pagesofjulia

Today I am traveling north and east to West Virginia for the residency that begins my second semester in WVWC’s MFA program. All semester, I’ve been posting reviews of the books I read for school (along with the odd Shelf Awareness review). So, you’ve been seeing these books as they come; but I wanted to make a note, for your information and my own records, of what I loved most this semester. As always, these are only my personal reactions.

The best (and most useful to me) craft books I read were

• Stephen King’s On Writing,
• Robin Hemley’s A Field Guide for Immersion Writing, and
• Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir.

I had less success with The Art of Subtext, The Situation and the Story, and The Art of Attention (which I did not finish and therefore did not review). In fact, I’m beginning to fear that Graywolf’s The Art of series is not for me (recall also The Art of History), which is a shame, because I’m generally a fan of Graywolf Press, and I love the idea of these succinct pocket-sized craft books.

The memoirs/essay collections I loved most, and found most useful, were

• Abigail Thomas’s Safekeeping,
• Haven Kimmel’s She Got Up Off the Couch,
• John McPhee’s The Pine Barrens,
• Sonja Livingston’s Queen of the Fall,
• Jo Ann Beard’s The Boys of My Youth, and
• Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Chronology of Water.

I hadn’t realized until I made this list that five of these six books were written by women. Interesting, and perhaps not surprising.

What I am able to take from these talented writers and make my own is another question. Having reviewed books for a number of years now (see my first review for Shelf Awareness!), I feel fairly comfortable pointing to what I appreciate, and articulating why. (Most of the time.) But making it my own, that’s a newer challenge I’m still working to master.

And so, into semester 2.

Filed under: musings | Tagged: best of, lists, WVWC MFA program, WVWC MFA reading list |