A review by bookishwendy
The Writer's Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House by Kate Bernheimer, Dorothy Allison, Aimee Bender

4.0

This is a great little collection of essays by some notable contributors. I have to admit that my favorite chapter here was Steve Almond's hilarious little gem about the awkwardness--and near impossibility--of writing about sex ("Hard up for a Hard-On", which, coincidentally, includes both lovely and nauseating examples. Consider yourself warned). Other notable chapters that I found particularly helpful include "Performing Surgery without Anesthetic" by Chris Offutt on revisions, "Making a Scene" by Anne Keesey, "Generating Fiction from History" by Jim Shepherd, and even (surprisingly?) "Shakespeare for Writers" by Margot Livesy. I found a few chapters too esoteric and/or vague, such as "The Mercurial Worlds of the Mind" about writing imaginary worlds in which the author's enthusiastically bizarre style I found almost impossible to follow. Bottom line, I'd recommend this to any student of creative writing. Good essay fodder here, to be sure!