To write well, one must read widely. How can you craft beautiful sentences if you have not read any beautiful sentences? How can the meter of your poetry inspire marching, or lethargy, or dreaminess, if you have not read poetry. How do you make facts jump off the page, if you have only read textbooks? If you want to write, try reading books in a range of categories. Many books teach without being an explicitly "How To" book. Other novels and non-fiction offerings teach because they are well written, and readers will learn from absorbing.

"How To"

1) "Reading Like a Writer: A guide for people who love books and those who want to write them," by Francine Prose. Prose guides her readers through the entirety of what is on the page and how to learn by "close reading." She teaches about the importance of words, sentences, paragraphs, voice, and other writing techniques by citing great examples of literature. This is a great book for those who love to read, and write, and want to learn to write from reading, and not a "writer's workshop."

2) "A Poetry Handbook," by Mary Oliver. Oliver's is for aspiring poets as Francine Prose's book is for writers of prose. Oliver's slim volume is all you need read to write poetry, beyond reading other poems, and personal inspiration. Covering voice, meter, tone, description, and poetry form in a scant 122 pages, the book itself inspires new writers to find economy and exactitude in their writing.

3) "One Writer's Beginnings," by Eudora Welty. Welty takes readers on a journey from simply living, to observing, to sharing and recording for all, her ideas and life experiences. Chapters (or sections) Listening, Learning to See, and Finding a Voice guide writers, without telling, how to draw from one's own world to write.

4) The introduction to "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury. A departure from his science fiction works, "Dandelion Wine" is the story of two little boys growing up in the Midwest before electronics, when whole summers were spent outside. In the introduction, Bradbury describes his method of writing every morning upon awakening, and "Dandelion Wine" growing from that daily discipline.

Nonfiction

"Seabiscuit," by Laura Hillenbrand. A non-fiction missive that reads like a novel. The best example of "plain old facts" jumping off the page into the imagination.

"Blue Pastures," by Mary Oliver - a collection of short essays on nature.

Poetry

"Good Poems," Edited by Garrison Keillor, featuring poems from "The Writer's Almanac," a daily radio short produced by Keillor. This door-stop sized poetry anthology offers something for everyone, and a good survey of classic and modern poets for a new reader of poetry.

Fiction

"Housekeeping," by Marilynne Robinson, a novel of two sisters, containing inspiring and beautiful prose.

"Away," by Amy Bloom, a novel of a Russian immigrant during the 19th century, who embarks on an epic journey to find her lost daughter. Bloom manages to write an epic tale in few pages, while still neatly tying up loose ends. A wonderful example of economical, yet descriptive writing.

"Ship Fever," by Andrea Barrett, a collection of short stories inspired by science. Also, "The Shell Collector" by Anthony Doerr, another collection of short stories.

"The Emperor's Children," by Claire Messud for brilliant character development.

"The Echo Maker," by Richard Powers for plot.

"An Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England," by Brock Clarke for dialog,character development and plot.

Writer's workshops, MFA programs and creative writing classes offer many teaching methods, and structures in which to learn. For the casual writer, and for the published writer, great books offer as much in the way of learning as sitting in a class.

Learn more about this author, Katherine Elzer-Peters.
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