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lanica's review against another edition
5.0
I tried to read this book, but couldn't find a voice for it. I found myself rereading passages over and over again, trying to 'get into it' but failed. Then I found it available via digital download through my library. Wow! What a difference it makes to have a conversational, educational, and clear voice reading this material. I enjoyed all the passages of other books, and her analysis of each.
The only reservations I have about recommending this book is that she has no qualms about giving away spoilers in the books she is discussing. Many of the books are classics, so having not read "Sense and Sensibility" is my own fault, and there are a lot of works I've never heard of and will probably never get around to reading...but I skipped the section on "The Things They Carried" because it's close to the top of my to read pile.
Also, she ends the book with a long tribute to her love of Chekhov, exhorting us all to read him and learn how to break all the rules she just explained clearly to us. He is a writer I've never been fond of and perhaps it's his disregard to rules that makes me cringe when I read him.
If you are interested in learning to read critically, or write thoughtfully, this is an excellent resource.
The only reservations I have about recommending this book is that she has no qualms about giving away spoilers in the books she is discussing. Many of the books are classics, so having not read "Sense and Sensibility" is my own fault, and there are a lot of works I've never heard of and will probably never get around to reading...but I skipped the section on "The Things They Carried" because it's close to the top of my to read pile.
Also, she ends the book with a long tribute to her love of Chekhov, exhorting us all to read him and learn how to break all the rules she just explained clearly to us. He is a writer I've never been fond of and perhaps it's his disregard to rules that makes me cringe when I read him.
If you are interested in learning to read critically, or write thoughtfully, this is an excellent resource.
kharmacat's review
3.0
Given my recent resolution to pay more attention while reading (see my Lovely Bones review), I thought this would be a good place to start. Unfortunately I didn't get very far. Francine Prose examines very good literature (Hemingway, Joyce, etc.), and how to read it closely to glean everything the author intended to convey.
What I came to realize very quickly is that I don't read very good literature, and in fact I don't enjoy it. My tastes are shallow. (And this is probably why I developed the habit of skimming.)
Having to read every word of a book closely in order to understand what the author is trying to say, or to understand some underlying meaning, is just not enjoyable to me.
So this book languished on my dining room table while I skimmed through pages of [b:Pillars of the Earth|5043|The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)|Ken Follett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388193707s/5043.jpg|3359698], until I had to return it to the library. Someday, when I'm feeling the need to shun my shallow ways, I might come back to it and try again.
What I came to realize very quickly is that I don't read very good literature, and in fact I don't enjoy it. My tastes are shallow. (And this is probably why I developed the habit of skimming.)
Having to read every word of a book closely in order to understand what the author is trying to say, or to understand some underlying meaning, is just not enjoyable to me.
So this book languished on my dining room table while I skimmed through pages of [b:Pillars of the Earth|5043|The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)|Ken Follett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388193707s/5043.jpg|3359698], until I had to return it to the library. Someday, when I'm feeling the need to shun my shallow ways, I might come back to it and try again.
wildflowerx's review against another edition
3.0
The first few chapters were really interesting, and gave me food for thoughts. However, it soon became what felt like a series of her favourite passages in literature, with not much explanation about what exactly someone who should reads as a writer should look at.
kricketa's review
3.0
this is taking me a very long time to read. (I got rather bogged down in the chapter on sentence structure, but the chapters on narrator and character are far more lively.) Prose, obviously, is a writer as well as a teacher, and this is a sort of textbook. I find it goes better when I remember that, like reading any criticism, I don't have to agree with her and am allowed to laugh at her when she gets a bit highfalutin. There are a few annoying instances in which she didn't get the rights to reprint some of the passages of writing she's trying to exemplify, but other than that (and the murky chapter on sentences) I'm enjoying this one so far. Definitely not a light summer read.
zabeishumanish's review
informative
medium-paced
3.0
I adored the first 3 or 4 chapters of this book, and then the comprehensibility of the book and subsequently my enjoyment of it dropped off. The first couple of chapters are truly stellar, and I will without question reread them several times, but the rest of the book is just a slog.
Francine truly loves classic literature so all of the examples she uses in the book are from the classics. This is fine in the first couple of chapters where she only quotes a full paragraph at most. As the book progresses, she quotes more and more to the point of several page-long quotations. At that point, Francine's original points get lost in the classics.
Francine truly loves classic literature so all of the examples she uses in the book are from the classics. This is fine in the first couple of chapters where she only quotes a full paragraph at most. As the book progresses, she quotes more and more to the point of several page-long quotations. At that point, Francine's original points get lost in the classics.
cavitlum's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
kazemiko's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The nonfiction book of the month for a writing server I'm in on Discord. I'm not entirely sure what I was supposed to take a way from it, but it was definitely an interesting read. I am looking forward to finding other things by the author.
dylanperry's review
3.0
There was so much about this I didn't connect with, whole sections I skimmed or skipped entirely, that I would normally rate it 2 stars. So why 3? Because the first chapters were that damn good.
Reading Francine Prose thoughts on reading slowly, and how authors take words and their power for granted--it was a breath of fresh air. Those first chapters alone brought me out of my reading slump, and I only wish the rest of the book was as strong. Unfortunately the other 200 pages felt like a college course on literature, and not an interesting one.
A lot of it is taste. She enjoys thicker novels, with long, beautiful prose, and so rich in detail that you can spend months dissecting parts of it and still feel as though you have bare scratched the surface. You can see her passion for it oozing off the pages. And I can enjoy those books too, but they don't inspire me and I rarely read them for pleasure. (I believe Francine Prose would look down upon many of the books on my shelves) This is fine. But it did create a huge disconnect, she playing the part of the passionate literary professor, and I of the bored student wanting to write the kind of books she'd probably dismiss as lazy genre fiction.
And I still want to go out and buy a print copy.
I know I'm repeating myself, but those first chapters were THAT GOOD. I want to reread them just to see if I pick up more. Francine Prose is a masterful writer, with a command of language I envy. She walks the walk. Even throughout the dullest parts, I appreciated her writing; The way it sounded, and how her sentences flowed from one to the next--it was wonderful. And she has gotten me thinking more deeply on language than I had before.
So in the end I am glad I read this, even if it was only for the beginning. 3 stars
Reading Francine Prose thoughts on reading slowly, and how authors take words and their power for granted--it was a breath of fresh air. Those first chapters alone brought me out of my reading slump, and I only wish the rest of the book was as strong. Unfortunately the other 200 pages felt like a college course on literature, and not an interesting one.
A lot of it is taste. She enjoys thicker novels, with long, beautiful prose, and so rich in detail that you can spend months dissecting parts of it and still feel as though you have bare scratched the surface. You can see her passion for it oozing off the pages. And I can enjoy those books too, but they don't inspire me and I rarely read them for pleasure. (I believe Francine Prose would look down upon many of the books on my shelves) This is fine. But it did create a huge disconnect, she playing the part of the passionate literary professor, and I of the bored student wanting to write the kind of books she'd probably dismiss as lazy genre fiction.
And I still want to go out and buy a print copy.
I know I'm repeating myself, but those first chapters were THAT GOOD. I want to reread them just to see if I pick up more. Francine Prose is a masterful writer, with a command of language I envy. She walks the walk. Even throughout the dullest parts, I appreciated her writing; The way it sounded, and how her sentences flowed from one to the next--it was wonderful. And she has gotten me thinking more deeply on language than I had before.
So in the end I am glad I read this, even if it was only for the beginning. 3 stars
laurie_p's review against another edition
3.0
I started this book with a kind of skepticism that I cannot quite explain. Yet, as the chapters moved on, it gradually grew on me, which was more than I had dared to hope for. I particularly liked Prose's writing style and her way of teaching through the close reading of examples. However, about half way through, the amount of literary samples became a bit too abundant for my liking, and I lost the feeling that I was learning something, the exact same experience that I had valued so much in the first half. The book went on like that, failing to leave an impression on me, and only managed to capture my full attention again in the final two chapters.