What are the top few non-fiction books you would say are must reads for an aspiring creative/literary nonfiction writer?

Dave Cullen Well, I wouldn't approach it like that, really.

Your first instinct is dead-on: that to grow as a writer, you need to read a lot, and you need to read good stuff. But it needs to be the right stuff for you--so the idea of a select list of must-reads for everyone is not only an illusion, I think, but missing the heart of how you ought to be conducting your search. Let me explain. Some of the big things reading should do for you:

- inspire you (to write).
- show you new approaches you might want to try out, offer fresh ideas.
- illustrate how to handle certain elements you've been struggling with (or should be, but don't realize you're weak there). E.g., dialogue, setting, plotting, character development, physical descriptions, . . . etc.
- voice. This is central to great writing, and anything than can help you hone your voice is a godsend.
- replenish you as a reader, excite you to read more. (This one is often overlooked. But if you acquire a stack of "good for you" books and slog through them, mostly hating it, you may or may learn a lot, but you'll be burning yourself out the whole time, and turning yourself off from reading more. That does not mean skip these tough books, it means recognize they might be depleting for you, and mix them up with some that turn you on and replenish you.)

Another way of putting that last one, is by finding books you love--that also train you--you'll be churning through dozens of them, and likely to learn more than if you read 2-3 brilliant books.

Everything on that list, though, is particular to you, and often you right now. First time Nabokov was suggested to me, I had no interest. Five years later, I rediscovered him on my own, and he quickly became my all-time favorite, and I've learned immeasurably from him. Much of it is timing, and what you are open to and hungry for at the moment.

So trust you instincts on the stuff that makes you salivate. And sample a lot. Try five pages, see if it excites you.

I also got great advice from a prof in writing school: When you find an author who turns you on, gobble up everything you can from them. You will learn a great deal, by seeing how they handle and rehandle a lot of the same elements and themes. (Sometimes you need to cast your net broad, and sometimes narrow and drill deep.)

Also, once you find a book that amazes you, that author is likely to be on your wavelength and likely to have more that's just right for you.

Some specific books I recommend:

Nabokov's "Conclusive Evidence" (retitled "Speak, Memory"), my all-time favorite book.

The Right Stuff

The Electric Koolaide Acid Test

In Cold Blood

Longitude

The Perfect Storm (under-rated)

The Devil and the White City (I had problems at the end, but he is one hell of a storyteller)

The Professor and the Madman

The Operators

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

Blackhawk Down

A Civil Action

The Manifestoes of Surrealism

The Interpretation of Culture

The Boys on the Bus

Yanomamo: The Fierce People

The Plantagenets

(I'll try to think of more.)

flag