I dunno. There wasn't anything particular that irked me, it was just an amalgamation of tiny niggling little things that built up and eventually overwhelmed me into putting the damn thing down.

Some of her points were g...more

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Dec 19, 2012 David Stephens rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: writing

Francine Prose, novelist, writing instructor, and Chekhov enthusiast, attempts to unpack literature to show how great writers have been successful. She feels that performing close readings of classic texts is the best way for aspiring writers to learn what works and what doesn't. While writing classes can teach editing skills and stylistic flourishes, even she admits that these classes can't teach how to write well. Instead, they focus on what not to do as a writer and largely offer rules that h...more Francine Prose, novelist, writing instructor, and Chekhov enthusiast, attempts to unpack literature to show how great writers have been successful. She feels that performing close readings of classic texts is the best way for aspiring writers to learn what works and what doesn't. While writing classes can teach editing skills and stylistic flourishes, even she admits that these classes can't teach how to write well. Instead, they focus on what not to do as a writer and largely offer rules that have been—and probably should continue to be—broken. While the book is aimed at writers, it is almost as helpful to readers simply looking to become more skillful at understanding stories. And, for both readers and writers alike, it largely succeeds.

Prose goes through many of the components of writing: words, sentences, paragraphs, narration, character, dialogue, details, and gestures. She offers the standard guidelines for each of these areas, explaining the techniques that typically work. Of course, she explains that these guidelines are not correct for every writer in every situation. Writers must figure out the techniques that get their points across—even if they go against orthodoxy.

Prose provides numerous examples of writing, which, of course, is helpful in a book advocating the paying of closer attention to great writing. However, while these examples are largely valuable, I found them a bit much at times. For certain passages, she only gives a brief commentary after an extensive set up. This makes it feel like readers must travel a long way to receive only a scant amount of information.

But, for the most part, her advice is solid, and it is clear her chosen examples have been picked with care. They vary enough, too, to provide both recent and old-fashioned prose. On top of that, it is clear she is in love with literature, and anyone even somewhat interested in reading or writing will have a hard time not putting this book down and immediately diving into some Dostoevsky or Flannery O'Connor.(less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Karyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lit-crit, writing-about-writing, non-fiction

A wonderful book I used as a text for a Creative Writing class I taught. Don't have time to write a review now, but I'll quote one of my favorite themes in her work:

"With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up. But in fact it’s essential to slow down and read every word. Because one important thing that can be learned by reading slowly is the seemingly obvious but oddly underappreciated fact that language is the medium we use in much the same way a composer uses notes,...more

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Jul 15, 2012 T. Edmund rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Francine Prose (I'm sure authors would pick a less obvious num de plum) promises a guide for people who want to write books. Most of the reading guide is in the first section - and isn't exactly the most original advice: to dissect and analyse each word.

The rest of the book is more a mix of literary analysis, advice, and Prose's personal response to her classics. Not that this is uninteresting or bad, just not exactly what is described in the title.

In regards to her advice Prose is focussed on l...more

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About Francine Prose

Francine Prose (born in 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American novelist. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1968, and received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1991. She has sat on the board of judges for the PEN/Newman's Own Award, and her novel Blue Angel, a satire about sexual harassment on college campuses, was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is now teaching at Bard College.

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Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife

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Quotes from Reading Like a Writer:...

“I’ve always found that the better the book I’m reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become smarter.” — 11 people liked it

“To be truthful, some writers stop you dead in your tracks by making you see your own work in the most unflattering light. Each of us will meet a different harbinger of personal failure, some innocent genius chosen by us for reasons having to do with what we see as our own inadequacies.
The only remedy to this I have found is to read a writer whose work is entirely different from another, though not necessarily more like your own—a difference that will remind you of how many rooms there are in the house of art.” — 7 people liked it

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