A review by raquel_reading_stuff
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times by New York Times

2.0

This book seemed like it was going to be a really interesting collection of writings by different authors ABOUT WRITING. Most of the. Just ended up being semi-reflective narratives about short periods in their lives or completely random little essays about their own interests. I wanted to read ABOUT WRITING. Not the writer's life, not the writer's hobbies, and not random writers' back stories. The problem was that a lot of the time, the different authors weren't even talking about the same subject matter. A third thought they were to be writing about how certain things in their lives influenced their writing, a third were reflecting on how writing and their lives are intertwined, and a third thought it was some sort of interview about their lives/habits. If I wanted to read a magazine article talking about what a writer does in her or his pastime, then I will buy myself a book called WRITERS ON THE WRITER'S LIFE. But it don't want to read about them; I want their insight and creativity talking about writing or the creative process. In a book called WRITERS ON WRITING, Is that too much to ask? This book end up doing the thing that some writers are totally okay with: muddling readers about how to view their lives as writers and keeping the trade of WRITING seemingly a mystery that one can't really figure out unless they too write a book. I expected better.