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Books That Prove Writing Is An Art
20
items Here’s a published author’s guide to artistic literature. Many of these books (novels, collections, novellas) feature gorgeous prose and taught me how to play with sentence structure. I treat them as both books to love and study from a writer’s persp...
Sections
4
Feminist Literature
Poetry
American Classics
Shakespeare
Feminist Literature
This book is poetry with a plot. The prose is *extraordinary* and the story is full of mystery and grief. It changed the way I view the ocean and how little we know about nature.
Our Wives Under the Sea
Explores the life of Bertha Rochester as a young woman who slowly descends into madness and challenges the black and white portrayal of the original Jane Eyre novel. The prose is like jumbled poetry.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
My book, so I’m biased!! Three different short stories following the complicated lives of three different girls. From the struggles of a 1920s flapper to the sexuality crisis of a modern teenager, every character must learn to survive in a patriarcha...
Books - Parties All Around: Nelson, Katie
A story that evokes loneliness, despair, hope, and feelings of kinship. This book changed my views on the future
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Describes the life of a drunkard. Similar to Wide Sargasso Sea in that the storytelling is not linear, and yet brilliant.
Good Morning, Midnight
Retellings of fairy tales with a gory twist. I adore the first story - beautifully written, raw, and haunting.
Bloody Chamber
Short stories that embody womanhood at their core. Raw, perplexing, and powerful. So deserving of the Nobel Prize
Dance of the Happy Shades: And Other Stories
Poetry
You cannot write good prose if you cannot write good poetry, and you cannot write good poetry if you don’t read Anne Carson.
Short Talks (Brick Books Classics, 1)
Reimagines all of The Canterbury Tales as modern poems. From rap battles to beautiful sonnets, this collection is genius. I get excited just thinking about it.
Telling Tales
Incredible utilization of language. Focuses on both the stigma surrounding women’s bodies and the racism people of color endure. These poems come in a variety of formats, each carefully chosen to convey a certain message.
Cannibal (Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Poetry)
Poems that blend Indian culture with the hardships of growing up female. Expertly written: short, succinct, impactful.
The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers
Amanda Gorman redefines poetry and the American dream with this collection.
Call Us What We Carry: Poems
American Classics
My favorite book of all time. Criticizes wealth, patriarchy, hierarchy, and privilege all in under 200 pages.
The Great Gatsby - Reader's Library Classic
Remains relevant decades after it was written. About a society that wants to ban literature by burning it.
Fahrenheit 451: A Novel
Short but powerful tale of greed, materialism, and obsession. Tragic ending.
The Pearl
Lolita’s narrator is unreliable and frankly unlikable by design. Difficult read to stomach, but the prose draws you in every time. A master class in writing
Lolita (Penguin Classics) by Vladimir Nabokov
Shakespeare
Very impactful, although short. Explains how one man’s ambition can ultimately be his demise.
Macbeth
My favorite SP play! Love that it’s set in Denmark - I actually visited the castle that inspired this story. Another family feud with high stakes, backstabbing, and even love.
Hamlet
A bitter play depicting the dynamics of royal life. Full of betrayal, redemption, and family feuds.
King Lear
Apart from being well written, this play never fails to make me laugh. Great if you’re studying how to write comedy
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Folger Shakespeare)