Non-fiction

Book Review: The Journalist and the Murderer

Janet Malcolm. The Journalist and the Murderer.  Here’s another dark topic, though it’s not a dark book. And instead of the author’s website, because I couldn’t see one, I link her name to an interview in the Paris Review. This short non-fiction account examines the relationship (and lawsuit) between accused murderer Jeffrey MacDonald and journalist Joe McGinniss, …

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Book Review: Wake Up & LIVE!

Wake Up & LIVE! Dorothea Brande. The cover of this little self-help book, first published in 1936, says {A formula for success that really works!} Or, “What would you do if you knew it was impossible to fail?” The premise is that we fail (or don’t reach our potential) because we’re always second-guessing ourselves. We might …

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Book Review: The Happiness Advantage

Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage. In the usual writer’s quest to work harder (or at least, to avoid extinction), reading about how to gain an advantage over fate is, alas, mandatory. This book is one in a long line of positive thinking texts that go back to Samuel Smiles in the 1800s (and probably earlier). But …

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Craft Book Roundup #1

readinglikeawriterFrancine Prose. Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for people who love books and for those who want to write themThis is one of the most useful books anyone who is interested in the nitty-gritty of writing could read. Chapters are organized by their topic, for example, “Gestures,” and Prose illustrates by showing how writers have used gesture not only to triangulate a conversation, but also to enrich the reader’s experience of character, to illuminate the people, place or situation, so that

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