Reading Like a Writer

A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them

By: Francine Prose

Narrated by: Nanette Savard

In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters and discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart—to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; to look to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, and to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail. And, most importantly, she cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted.

©2006 Francine Prose; (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

I try to read or listen to this book once a year.

a great book on reading and writing. very well read ' very well writtem. I recommend

pretty good and quite thoughtful

i figured I was missing something from all the classics I've rejected as bad literature and i was correct in assuming so. it turns out, while i may not appreciate the art, it is art none the less.

Reading Like A Writer is worth the read!

Chock full of information and samples. For writers, this is a great book for your reference shelf.

Enjoyable Examples

I found that the narrator did not match the tone of the content, and that she somehow devalued it. Overall though, it was inspirational and I will be reading some of the suggested examples.

I am Not Sure

A professor recommended this book to me to help with my writing career. I am not sure why because most of what was given was written like her life story and only little nuggets of facts were included. I tried to figure out what was so helpful in an 8+ hour listen but only came away with about 4 things. I guess that's better than wasting 8+ hours of my time and coming away with nothing. The narrator was very good.