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Books for Writers 

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Jane Steinberg, the Books for Writers editor at Amazon.com writes:

Do you find the errors on a menu before the waiter has a chance to recite the specials? Is "Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received" as grating to you as fingernails on a blackboard? Would you cringe if an advertisement for your child's school promised a "low teacher-to-student ratio"? If so, Barbara Wallraff's "Word Court" is a book without which you cannot live. For seasoned wordsmiths, books about language can entertain; on occasion they may also enlighten. But rare is the book such as this that can teach an old pro so many new tricks, and in such a delightful manner. If you are a reader of Wallraff's "Word Court" column for The Atlantic Monthly, you will have already seen much of what is included here. If not, caveat lector: Though there is an index, this book is arranged in such a way that one may well find oneself reading the proverbial "one more page" long into the night.

"What I know about language," says Wallraff, "derives chiefly from my having edited, line by line and word by word, other people's writing over the past two decades." In "Word Court," Wallraff addresses changes in the language, questions of grammar, issues concerning specific words and phrases, and a bunch of other, uncategorizable linguistic concerns. She recommends rewriting in order to avoid problems ("recast, recast"), treading carefully when you don't want controversial word use to obscure your point, and forgiving significant others "for any lapse of grammar committed in a bathrobe, before the coffee is ready." This book is delicious. And I'll bet your first-edition Fowler that Wallraff even introduces a few issues you may never have considered (perhaps the exceptional "which," "picnic's grandmother" constructions, or those rare instances in which a sentence's two grammatically independent clauses should not--I repeat, not--be separated by a comma).

Harcourt Brace

ISBN: 0151003815

Dimensions (in inches): 1.12 x 9.11 x 6.10

The Books for Writers editor at Amazon.com writes:

This is a fantastic reference for any writer interested in legal issues concerning contracts, collaboration, agents, defamation, copyright, taxes, and high-tech publishing--and everyone should be. Authors Brad Bunnin and Peter Beren have written this guide with such style and clarity that you might find yourself just reading it rather than just consulting it. But that's okay: you can't help but feel empowered by having read such a thorough and, when appropriate, opinionated text. Consider, for instance, the book's first chapter, "The Publishing Contract." Contrary to what publishers tell you, Bunnin writes (Beren contributed the chapter on "The Author and the Business of Publishing"), there is no such thing as a standard book contract. In fact, he says, "Virtually without exception, publishers willingly change contracts at the author's request." Bunnin proceeds to lead his readers, line by line over 63 pages, through every single element of a publishing contract, including the grants-of-rights clause; warranties and indemnities; royalties, revisions, and remainders; and "all that incomprehensible, apparently unimportant stuff at the back of the contract." Whether or not you've retained a literary lawyer to work on your behalf, you'll want a book such as this on your shelf, to refer to when you need advice on avoiding defamatory statements, protecting yourself against copyright infringement, or even knowing which home-office expenditures you may deduct come tax time.

Harpercollins

ISBN: 073820031X

Dimensions (in inches): 0.98 x 9.19 x 7.39

The Books for Writers editor at Amazon.com writes:

If Peter Elbow's "Writing Without Teachers" seems to have come into being at the same time as the early-'70s encounter groups, that's because it did. First published in 1975, "Writing Without Teachers" advocates improving your writing via freewriting and the "teacherless writing class." Freewriting, according to Elbow, is a terrific way to get things onto the page that you never knew you had in you: "Never stop ... to wonder what word or thought to use, or to think about what you are doing." Only after you have finished writing should you contemplate editing. And though much of what you produce when freewriting will be real garbage, Elbow promises that the best parts will be far better than anything you could have written otherwise. "You will use up more paper," he warns, "but chew up fewer pencils."

The teacherless writing class is Elbow's other key to unlocking the writer within. Elbow prefers these groups to those with teachers, because a teacher, he says, "usually isn't in a position where he can be genuinely affected by your words." In a teacherless group, the other participants "give you better evidence of what is unclear in your writing." Elbow insists that members of a writing group disregard conventional theories of "good" and "bad" writing, urging instead that they react to one another's work in a more subjective manner. The ultimate goal, he says, is for the group process to help each writer improve his or her ability to decide "which parts of [one's] own writing to keep and which to throw away."

Oxford Univ Pr (Trade)

ISBN: 0195120167

Dimensions (in inches): 0.48 x 7.90 x 5.27

The Books for Writers editor at Amazon.com writes:

This is a good, solid guide to basic grammar by two women who claim to be "nutty enough to have 'liked' diagramming in school." Their book is clear. It is not boring. It even compares punctuation marks to traffic signals (a period is a stop sign, a comma a flashing yellow light). But its crowning glory are nearly 30 cartoons--from "Sally Forth," "Beetle Bailey," "The Far Side," and others--on the subject of grammar that are sure to delight anyone who is nutty enough to have liked diagramming in school. In our favorite, Hobbes tries to persuade Calvin that a pronoun is "a noun that lost its amateur status." Calvin, after pondering for a moment, writes it down. "Maybe I can get a point for originality," he says.

Ten Speed Pr

ISBN: 0898159660

Dimensions (in inches): 0.37 x 9.05 x 6.11

The Books for Writers editor at Amazon.com writes:

"Sometimes writing a dissertation is a bit like having a serious, but not mortal, illness," writes Joan Bolker in "Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day." "It takes enormous energy to sustain life [and] you have to take very good care of yourself so you don't collapse." Bolker, a psychologist who specializes in helping blocked writers (she's worked with thousands of students), is just the soul to sooth the frenzied thesis writer. Despite her book's title, Bolker doesn't *really* promise that you'll complete your dissertation in a mere 15 minutes a day; but her approach involves writing for at least 15 minutes every single day (beginning even before you've settled on a thesis topic) and setting realistic, achievable goals. The writing process she proposes comes in two parts: "A first, 'cooking,' making-a-mess-part; and a second, compulsive, clean-up-the-mess part." The more revising you have to do, the better. "You can't usually write a decent dissertation," she says, "without doing at least as much work revising as you did composing your original draft."

In addition to her fine writing advice, which is applicable to students in the sciences and the humanities equally (as well as to writers not trying to complete a thesis), Bolker also offers counsel on the politics of choosing a topic, an advisor, and a thesis committee; communicating with your advisor; and setting up a thesis support group. Her final chapter is addressed to thesis advisors. "The fundamental principle of dealing with students in the midst of their dissertations," she reminds them, "is to assume paranoia"-- a paranoia that Bolker, who worked on two dissertations of her own (but completed only one), knows all too well. "I used to put a copy of my dissertation in the freezer, in a waterproof Ziploc bag, before I left my house overnight--in case of fire or burglary."

Owl Books

ISBN: 080504891X

Dimensions (in inches): 0.53 x 8.11 x 5.48

The Books for Writers editor at Amazon.com writes:

Richard Lederer gets a greater charge out of the English language than a kid gets from a Volkswagen full of clowns. His playful examination of "the most tintinnabulating of the world's tongues" in "The Word Circus" is more fun than a barrel of monkeys (however fun that is), and Dave Morice's illustrations are no sideshow: they are as clever and charming as the text they accompany.

Merriam Webster

ISBN: 0877793549

Dimensions (in inches): 1.10 x 7.28 x 7.29

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