Writers Books

If you read just one book on Show Business this is the one!! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the experinece of going behind the scenes with two of Bob Hope's Comedy Writers. Both writers paint a real and exciting picture of a true comedy ledgend. I would also reccomend that anyone interrested in becoming a comedy writer read this book.

"Talk About Hope" is a behind the scenes look into a comedy legend as told by two of Bob Hope's longtime writers. It's written in a conversational style that makes you think the writer's were speaking directly to you.

The book is filled with stories that are both funny and give some insights into why Bob Hope has enjoyed longevity as an entertainer.

I recommend this book to anyone that likes to laugh and enjoys a good read.

Trust me. Read this one. Any fan of Hope, or any fan of comedy, will love the behind-the-scenes stories of being on the road with Hope. How the punch lines came about are as funny as the lines themselves. I bought a copy for my Dad - a BIG Hope fan - with the intention of stealing it back. No such luck. He won't let it go!

Want to read a good book?....Talk about Hope is just that. This book gives real insight into the legendary Bob Hope as a performer and a person from two people who really know him -- they both have talked, worked, and traveled with him for many years. It is a humorous & insightful book written in an easy-to-read, conversational style. As you read this book, you will feel like you, too, REALLY know the real Bob Hope.

Gene and Martha have done a superb job capturing the essence of Hope. I wrote for Bob myself and know what he was like on a day-to-day basis and they nailed him. He was a true joy to work for and left all of us with valued memories of experiences we'd otherwise have only dreamed of. Gene and Martha have documented what it was like to work for a legend. My hat's off to them both!

Amazed by her words and writing - the first story, I STAND HERE IRONING - where a mother is mulling over the changes in her and her daughter's lives and relationship. The stories were published in the 50s originally, but were written in a time-free fashion. Get you a copy, you hear?

Olsen writes stories that are so powerful, and so well-written, you'll want to read them again and again. Although she uses Jewish culture as a backdrop, her talents bring a universaility to her stories which reminds me of Steinbeck in its power, and Morrison in its complexity.

Tillie Olsen packs a lifetime of enforced silences into this slender work of art. These are dense and poetic evocations of Joyce and Woolf, but with an added proletarian knife-thrust to the heart.

Tillie Olson is a brilliant woman. She was way ahead of her time, breaking through the constraints binding talented women back then by her sheer persistence and follow-through, becoming recognized as a notable author. Her insights regarding women authors of the 19th century are brilliant. And her story "Tell Me A Riddle" is a classic.

However, her words sometime seem to start from the middle of a conversation, back up against one another, fall over themselves and then make a circuitous route to sometimes puzzling conclusions. "Tell Me A Riddle" occasionally found me shaking my head as if to dislodge some buzzwords that were way too loud and confusing. Although I understood the gist of this powerful story, I found its delivery to be irritating.

Perhaps that is the way Tillie Olsen writes. However, despite the brilliance of her observations, I find her writing style too discordant.

"Hey Sailor, What Ship" is the most powerful, concentrated portrayal of alcoholism that I have ever read. Olsen gets inside the mind of a late-stage alcoholic. Her prose seems to stretch and distort as her main character goes on an unplanned bender while on shore leave.

She shows beautiful restraint, too: there is nothing sensational or mawkish here. I am in awe of this story.

This book is a must read for the historical enthusiast! It was written by a knight about knighthood. The viewpoints and situations are very far removed from our preconceived ideas of the middle ages. It is written very well and reads almost in a 'modern' way. This book was difficult to read in some places, but for the most part was so interesting that I couldn't put it down.

An absolute romp, filled with fighting, romance and intrigue. A fictional story written in the fifteenth century about a knight that rivals any that ever lived and many that never did. If your after medieval fiction this is one you should have, it rivals anything that Chaucer wrote.

Sheer genius! A joy to read! If anyone out there has my copy - I WANT IT BACK!!!
If you are in anyway interested in the late middle ages, chivalry or early literature... BUY THIS BOOK NOW!!!

Once I read an essay about anthologies written by Jorge Luis Borges. All anthologies (he said, I don't remember the exact words, but I do remember the idea) are arbitrary conventions, but only time makes real, unforgettable anthologies. Although I agree with the Argentine writer, I must add that time is sometimes an unfair judge. So unfair that it left behind this masterpiece of Catalan literature, one of the greatest book I've ever read, a book that stands alongside such undisputable masterpieces as "El Engenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de La Mancha" and "War and Peace". Joanot Martorell built the Universe. After reading his rich work, we cannot but regret how poor is the literature of our times, how narrow-minded are the presumptuous writers of nowadays. "Tirant lo Blanc" is not just a chivalry story. It's much more than that. It's a book about love and romance, about honor and war, about sex and chastity, about boldness and bravery. Its settings comprise several countries; it has more than a hundred characters, many of them richly portrayed with subtle psychology. We, readers of the twentieth-first century, use to look despicably at the literature of the middle-ages for we take the "dark age" as a decaying era between the classical times of Greeks and Romans and the Renaissance (Dante is an exception to this tough judgment). If you think thus, read this book and you'll find how wrong and unfair your pre-conceived ideas are. I bet you'll be surprised with Martorell's boldness in sexual affairs, with his mastery of plot, with the unpredictable behavior of his characters, with the unsurpassed richness of scenarios. You will find that the literature of our times is too conventional notwithstanding all the modernist and post-modernist' experimentations.
But, be aware: this book is just for those who really love literature. If you are looking for entertainment, please buy another book. You will not bear its slow pace, the endless dialogues and the sometimes boring letters the characters send one to another.

Writen about 100 years prior to Don Quixote de la Mancha, and the appearance of the modern novel, Tirant Lo Blanc is a refreshing and interesting masterpiece on Mideaval society, love and the rules that governed the nobility of the time.

Indirectly, it gives us a look at the lives of Catalan knights, troubadours, merchants, peasants, sailors and the clergy. The book is politically incorrect (thank goodness), and if you are tired of modern "cleansed" interpretations of life during the middle ages, you need to read this book. Be prepared for the unexpected, and also be aware that its structure will at times give you the feeling of a slow read. But, as I said, the material is pure gold!

This brilliant little book (71 pages of actual text) records twenty days in which Hawthorne was in effect a single parent for his five year old son, Julian, during August 1851. Hawthorne's wife Sophia, called Phoebe in the book, and two daughters (seven year old Una and newborn Rose) go off to visit Sophia's parents. Hawthorne is with Julian for just about every waking moment of Julian's day, running from six or seven AM to seven or seven thirty PM. He records their days in his notebook; and, despite the brief and informal style of these notes (and they are notes and not a detailed chronicle), succeeds in evoking nearly the totality of a child's day. I doubt that any major writer has ever so completely and carefully focused on what a five year old actually does and what his life is like.

Hawthorne is also direct and frank. He gets exasperated (as all parents do) about the constant demands for attention, the nonstop childish chatter and the endless sometimes inane questions but only rarely rebukes Julian. On the whole, Hawthorne is remarkably patient. He is amused by Julian's battles with the monsters that appear in the form of thistles and weeds which Julian routinely and daily slaughters. He is fascinated by Julian's determined and uniformly unsuccessful fishing. He admires Julian's great good nature and his gusto. Hawthorne takes care of the boy's minor illnesses, injuries and accidents. He feeds, dresses, bathes and clothes him daily. He also tries to curl his hair. Some of these actions he admits are badly or clumsily done but they are all clearly done with love.

The book also contains a few insights into other aspects of the normally reserved Hawthorne. He is positively volcanic about his dislike of Massachusetts's Berkshire region and its weather and his contemptuous and angry references to a neighbor and to (of all things) the Shaker sect are painful to read. Also clear, however, is his deep love for his family and for friends such as Melville and his love of life generally. He goes to considerable lengths to rescue a kitten trapped in a cistern and does what he can for the well-being of Bunny, whom he obviously considers a rather dull creature. There are observations on the daily round of country life in 1851 as well, including the contents of meals (little meat but plentiful milk, vegetables and rice), interactions with others, visitors and other matters.

The prose is very direct and clear, a far cry from Hawthorne's complex, allusive and often indirect formal style. This is a record of parenting and of a child's life that is moving and beautiful. There is also a useful if perhaps somewhat overlong introduction by writer Paul Auster.

I had previously thought of Nathaniel Hawthorne as serious, stuffy, reclusive - as indeed many contemporaries thought of him. However, _Twenty Days with Julian_ show another side of the man - and the eternal joy and wonder of childhood.

While his wife and daughters were away, Hawthorne spent three weeks alone with his son, Julian. Chronicling their activities, you get a clear sense of the time and of the person Hawthorne was. But what was most pleasant - and surprising - was how similar 4 year old Julian was to children today. A joyful read that would make an excellent Father's Day present.

This is abrief book, but full of great writing. It's very interesting to see what has changed in 150 years - the food, the activities, the words, and what hasn't - how little kids behave.

Hawthorne really captures the boundless energy and joy of small children, as well as his own sense of bewilderment as a father.

Everything positive said about this book is true. But I would add this: Mr. Auster's introduction is excellent until he reaches a point where he starts divulging some of the best points in the diary. So buy the book and go straight to the diary. Then enjoy Auster's wonderful intro. Bravo to NYRB for publishing this as a stand alone book; what a great gift for a new parent!
CS

From July 28th until August 16th, 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne's wife Sophia took their daughters on a visit to her relatives, leaving her husband home to care for their 5 year-old son, Julian. Hawthorne kept a record of his time with the little boy in a journal, calling the episode "Twenty Days with Julian & Little Bunny by Papa". Anyone familiar with Hawthorne's exquisite, almost recondite writing style as exemplified by his novels and short stories will hardly recognize him in the guise of babysitter and chronicler of his jet-propelled kid's activities. Driven nearly to distraction by Julian's nonstop chatter and noisemaking (Hawthorne's wife had recently given birth to baby Rose, and the little boy was constantly being told to keep quiet), Hawthorne nevertheless decides to allow the child the freedom to be as noisy as he likes while the baby is away. This proves to be an exercise in forbearance for poor papa, as Julian proves to have no off switch, making it "impossible to read, write, think, or even sleep (in the daytime) so constant are his appeals..." Over the ensuing three weeks, the two take daily walks to fetch the milk, and to the lake where Julian fishes with furious, single-minded determination and catches absolutely nothing. Hawthorne struggles to figure out how his wife curls the kid's hair, and there are several unfortunate events - a bedwetting accident, a pants-peeing incident, the kid gets stung by a wasp, the pet bunny, Hindlegs, dies and is buried in the garden, much to Julian's amusement. (He hopes a Bunny Tree will spring up, covered all over in bunnies hanging by their ears.) Through it all, Hawthorne, in spite of his befuddlement with the finer points of child care, bears up gracefully, proving himself not only a gentle and loving father, but a genius at capturing the essence of childhood and the joy of witnessing,close at hand, his little boy's joie de vivre.

The writers in this great collection are keeping very busy: raising kids; nursing a boyfriend through terminal illness; maturing in Kuwait; working at Wendy's; learning to "dance" with their OCD; logging on to Friendster, Facebook, MySpace and Nerve accounts -- they've got a lot going on, and it was fun to check out of my life for a bit and listen in on theirs.

My favorite essay has to be Elrena Evans' "My Little Comma," which I edited for its first home at LiteraryMama.com. It might fit even better here with its twentysomething companions. Evans and her daughter nurse, watch Star Trek, read The Baby Goes Beep, navigate graduate school meetings, and nurse a whole lot more. I've read this essay, in various versions, over a dozen times in the past year and it never gets old.

Other essays I particularly loved... Jess Lacher's "California" reminded me of how strange and unfamiliar it all seemed when I first arrived here myself: the "gentle and mysterious suggestions" of the seasons; the intense and exotic plants; the sense of being on a "vacation life". Emma Black writes about teaching elementary school and learning how to "Think Outside the Box But Stay Inside the Grid." For the sake of her students, I hope she keeps trying. Radhiyah Ayobami spends "An Evening in April" getting a treat for her son before the curfew at their shelter; they give some change to a woman on the corner, and Ayobami imagines someday going to the park with this stranger and her kids: "People would look at us, and instead of seeing two beggars, they'd see two mothers with children, and they'd smile. I had big plans for that woman, if only I could see her again." In Shahnaz Habib's gorgeous "Backlash," written the day of the bomb blasts in Delhi, she worries about an old friend and thinks sadly of the secret relationship they have now lost.

When I started reading this collection, I was thinking I don't know too many people who are in their twenties, but now I kind of feel like I do. That's some fine writing.

Actually I didn't read the book, but I'd like to! It was a Christmas gift for my daughter, who is almost 20... she loves to read, and I thought this might be something that would interest her... she loved it...

Reading Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething writers is like sampling divinity and liverwurst. Each story represents a diverse lifestyle and way of thinking. Some seem trite or odd, while others plunge you into the heart of what it means to be 24 and serving in Kuwait, or experiencing the death of a loved one and being a widow when it's far from familiar or fashionable.

It's interesting, like glimpsing into the window of what it means to be a twentysomething, and yet the truth is that we're all different, no matter our age. We all experience life on our own terms. We all think that life's challenges are large, until we see that someone else has experienced far greater obstacles than we have.

As I sampled these essays, I looked for those essays that were deep and insightful and I look forward to watching those writers find their niche in the literary world.

I want to have Bronson Lemer's baby. His mustache essay is divine.

But you should buy this book for more reasons than that, unless you, like me, would like to have Bronson Lemer's mustachioed baby.

I found this book hard to put down. Our book club agreed that this was a unique selection. All my friends and family want to read it now. I can hardly wait to read the next one!

Masterful storytelling, Gripping, complex plot with fascinating characters. This account makes you question what is really going on between Russia and the United States in the post cold war era.

You won't be able to put down this exciting novel by John Roach.

Everyday it appears as though the essence of this book is becoming more real. My wife and I both having grown up in the Cold War Days and having lived thru the "Russians are coming" found this to be a very interesting read.

One of our all female members said that she had difficulty with many of the books which we had chosen, but that she really enjoyed this one. I know why. It starts with a little slow background material but quickly escalates into a page turner. Peter Brice is a young and refreshing character and the dialogue is great. I can't ait for the sequel.

Growing up afraid "the Russians were coming", I found this book extremely interesting especially in light of the poisoning of the former KGB agent. Will make you think about what is REALLY going on in the former USSR.

What a hoot! Millard Fillmore gets in more trouble than [anyone]. Don't pass it up! The "Photographer's Scene" is absolute pure genius. Never underestimate the power of constant tumescence. Wish more writers were as "crazy" as this poor 44288 guy was purported to be way back in his time.

Sit back and unbuckle your belt for this one because the old stomach muscles are going to get one helluva work out. Constant Tumescence? You gotta love that euphemism. This 44288 guy rides this little pony to a super wonderful surprise ending. This book's worth it at thrice the price.

The premise of constant tumescence is worthy of a Mel Brooks book and movie and if he's secretly floating this book as an advance script, I'm sorry to out it. But this is wild stuff that gives you whole clusters of great Mel Brooks guffaws that shakes your chucklings all over... only this book takes bites out of the butts of America's obsession and conflicted attitudes toward sex. I still can't get over the "photographer's scene." A riot. It causes me to break out laughing in strange restaurants even now. I hear this 44288 was some Ohio Beautiful Mind type with serious work under his belt in his Some Die Mad quatrain. OK, so add another title. How about comic genius? But I gotta ask: "Izzat you, Mel?"

What a romp! You'd think a one trick plot like this would fizzle quick, but not in 44288's hands, he just keeps getting funnier and funnier with this constant tumescence gimmick. No wonder they locked the guy up and probated him; he was 35 years ahead of his time. History has a way of doing that. I'm going to buy his Some Die Mad quatrain because if he's half the tragedian as he is comic genius then it's got to be Pulitzer and National Book Award time... that's fer damn sure!

...write outrageous laugh tracks like this. It's funnier than a rubber crutch. But the afterburn tells the real story. When the laughter pauses and you pick yourself up from rolling on the floor you realize this guy just pilloried the whole sexual scene of America in the era of the Seventies, if not the entire American sexual scene period...

The Independent Literature Institute is proud to announce that Christopher WunderLee's "A Wanton Gyre" has been chosen as the winner of the 2002 "Ulysses" Award for Superior Fiction. The "Ulysses" Award is given annually to the best independently published novel of the year. "A Wanton Gyre" was chosen due to its literary merit and socially provocative subject matter.

I know that I shouldn't love this book, but I do. I know what other poeple have said about it, but I think they're near-sighted. This is better than "The Corrections," better than "Infinite Jest", better than "Ya Ya Sisterhood", better than anything I've read in years. Why? Because Christopher WunderLee does not live in the twenty-first century, he lives in eternity, like he already knows that his work will be immortalized. The characters are immortal, the writing is beautiful, the shocking fear of it is almost pyschic. I love this book, I know it is scary for many, but it deserves far more attention than it's received. I just wish America would pay attention to real authors. Thank you Mr. WunderLee, this is true art.

It's been a long time since I've read a book of this calibre. I've been geting so disenchanted with modern fiction, all the hype but very little talent. Wunderlee's novel fulfills all that I hoped modern literature would attempt, an understanding of the past, a focus on the present and an incredibly well prepared main character. Some may say it is sexist, elitist, etc. but this novel deserves more scrutiny, it deserves respect. If you read one book this year, "A Wanton Gyre" should be it. There is no better example of a modern American novel.

The regular, Oprah book club reader will not appreciate "A Wanton Gyre". There is nothing simple about this book. I consider myself a well-read person, this book recalled so many great works of literature (never mind the allusions and references that literally hide within the words) that I found myself pulling down book after book from my shelves to find why it occured to me. It wasn't because of similar style or that the author used the same words, it was because of the classical construction. I know that Camus and Kafka are important influences, also Hesse and Mann, but "A Wanton Gyre" is not a reflection of them. It is not an updating, a homage, it simply reminds while forging forward into a new place. This book is the author's fullest expression, a warning, a challenge, a retreat, and a duel (with the reader).

I found Maxwell Taylor to be an abhorrent protagonist, one that I could not ignore. I hated him, but I also was intrigued by him. He is an existentialist who isn't aware that it's out of fashion. He is a Modernist who doesn't know that post-modernism exists. He is a hedonist that blatantly expresses it. He is the Marquis de Sade in today's world. Maxwell Taylor is a vicious, unforgiving, and powerful figure. The only true criticism I give of this book is that he's too important, too powerful. None of the other characters are capable of competing, they fall into the backdrop even when a scene does not include Maxwell.

The setting of "A Wanton Gyre" is exploratory, it is not now or then, it is a jumbled collage of times. There is almost a mystical sense of time, a hallucagenic quality to the events, we read them as though they are simply happening. Like Maxwell, we don't seem to have the capacity to feel anything about them. This book captures the psychology of the main character so well it shrouds the entire work in his mood.

The plot of the novel is as the title suggests, great swooping gestures that never seem to go forward, but seem to circle the main theme like birds of prey, ready to attack at any moment. We read as he's arrested, then we read about his childhood, then we read about his arrest, then we read about a date he's recently had, then we read about his arrest. Yet, none of it seems out of place, it is the confusion, the clastrophobia of the protagonist in every word.

Book II breaks free, for the most part. It differs greatly from Book I, strutting forward in a clash of ideals and beliefs, between lawyers and victims, priests and atheists, men and women, between the reader and the writer. I think that is remarkable. I had a girlfriend read it and she couldn't go on, she grew so upset. And that is the genius of it, the book forces you to dislike it, to argue with the narrator, to question everything being said and described. And this is when you learn your limitations, can you see passed your own convictions and acknowledge the injustice? Can you accept the truth even if it makes you vomit?

"A Wanton Gyre" is such a well crafted chronicle that we will be studying it for years. It will continue to challenge us until we acknowledge the hypocricy in our own beliefs. We are not ready, I don't think.

What struck me about this novel was how exceptionally well crafted it was - I couldn't believe how remarkable Mr. Wunderlee told of Maxwell Taylor's arrest and trial. When I discovered why he had been arrested (I won't give away the secret) I was enthralled with the plot construction, I began to recall all that I had read and was mistified how well it came together. Maxwell Taylor is easily one of the most memorable characters I have ever read, strong, vibrant, full of life, he seems to be an "outsider" who's discovered living amongst us. I think this book deserves more attention, as a professor of English Literature, it's very rare that I read a book that impresses me. "A Wanton Gyre" is more than impressive, it is inspiring, scary and perfect, the plot matches the mood, the characters are well constructed, and the inventiveness of the purpose of the novel is exceptional. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in twenty-first century literature. This book will truly change the way you think about the culture we live in.

Great book, very imformative...at first when I flipped through the book it seem as though it would be a bit over my head, but when I actually sat down and went through it step by step and followed the colour guides it is definately one of the most helpful books for a beginner.
Practise the six different colour palette's and you immediately begin to understand more about colour, complimentary, analogous, high key, low key...Highly recommended

This book is still a classic from one of the century's most respected watercolorists. Tom Hill is widely recognized as one of the great painting teachers and has influenced many of todays artists, including me. What I like about this book are Tom's examples of fresh color combinations, and use of color in shadow areas.

Hill's painting style is loose, and ideal for the usually spontaneous nature of watercolor. This is a fine and needed book on color. The technique of painting receives a concise two chapters, yielding space to the problem of making watercolor paints behave. Hill's study of color is based in physics and reality, not taste. I much prefer it this way. Full and detailed descriptions of "all the paints you will probably ever use" tell how they perform, how to test your paints, and what to expect when you mix them. If blue and yellow do not make green for you, but brown or gray, this book gives insight into why this happens. To show what effect color selections have in a painting, one scene is painted with seven palettes, from minimal (monochromatic) to full colors. Chapter Seven, "Color in light & shadow", shows photographically how light and shadow effect color and how to duplicate the effects. I have not seen this covered in other books. Through ten demonstrations you will learn how to render colors in shadows, in colorful subjects, and in not-so-colorful subjects by making colorful grays. You will learn to use color to paint "white" subjects, the greens in nature, clouds and skies, and even colors that are not in a scene, but should be. This is a valuable an informative book. I have given away some twenty or so books to my artist club library, but not this one. It is worth the price, to me, for Chapter 7 alone. I would have rated it a 10, if it were on color only, minus the first two chapters, but these are helpful to beginners.

An excellent volume and companion to use in conjunction with Jeanne Dobie's book Making Colors Sing. While Dobie's book is outdated with all the advances in watercolor pigments and newer more permanent lightfast color, Hill's book not only picks up with the use of newer pigments, but his suggestions are excellent. This book is a wonderful addition to any library. I kept it nearby as I do Dobie's book. A must have book with excellent demonstrations and illustrations. Also the artist's style and work is wonderful too. A must have for anyone serious about watercolor, beginner or advanced.

This book gives an excellent idea and keeps an idol in front of the reader as how a watercolor painting should be. Nice simple language and examples chosen are truly magnificent. Tom's style of painting is simply out of the world.

To quote a particularly apt back-cover blurb, "What a pleasure it is to roam around in LeGuin's spacious, playful mind." This miscellany of thirty non-fiction pieces, some quite informal and all very readable, is the product of a very keen, wide-ranging, and imaginative yet disciplined mind. A few of the pieces are personal or semi-autobiographical, but most in one way or another concern literature, storytelling, reading, or the craft (and ethics) of writing fiction. Almost all contain original insights or provocative ideas and many warrant re-reading and pondering. Highly recommended, particularly for aspiring writers of fiction.

Having read and enjoyed LeGuin's previous non-fiction works (particularly DANCING AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, THE LANGUAGE OF THE NIGHT, and her writing book, STEERING THE CRAFT), I expected an interesting and entertaining volume of essays. What I got far exceeded my expectations. I was enchanted from the first words, and I could hardly wait to read as many of these pieces as I could gulp down each night. When I finished, I was unhappy it was all consumed. I wanted more.

The book is a cornucopia of variety. There are serious essays, playful performance pieces, literary commentary, a long and wonderful poem entitled "The Writer on, and at, Her Work," and even some sketches LeGuin has done. The volume is separated into four sections: Personal Matters, Readings, Discussions & Opinions, and On Writing. The first section gives the reader a glimpse of who Ursula LeGuin is. She talks a bit of her family, of her parents' occupations (anthropologist father and biographer mother), and of her love of libraries and islands-imaginary and real. The next two sections cover all sorts of topics. Whether she was discussing awards and gender or the submerged humor of Mark Twain's "Diaries of Adam and Eve" or literacy or rhythm in the works of JRR Tolkien, I felt I was in sure hands. I must admit that I expected the essay, "Stress-Rhythm in Poetry and Prose" to be deadly dull. Instead, I was surprised beyond my wildest imagination to find that for the first time in my entire life, someone had actually explained meter and rhythm so that it made complete sense to me. I had one of those "Aha!" moments, suddenly understanding it in a way that I had never quite managed. (So _that_ is how iambic pentameter works so effectively!) I've been raving ever since about rhythm to all who will listen.

I like the fact that LeGuin does not hesitate to address sexism, homophobia, and unfairness. Her piece entitled "Unquestioned Assumptions" is masterful. She talks about the four common varieties of unquestioned assumption (We're all men, white, straight, and Christian), and then adds a fifth which she explores at length: We're all Young. Her analysis of these issues alone was worth the price of the book.

The final section of the book is about writing and was my favorite section. LeGuin addresses many angles of craft and technique. The name of the book, THE WAVE IN THE MIND, refers to an explanation of style that Virginia Woolf once wrote in a letter. Concerning what rhythm is, Woolf had written, "A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind...and then, as it breaks and tumbles in the mind, it makes words to fit it" (p. xii). LeGuin obviously agrees with this. She writes that "every novel has its characteristic rhythm. And that if the writer hasn't listened for that rhythm and followed it, the sentences will be lame, the characters will be puppets, the story will be false. And that if the writer can hold to that rhythm, the book will have some beauty. What the writer has to do is listen for that beat, hear it, keep to it, not let anything interfere with it. Then the reader will hear it too, and be carried by it" (p. 183). This is sage advice.

All of LeGuin's ideas and advice-every chapter of it-is wonderful. I loved this: "Trust your story; trust yourself; trust your readers-but wisely. Trust watchfully, not blindly. Trust flexibly, not rigidly. The whole thing, writing a story, is a high-wire act-there you are out in midair walking on a spiderweb line of words, and down in the darkness people are watching. What can you trust but your sense of balance?" (p. 234).

The examples, stories, and allusions throughout are clear and strong and elegant. Her Voice is powerful and wise, humorous and reflective. Ursula LeGuin quite clearly displays true genius. This is a book to savor, to keep, to read again and again over the years. I cannot recommend it highly enough. ~Lori L. Lake, reviewer for Midwest Book Review and author of the "Gun" series

Ms. Le Guin's latest collection of essays and "nonfictive" writings looks like one of those books that is dull, scholastic, dry, and unentertaining. But...

I don't think she can write anything in those four modes. Although some of the topics look unapproachable (anyone up for counting the number of stressed syllables in "The Three Little Bears"?) it is her craft as a writer that infuses even minute themes with that elusive "readability". I read even the most esoteric of the bits here.

Like her collection "Language of the Night", this book focuses mostly on the craft of writing. It ranges from close examination of rhythm to broad biographical topics.

Unlike some recent collections (Niven's Scatterbrain comes instantly to mind), this book is not just a grab bag of material mouldering on the author's shelf. Indeed, most of the essays have been reworked for inclusion in this volume, making each part more coherent.

On the other hand, this book really should be part of Langauge of the Night. There seems to be something essential missing. As the source material was not purpose written for a book, the theme connecting the items is pretty diffuse. Having access to these writing is good and the book is an easy breezy read (I read all it on a flight from Denver to San Francisco), but maybe a little bit more "connective tissue" is needed. I dunno, I'm still mulling over various things here: I'm writing about four letters to the author in my head. I don't want to be critical and I guess I just wanted more.

So then, if you like to read about what goes on in the head of the author of many classics, whose works continue to astonish and amaze and aspirate in your mind after the book it put away... then here is a morsel that needs your attention.

I love (almost) all of Ursula K. LeGuin's fiction. She is a wonderful storyteller whose rhythmic prose struck me and stuck with me even before I gave much thought to the idea of rhythm in prose. (Having children and reading aloud brings a new dimension to story telling.) Her imagined worlds and characters resound deeply with me, and she has earned my trust as one of the consistently best authors I have read.

This non-fiction collection is just as thought-provoking as her best stories. I had to be careful not to "gobble it up" by reading too fast. I'm sure that I will read it again and again. It gives much hope to an aspiring fiction writer whose story hasn't arrived yet. (Turns out I'm just too young; maybe next year.)

I had also worried that perhaps I had read too much to ever be creative in writing; maybe if I begin to write something original, it will come out with inadvertently plagiarized bits of Dispossessed, Lord of the Rings, and Little Women, since those seem to get stuck in my head. The admonition of Ms LeGuin that all good writers ought to read, and read a lot, comforts me. All these years I've just been fertilizing my imagination.

Although I have never met her, it seems that through some of her essays, the separation that exists between her writing and her self narrows, and the humor and wisdom and brightness (luminousness, luminosity??) of her personality shines through. I hope someday that one of the highlights of my life might be knowing her for an hour.

There is always the possibility of a writing workshop, but I really wish I could have heard her "moo"...

I. I recommend it to anyone interested in reading, writing, feminism, stories, or family. She writes like an
angel, but a particularly grounded angel, and a wry and puckish
one.

It is always a deep pleasure to be in the company of her mind. This is beautiful writing, clear and deep and necessary as water.