Customer Review: Of course, I allow myself the luxury of re-reading this masterpiece every year and have been so doing since 1988. Why? To hone my skills as a writer and for the pleasure of reading a real novelist comment on the real novel. The real novel is not a tidy piece of art. Forbid it almighty gods. Oh no,... more info
Customer Review: Unfortunately, I was never able to take very many literature classes in university,
and as a result, I have always felt that Literature was my Achilles Heel. Well, recently I have began writing some fiction of my own and I was looking for a concise, read-able pocket guide to literary concepts.... more info
Customer Review: Francine Prose's "Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Wrote Them" belongs on every writer's bookshelf. After reading it, you'll catch yourself reading in a new, more careful manner. Ms. Prose teaches us to slow down and notice each word choice, the... more info
Customer Review: "Comedy, like death and sex, is often awarded the prize of ineffability." So says James Wood, perhaps the finest living critic of literature. Just as he has prefaced, the art of comedy is often impossible to describe, and Wood falls victim to this perpetual difficulty. This collection of essays does... more info
Customer Review: I read these works for a graduate seminar on Aristotle.
Poetry appeals to human passions and emotions. Powerful beautiful language and metaphor really appeal to emotion. This idea really disturbed Plato, who takes on Homer in the Republic. Plato thought that early Greek poetry portrays a dark... more info
Customer Review: This first half of the book had some good insights. It became clear after a couple of pages that the book was a transcription of one of his actual workshops. Butler does not write this book, he TALKS this book. Then the second half was full of student essays, which he then critques. It was... more info
Customer Review: As an MFA student, I thought this classic would be useful, but I found it extremely difficult to focus on what Gardner was trying to say because his message is relayed in such a pompous tone that it was nearly impossible for me to see past it. I understand that he's good at what he does, and bravo... more info
I've been working hard on Herman Melville and not paying attention to recent criticism, although I have been aware of James Wood when he popped up in one English or American paper or another taking pay for writing reviews on Melville which turned into bullying bloviations on theology. His... more info
Customer Review: As an editor, not a writer, Hills brings an unusual perspective to the subject. Sadly, he's quite a rambler and I occasionally found his style to be impenetrable. (Dare I say an editor needed an editor?) There are some good thought provoking bits throughout the book, but they are weighed down... more info
Customer Review: I couldn't help by shake my head and marvel after finishing The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Not only are the characters superb, the story is great and the writing uniquely insightful. Also, the novel is so cleverly and masterfully written. From the first pages you are taken in by its fugue-like... more info
