The One Book to Read If You Want to be a Better Writer
“A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” is a masterclass for readers and writers.
Bookshelves are packed with quality books about writing. Frequently mentioned are Stephen King’s On Writing, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, John McPhee’s Draft №4. These are all excellent books to begin with for studying writing.
But there is another book that will teach you how to read short stories in order to teach you how to write short stories and offers the keys to create great short story art.
That book is George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, a truly remarkable book.
Saunders is an MFA professor at Syracuse University, a Booker Prize winner for his first novel Lincoln in the Bardo (a future post coming about that extraordinary novel), the writer of 9 other books of short story collections, and a MacArthur genius grant recipient. His writing is deeply humane, with sensitive understanding of the complexities of language, art, and life.
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a masterclass in reading and writing. It’s a big book at 400 pages, but it reads easily like a summer time beach novel.
