We’ve all been told that if you want to be a writer, you need to write a lot, and read a lot. But what should you read? And what should you write about? Certainly a few guidelines could help.
I’m typing this as summer has come to Wisconsin. The season is robust; made of mist and mud. There are long, hot days stretching between vacations on the calendar, lacking structure. It’s structure I crave. Books for rolex day date mens rolex calibre 2836 2813 m228236 0010 white dial automatic pleasure, sure, but also substance. I want to read books recommended by authors who have written the types of books I’d place in the “read a lot” category. And so, with a little help from my friends: here is a worthwhile list.
Brittany Cavallaro, New York Times bestselling author of the Charlotte Holmes Trilogy
“Heather Sellers’s The Practice of Creative Writing, which is just the best. I learn something every time.
In terms of fiction, I teach a lot of short stories: Alexandra Kleeman’s You, Disappearing, Lorrie Moore’s Terrific Mother.”
Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces
Craft:
- Burning Down the House by Charles Baxter.
Stories:
- An Explanation for Chaos, Julie Schumacher
- Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You, Alice Munro
- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- Little Children, Tom Perrotta
Lindsay Eagar, acclaimed author of Hour of the Bees
“One hundred percent require all my students to read Toni Morrison’s Beloved for sentence craft + genre-bending. Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love for weirdness + character arcs, any of Neil Gaiman’s works to show how simplicity can work well, and Anna-Marie McLemore’s books for basically an MFA in 400 pages on how to just write effing pretty books.
Also short stories that I’ve loved: Raymond Carver’s Cathedrals, any by Karen Russell, Kelly Link, or Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.”
Kerry Kletter, acclaimed author of The First Time She Drowned
“Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill for economy of language/form. Anything by Tobias Wolff for dialogue.” (This choice was seconded by the lovely Marisa Reichardt, who wrote Underwater, the book that made me, Melissa, cry twice on a plane.)
“Olive Kitteridge for character.”