Smart Dise Dise itibaren Monbulk VIC 3793, Avustralya
Haven't found many other books on writing that were actually useful, but, then, Delany never writes shallowly (or briefly) about any topic. I'd call it necessary for any serious writer. (If you're a farmer, I hope you find the act of writing reeeeeeeaaaaally interesting.) He (naturally) finds opportunities to talk about secular meaning in The Book Of Genesis and to expound about Wagner, and like always it's just goddamn fascinating. But he also talks, in a way writers never do, about what the day-to-day act of writing is, and why it's hard to write about. He talks about what, psychologically, a story is, and how the brain processes one. He talks about the values and limits of art, and about measuring success and failure of experimental writing, and what it takes to be a writer. He'll also lay out the writer's tools, grammar and syntax, in the appendix. Graduate-level. Not for high-schoolers. But brilliant as always.
My favorite Sarah Vowell book, perhaps because it's the pithiest. More crisp and well-written than "Radio On" or "Take the Canolli," more thematically bound together, yet less studious and hardcore than "The Wordy Shipmates" and, to a lesser extent, "Assassination Vacation." It bothers me that people don't love this book as much as "Assassination Vacation," actually, because this one is the one I could return to over and over again. I like reading "Partly Cloudy Patriot." I'm not sure that I actually liked reading her recent books.
I really enjoyed this book! I had read it about 10 years ago, So I decided to read it again! I must say I was impressed Again!