My lovely wife and I have come to an agreement: She gets to spend $50 on art supplies and I get to spend $50 on whatever floats my boat.
I’ve chosen books. More specifically, I intend to expand my writing library.
Jeff VanderMeer posts his list of favorite books on writing at Booklifenow.com. Go check it out if you haven’t already. It seems to be a great list, but I don’t know for sure because I own exactly ZERO of those books. You can be sure some of them will make their way into my currently meager library.
However, I’m also looking for suggestions for books that you, my precious few readers, consider indispensable for your writing life.
I’ve mentioned some of the writing books in my possession here, here, and here. Feel free to revisit any of those or hip me to one of the thousands of books out there.
“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott is a great book about writing. I reviewed it on my blog awhile back (http://serialdistractions.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/review-bird-by-bird/).
I also really liked Ariel Gore’s “How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead” (http://serialdistractions.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/a-real-kick-in-the-pants/).
Hopefully you’ll find these helpful…
Sweet! I’ve had my eye on Bird by Bird for a while, but haven’t pulled the trigger. Maybe it’s time. I’ll check out your posts.
Making the Perfect Pitch by Katharine Sands. This book saved me oodles of time and trouble with queries and synopses.
I’ll check it out. It’s funny, my goal is to have something I can send out by May or June and I still feel like I’m getting ahead of myself when I read books like that. Of course, that doesn’t keep me from reading them! Thanks for the recommendation.
110% GET “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers”. Amazing. AMAZING.
It’s on the list (along with The Name of the Wind — hey how’d that get on there?). I checked out the excerpts on Amazon. Looks like something I could definitely use. Thanks!
Yes, you must get Bird by Bird. I also love John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction and Stephen King’s On Writing. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French is a great reference book.
On Writing is what rekindled my desire to write fiction, which went into dormancy shortly after my undergrad years–too much writing of the kind I didn’t really want to do. Thanks for stopping by with your recommendations!
My husband and i have a similar deal and like you I spent my allowance on books. I have a humble library in the ground floor of our house and I can’t wait to see it expand. Happy book hunting!
I had a box of 5 books show up on Wednesday. Two more are still on the way! I’m in book heaven. No matter how many books fill the shelves, it never seems like enough. I’d like to build a house with bookshelves in all the walls so I’d always have a book within arm’s reach. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
I know just what you mean. I’m a lunatic when it comes to books. There’s a little town called Sedbergh in England that I desperately want to visit. It’s almost entirely secondhand bookstores.