Play Audiobook Sample
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.00) - 4,088 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters and discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart—to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; to look to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, and to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail. And, most importantly, she cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted.
Download and start listening now!
"An incredible book for anybody who loves reading or harbors a secret ambition to write a novel. It's instructional, inspiring, and really easy to grasp. I read it while I read Wolf Hall and my appreciation of the latter was greater because of what Prose's book caused me to notice. I'm a smarter reader and (hopefully) a better writer because of this one."
— Joanna (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
“Prose’s little guide will motivate ‘people who love books’…Like the great works of fiction, it’s a wise and voluble companion.”
— New York Book Review -
“An absolutely necessary addition to the personal library of anyone who is a writer or dreams of writing.”
— NPR -
“A jewel of a companion…engrossing...and...daringly insightful.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“The passages are…subtle and brilliant in their capture of human complexity…Prose is…a skilled…analyst of what makes them so.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“Celebrates the pleasures of close reading and explores the power of well-wrought language…refreshing.”
— Time Out New York
Awards
-
A New York Times bestseller
-
One of the 2006 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Nonfiction
Reading Like a Writer Listener Reviews
-
" Reading this is like taking a writing course with the author. I really enjoyed it, and it has given me lots of good ideas about how to toughen up my approach to teaching writing and analysis. I will refer back to this often. Plus, it enlightened me about several books I must someday read. "
— Dominic, 2/12/2014 -
" This was really interesting and gives you a lot to think about. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Chekhov. "
— Susan, 2/8/2014 -
" I guess I'd just rather read like a reader ... and write like one as well. "
— Jud, 1/15/2014 -
" Interesting discussions of the craft of fiction. However, it sounds just like detailed comments on certain passages from well known novels. I missed more comprehensive comments on the elements of fiction. "
— Faez, 12/31/2013 -
" Francine Prose talks about her creative writing classes and how various writers use devices to create a story. Interesting to get her insight into what grabs a reader. And now I have to add more books to my list. How could I have missed Checkhov! "
— Fran, 12/26/2013 -
" Tremendous book on the craft of writing, though it induced the sort of anxiety I typically feel when confronted with the sheer volume of what I haven't read. A bit like hypertext and browsing Wikipedia - I found myself putting this down and picking up Babel, Cheever, etc., which I suppose is the point. "
— Drew, 12/24/2013 -
" thought it was going to be something different. LIke good. I thought it was going to be good and it wasn't, so it ended up sucking. "
— Will, 12/21/2013 -
" This book is fantastic. I love the close analysis she does and the passages she choose are perfect. I read about this book last year and am sorry I waited so long to pick it up. Its like an MFA in 200 pages. THANK YOU Francine Prose! "
— Rachel, 12/12/2013 -
" Didn't finish this. It's a great book for someone wanting to know how a reader becomes a writer. Prose lives up to her name and gives suggestions about paragraphing that show how much she reveres good writing and how much she learns from it. The part on Tolstoy is worth reading the entire book. "
— Gordon, 9/27/2013 -
" This one is written in a style that is a bit too breathless and flighty for me, but the long list of books to read "right now!" at the end is very nice. "
— Josie, 9/6/2013 -
" great guid for people who love to read and plan to write. I will be checking this out again. If not purchasing it. "
— Tamera, 9/3/2013 -
" Good commentary on portions of text that are included to illustrate her theory that you start with words, then move on to sentences, then paragraphs and so on. She emphasizes the importance of each and the other elements of prose she considers most essential. Helpful. "
— Breaux, 4/21/2013 -
" One of my friends recommended this book to me...it seems to be what I was looking for...basically teaching skills of how to read other books to be skilled in writing itself... "
— Ginger, 4/3/2013 -
" Jodie gave me this a few years ago, and I recently picked it up to get me in the mode for teaching AP Lit this year. It was a quick, delightful read, and it made me want to go out and find all the books she referenced! "
— Lindsey, 2/21/2013 -
" Not sure I learned much new about how to read, but I think this book will be really useful for teaching. Also, I got quite a few things to add to my to-read list. "
— Angela, 7/26/2012 -
" An expert walkthrough on the important elements of fiction and their masterful usage. More formal than "Reading Literature Like A Professor" but no less engaging. Consider it a must-read. "
— Ian, 5/14/2012 -
" Skipped around in this book - not liking it as much as I'd hoped. Her references are a bit obscure to me and seem heavily focused on the 19th & early 20th c. British/American (dead white males) authors. I'm keeping this in the bathroom book basket . . to pickup, whenever . . "
— Julie, 9/8/2011 -
" To put it simple, Amazing! <br/><br/>Must read for any wanna-be writer. <br/><br/>Amusing read for any lover of literature. To those, who seek life in literature, rather than killing time. <br/> "
— Purnima, 5/17/2011 -
" Disappointed-- stuffy and hard to get into. "
— Sara, 5/15/2011 -
" A great book! If you want to learn how to read like a writer, this is the book. Prose goes through the elements a writer pays attention to, like words, sentences, paragraphs, thematic material, and shows you how to do a "close reading" of a text, as they say in English class. "
— A., 5/7/2011 -
" I read this in a Style class that I had to take in college. It's a great, great instructional guide for writers. "
— Huma, 5/4/2011 -
" An expert walkthrough on the important elements of fiction and their masterful usage. More formal than "Reading Literature Like A Professor" but no less engaging. Consider it a must-read. "
— Ian, 4/22/2011 -
" Reading this is like taking a writing course with the author. I really enjoyed it, and it has given me lots of good ideas about how to toughen up my approach to teaching writing and analysis. I will refer back to this often. Plus, it enlightened me about several books I must someday read. "
— Dominic, 3/6/2011 -
" So good and helpful :) "
— Maddy, 3/2/2011 -
" More useful than 1,000 writing workshops. (I do not exaggerate.) <br/> "
— C.M., 3/1/2011 -
" Somewhat intimidating for a beginning writer like myself, but with excellent tips. A little too many quotes though. "
— Jackie, 2/28/2011
About Francine Prose
Francine Prose is the author of many bestselling books of fiction, including A Changed Man and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the nonfiction New York Times bestseller Reading like a Writer. Her novel, Household Saints, was adapted for a movie by Nancy Savoca. Another novel, The Glorious Ones, has been adapted into a musical of the same name by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, which ran at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York City in the Fall of 2007. She is the president of PEN American Center.
About Nanette Savard
MacLeod Andrews is an actor, voice actor, and Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator who earned the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. He has starred in a number of independent short and feature films and is a member of the Rising Phoenix Repertory Company in New York City.