Writing Time

Annie Proulx: Brokeback Mountain
The spare, beautiful short story the movie came from.

Zadie Smith: On Beauty
She makes it look easy. It's a page turning novel of ideas and character.

Charles Baxter: Saul and Patsy
A deep, serious, funny novel by a writer who should be better known outside of literary circles.

Karen Armstrong: The Spiral Staircase : My Climb Out of Darkness (Armstrong, Karen)
Articulate and deeply insightful.

Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life
A book that truly encourages you to write, understands you, makes you laugh and cry as you read it.

Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life
This is my favorite of favorites. Encouragement and humor.

Brenda Ueland: If You Want to Write : A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit
Her 12 things you should know/do as a writer are timeless.

Carolyn See: Making a Literary Life
Such good advice, and so hilarious.

Deena Metzger: Writing for Your Life : Discovering the Story of Your Life's Journey
An exploration of creativity, story and spiritual practice through writing.

Dorothea Brande: Becoming a Writer
Her "artistic coma" is what we're all looking for.

Naomi Epel: Writers Dreaming: 26 Writers Talk About Their Dreams and the Creative Process
Writers reveal all their weird and wise working quirks.

Natalie Goldberg: Writing down the bones
Zen bits of advice, inspiration and wisdom.

Ralph Keyes: The Courage to Write : How Writers Transcend Fear
Like having a funny, smart, articulate friend holding your hand when you start.

Stephen King: On Writing
My copy flutters with Post-its. He writes of the true magic of writing.

Annie Dillard: The Writing Life
“A work in progress quickly becomes ferel,” she writes, and you nod yes, yes.

Donald Hall: Life Work
A poet at work, and living life with poet Jane Kenyon.

John Steinbeck: Journal of a Novel
His daily warm-up letters to his editor while writing East of Eden.

Naomi Epel: Writers Dreaming: 26 Writers Talk About Their Dreams and the Creative Process
Weird and wise ways of writers working as well as dreaming.

Stephen King: On Writing
How it all started, with smart advice for other writers.

Anne Fadiman: Ex Libris : Confessions of a Common Reader
Elegantly written essays about loving books.

Phillip Lopate: The Art of the Personal Essay : An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present
Great introduction and selection of 400 years of personal essays.

Anne Lamott: Traveling Mercies : Some Thoughts on Faith
From her heart and soul, both funny and honest.

Natalia Ginzberg: The Little Virtues
Brilliant essays to learn from and live by.

Ellen Gilchrist: Falling Through Space: The Journals of Ellen Gilchrist (Banner Books)
Actually from her broadcast NPR pieces. A portrait of a writer in family and work roles.

Andre Dubus: Broken Vessels
Includes elegant pieces full of courage written after his horrific accident.

Joan Didion: The White Album
She's a master of the contemporary essay.

Billy Collins: Sailing Alone Around the Room
Read "Introduction to Poetry". Funny, accessible, and also serious poetry.

Jane Kenyon: Otherwise : New & Selected Poems
Read the title poem first. A poem to live by.

Mary Oliver: New and Selected Poems : Volume One
Read "The Summer Day" and "The Journey" - more poems to live by.

Raymond Carver: Ultramarine
He makes it look easy. It isn't.

Joan Didion: The Year of Magical Thinking
Pure Art. I read it in one sitting.

Ulla-Carin Lindquist: Rowing without oars
Lean and illuminating prose as the author faces her own death. To be published in the U.S. in April ’06.

Carole Radziwill: What Remains
A beautifully written memoir that transcends its celebrity frame of the Kennedys.

Donald Hall: The Best Day the Worst Day
The story of the death of his wife, Jane Kenyon.

Samantha Dunn: Faith in Carlos Gomez, A Memoir of Salsa, Sex and Salvation
The title alone should make you want to read it.

Carolyn See: Dreaming, Hard Luck and Good Times in America
Witty, as well as poignant - and written with abundant generosity.

Genevieve Jurgensen: The Disappearance
The most heart-breaking memoir I've read, written as letters to a friend.

James McBride: The Color of Water
The amazing story of his white Jewish mother who had twelve black kids, all of whom grew up to earn graduate degrees.

Judy Blunt: Breaking clean
Her story of fleeing rural Montana and her family to become a writer.

Katharine Butler Hathaway: The Little Locksmith
Like finding a friend who has a deep and inspiring inner life that she'll share with you.

Kathleen Norris: Dakota
A book not only about her life and spiritual growth, but also the meaning of community and place.

Kathryn Harrison: The Kiss
The true version of her novel, "Thicker Than Water".

Mark Doty: Firebirds
Growing up gay in suburbia - funny, deeply moving, eloquent.

Mark Doty: Heaven's Coast
Some of the best writing on grief I've ever read - both spiritual and literary.

Mary Karr: The Liar's Club
The book that started the current popularity of memoir.