Have you ever wondered about the creative process of your favorite authors? Ever wondered who loves money more than life? What doors do the secret keys unlock? What old lady wears fur jackets? Who needs to punch a boxing ball before work? With primary evidence from the very private lives of those contemporary authors that are lingering on the doorstep of the literary canon, How I Write is an editorial powerhouse of more than sixty original features by Jonathan Franzen, Jeffrey Eugenides, Joyce Carol Oates, Rick Moody, Will Self, Nicole Krauss, and many others. Letters, photographs, drawings, even candy wrappers, phone bills, and other scattered mementos will be strikingly presented in this smartly designed volume. Using the same research team that previously published the unknown letters of Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Dickens's notebook, Harold Pinter's blues lyrics, and a nude shot of Alan Ginsberg, How I Write offers unpublished and unseen material illuminating the secret lives of authors. A must-have for the growing fan base of McSweeny's and other literary magazines, the book, designed by legendary and award-winning art director Vince Frost, will also be a perfect gift for all writers, readers, and anyone interested in books, ideas, and design.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book seems more of a marketing project rather than a title with lots of meaningful content. To get round the fact that all the text for the sixty-seven writers would have made a really slim book the publishers have let lose an Australian design group to fill out the pages with a visual extravaganza of photos, graphics and expressive typography.
The problem is the look of the pages totally over-powers the text but this maybe what was wanted anyway as there is so little readable content. So, a book about the thoughts of some writers becomes an exercise in design but I think it fails because design is presenting information with clarity and style which should not be conscientiously noticed. Design in How I Write is anything but unnoticeable, for example: the page numbers don't exist, instead each left-hand page has, near the spine and turned sideways: How (I) Write ++++++++ ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN etc, the back of the book bibliographies are set in one solid block of run-on type with the writer's names in red (and not even bold face) over nine pages, various letters of the alphabet, seemingly chosen at random, are so enlarged that they run of the edge of the pages.
I must admit that as a publication designer (thankfully retired) had I seen this book some decades ago I probably would have been mightily impressed with its flash look but now it seems so obviously a triumph of style over substance. Really not much more than designers having fun with a software graphics package and on that basis I'll keep it as a flamboyant example of that. If I was interested in learning a bit about writing style I would stick to David Lodge's `The Art of Fiction' (ISBN 978 0140174922) a Penguin paperback that really delivers and without a graphic in sight.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
The problem is the look of the pages totally over-powers the text but this maybe what was wanted anyway as there is so little readable content. So, a book about the thoughts of some writers becomes an exercise in design but I think it fails because design is presenting information with clarity and style which should not be conscientiously noticed. Design in How I Write is anything but unnoticeable, for example: the page numbers don't exist, instead each left-hand page has, near the spine and turned sideways: How (I) Write ++++++++ ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN etc, the back of the book bibliographies are set in one solid block of run-on type with the writer's names in red (and not even bold face) over nine pages, various letters of the alphabet, seemingly chosen at random, are so enlarged that they run of the edge of the pages.
I must admit that as a publication designer (thankfully retired) had I seen this book some decades ago I probably would have been mightily impressed with its flash look but now it seems so obviously a triumph of style over substance. Really not much more than designers having fun with a software graphics package and on that basis I'll keep it as a flamboyant example of that. If I was interested in learning a bit about writing style I would stick to David Lodge's `The Art of Fiction' (ISBN 978 0140174922) a Penguin paperback that really delivers and without a graphic in sight.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By chkchkchk
Format:Hardcover
This book is visually staggering, containing absolutely beautiful photographs and design throughout, but the real reward comes from the textual content. Authors of many and varied stripes allow us to see beyond 'the fourth wall' (to borrow a metaphor from the performing arts), and read about the quirky tics and eccentric practices that help them write. Will Self's tale of his dedication to post-it notes is just one highlight of many.
As a further bonus, I gave this book to an aspiring writer friend of mine as a present, and he has been absolutely devouring it for tips!
As a further bonus, I gave this book to an aspiring writer friend of mine as a present, and he has been absolutely devouring it for tips!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book primarily for the graphic design stylings of Vince Frost rather than the actual written content but i think the perhaps self indulgent subject amtter and content fits perfectly with the exaggerated and brash design of the book. The descriptions of how various authors are a mix of the funny, the touching and the ocassionally quite bizarre! Accomanyingthe tales are wonderful illustrations using various characters of typefaces that help to inject a sense of humor and energy into the book. All in all i was pleased with the purchase of this book, an all round package!
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