In discussing writing workshops and classes, author Francine Prose writes, “But that class, as helpful as it was, was not where I learned to write. Like most—maybe all—writers, I learned to write by writing and by example, by reading books.” (p .2)
But using what the author calls “close reading,” a writer can learn various techniques to translate the author’s imagination into words and images that capture the reader’s attention.
Prose uses a wide variety of examples of mostly classic but some modern books, such as Scott Spencer (b. 1945). The chapters are arranged by topic: sentences, paragraphs, narration, character, dialogue, details, gesture, learning from Chekhov, and reading for courage.
The author offers a list of “Books to be Read Immediately.” These include the expected: Alcott’s Little Women and Austin’s Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. It also includes a few I didn’t expect, like Tolstaya’s Sleepwalker in a Fog. One that came out of left field (IMHO) is Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. To be charitable, it makes War and Peace look like a beach read. One might start it immediately, but finishing would take a while. Maybe it was there to see if people were paying attention.
Thoughts:
While her selections and descriptions are short, this was like talking to a fellow book nerd from page one. Not all the samples were ones I enjoyed—The Great Gatsby? EWW—but several of them I had read. It was like talking to old friends again. Reading the ones I didn’t know was like being introduced to new friends.
She chose illustrations well.
At the same time, the author shows her vulnerability in the chapter “Learning from Chekhov.” At a time when she’s teaching a class on writing, she’s reading Chekhov’s short stories that seem to prove her wrong. Are there rules to writing? In any event, she doesn’t take herself too seriously.
I won’t say there weren’t dull bits in this book, but overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to any book nerd interested in learning to write or to write better.
Title: Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and For Those Who Want to Write Them
Author: Francine Prose
First published: 2006
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 
Sounds fascinating. I have no ambitions of writing a book, but still think learning about the techniques authors apply could be interesting. And I definitely think you start reading books differently, once you are aware of this. I wonder, if it will that lessen your ability to get caught up in a story, because your brain starts to analyze the techniques and structure instead of focusing on the storyline?
It can if the book is written clumsily. I’m currently reading a biography written by a journalist. At the beginning, it sounded too journalist-y. but the story, about a man who spent twenty years imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, is compelling. I’m really caught up in it.