James Salter was a master. One of the greatest writers of American sentences in our literary history, his acute and glimmering portrayals of characters are built with a restrained and poetic style. The author of many memorable works of fiction—including Dusk, and Other Stories, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award—he is also celebrated for his memoirs and many nonfiction essays.
In her preface, Kay Salter writes, “Don’t Save Anything is a volume of the best of Jim’s nonfiction—articles published but never collected in one place until now. Though those many boxes were overflowing with papers, in the end it’s not really a matter of quantity. These pieces reveal some of the breadth and depth of Jim’s endless interest in the world and the people in it…One of the greatest pleasures in writing nonfiction is the writer’s feeling of exploration, of learning about things he doesn’t know, of finding out by reading and observing and asking questions, and then writing it down. That’s what you’ll find here.”
This collection gathers his thoughts on writing and profiles of famous writers, observations of the changing American military life, evocations of Aspen winters, musings on mountain climbing and skiing, and tales of travels to Europe and Asia which first appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, People magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, the Aspen Times, and many other publications.
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“These magazine pieces reflect the author’s wide range of experience and interests as well as his prose mastery…Taken together, these pieces attest to a true life, a life well-lived and well-written.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Sentence for sentence Salter is the master.”
— Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize–winning author“Superb…Crisp and razor sharp, Salter’s work peels away illusions to reveal the matter-of-fact nuances of his and our lives.”
— Publishers Weekly“A fascinating window into the experiences of Salter’s generation, and the wars, presidents, and writers who helped to shape his worldview.”
— BooklistBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
James Salter (1925–2015) was the author of numerous books, including the novels Solo Faces, Light Years, A Sport and a Pastime, The Arm of Flesh (revised as Cassada), and The Hunters; the memoirs Gods of Tin and Burning the Days; the collections Dusk, and Other Stories, which won the 1989 PEN/Faulkner Award, and Last Night. He was the recipient of the Rea Award for the Short Story and the PEN/Malamud Award. Life Is Meals: A Food Lover’s Book of Days, was written with his wife, Kay Salter.
Michael Kramer is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, and recipient of a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award. He is also an actor and director in the Washington, DC, area, where he is active in the area’s theater scene and has appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater J.