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Favorite Essayists and Essays
Just read a thoughtful essay in yesterdays NYT Magazine, "Reading Between the Sheets" by Lisa Belkin (about adulterous women). I was drawn to it by the title (thinking it would be about reading, which is isn't), but I also realized that Belkin is a byline I look for. My favorite female essayist is probably Anna Quindland (I miss her Newsweek gig), and I also love Peggy Orenstein's writing. I feel I learn something about the subject matter as well as about writing effective essays when I read these writers.
So in the spirit of sharing how we learn and improve (and hoping to avoid too many look-at-my-own-terrific-essay posts), can I persuade others to share favorite essayists and/or favorite essays that you have not written yourself, but perhaps would like to have?
So in the spirit of sharing how we learn and improve (and hoping to avoid too many look-at-my-own-terrific-essay posts), can I persuade others to share favorite essayists and/or favorite essays that you have not written yourself, but perhaps would like to have?
Tags: essays, publishing
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Julie Sucha Anderson on -
Once More to the Lake by EB White. Wish I had written that one.
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Permalink Reply by Meg Waite Clayton on -
I carry Tim O'Brien's "The Vietnam in Me" in my journal, and take it out whenever I'm losing my nerve.
So many things I like about this essay, the raw honesty in it, especially. The prose. The structure. I love that you know from the first paragraph what it is about, and yet aren't quite sure the whole time you read it where it is going.
It's pieces like this that keep me coming back to the essay. I've loved so many of O'Brien's novels and stories, but I think this essay may be my favorite of everything I've read by him. -
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Permalink Reply by Meg Waite Clayton on
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I agree, Cara. Although I did enjoy In the Lake of the Woods.
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Permalink Reply by Janice Wiley-Dorn on
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Great topic, Meg.
The BITCH in the HOUSE is a fabulous collection of witty essays by various writers, edited by Cathi Hauser, a fiction author.
"A Postcard from Saint Out There" by Julie Morrison, an essay billed as, "Lending a Dream to a Brother Who Needs One," made my tear ducts overflow long before the end. It appeared in the July/August 2008 issue of The Rambler. http://www.ramblermagazine.com/ Unfortunately, the magazine is on "indefinite hiatus", another victim of the economy. I remain hopeful that it will pull off a phoenix, as I loved everything about the mag.
Best,
Janice -
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Permalink Reply by Sue William Silverman on -
I love reading essays by Brenda Miller. She has a couple of collections. One is called "Season of the Body" and the other is "Blessing of the Animals."
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Permalink Reply by Kim Steutermann Rogers on -
Joan Didion. Joan Didion. Joan Didion. To Joan, I'd add Diane Ackerman (try The Moon by Whale Light) and Dorothy Allison (in particular Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, which is really a memoir of essays). Ackerman showed me how to write science and Allison opened a door to memoir for me.
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Permalink Reply by Meg Waite Clayton on
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I SO loved her Year of Magical Thinking. Will have to look for her essays.
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Permalink Reply by Amy Jo Sprague on -
Kenko's "Essays in Idleness"...must read!
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