Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life: Amazon.ca: Anne Lamott: Books

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Think you've got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn't afraid to help you let it out. She'll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph. Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Lamott's ( Operating Instructions ) miscellany of guidance and reflection should appeal to writers struggling with demons large and slight. Among the pearls she offers is to start small, as their father once advised her 10-year-old brother, who was agonizing over a book report on birds: "Just take it bird by bird." Lamott's suggestion on the craft of fiction is down-to-earth: worry about the characters, not the plot. But she's even better on psychological questions. She has learned that writing is more rewarding than publication, but that even writing's rewards may not lead to contentment. As a former "Leona Helmsley of jealousy," she's come to will herself past pettiness and to fight writer's block by living "as if I am dying." She counsels writers to form support groups and wisely observes that, even if your audience is small, "to have written your version is an honorable thing."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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First Sentence
The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt

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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Boring Beginner's Stuff, Jun 22 2004

By

Sunnyside "Sunnyside" (Astoria, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Paperback)

I'm trying to return this book right now...it's not bad, and certainly has its audience, but I'm not it. It's your basic beginner's guide to creative writing, unique for its alternately folksy and sassy tone. A certain kind of beginner will find it encouraging -- typically young and female, I suspect. It's like having your own encouraging single mum! But for anyone who's got past their own precious egos (enough to progress beyond hand-holding and back-patting, anyway) and has the minimum intellectual insight required of a would-be writer of "literary fiction" (as opposed to "genre fiction"), this book's likely to be only amusing at best. I myself cannot recommend it as being helpful to anyone writing at an advanced, pre-publication level, for which I maintain that John Gardner's "Art of Fiction" and "On Becoming A Novelist" remain the most useful of all such books, intellectually rigorous (even if it sounds elitist here and there) and spiritually uplifting for being more "formal" and "classically-minded." As it stands, "Bird by Bird" is a good enough preamble for its implicitly intended market of young female beginning writers (and sensitive "Young Werthers," for that matter). As a nice counter-weight to Gardner, I'd recommend "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers."

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as amazing as one would expect..., Feb 24 2012

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G. Petec "Gia" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Paperback)

(...)Bird by Bird was recommended to me by a dear friend as well as every other book trying to teach you how to write. So I read it. It's a little thing like a small notebook, easy. The main idea is to take one thing at a time, little by little (bird by bird).
I am at a loss for words now, as even though I agree and cherish many of the truths coming out of this tiny book (not as audaciously nor blatantly laid out as the author boasts), I am furious with the writer. I dislike her profusely, for the character she comes across as is someone I would definitely not be friends with in real life.
It just happened that in the timeframe I was reading this book I was using my public transit, shopping and walking time to listen to The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende, as well as Imperfect Birds, also by Anne Lamott. In The Sum of Our Days Anne Lamott is treated as a trusted friend, Isabel goes to her for advice at one point. In Bird by Bird Isabel is treated like a 'God forbid' kind of author, mentioned as a threat for Anne's students who would immediately copy the style and write only like that (one might wonder what type of ludicrous specimens are attending her classes).
In Bird by Bird Anne is talking (if not bragging, true, trying to make a point) about how other people thought she was a good gardener because one of her main characters is tending a garden that she is passionate about. In Imperfect Birds we find the garden and the character: no, I did not think that Anne is a good gardener at the end of the book, although you could say that her mentioning of having only plastic flowers in her garden (who does that?! I think this is one of the tackiest things ever) might have altered my perception. However, in all honesty, there are a few plants mentioned here and there, as well as the way you cut them, scanty information, much less than any gardening guide would provide. The trouble she went through to get that gardening info seems quite superfluous given the result.(...)
To see the rest of this review, as well as many more interesting unabridged ones go to allwords.ca.

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Maybe it's sacrilege but..., May 25 2004

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TheCafeWriter (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Paperback)

I don't really care for this book. With all the hyperbole about it, I really expected it to be the Holy Grail of inspirational writing books.

Instead, it's very heavily laden with metaphors and similes where writing and related topics are compared to all manner of things, and a lot of self-indulgent autobiography that I found more off-putting than inspiring. In just one short chapter on "giving" she presents these:

* "shot my literary creative wad every day"
* "like Zorba the Greek at the keyboard" (Huh??)
* "I'm a wired little rodent squirreling things away"
* "like patients in an emergency room"
* "like you violated some archaic law in their personal Koran"
* "like a single parent of a 3-year-old"
And *that* simile then compared to "like a doting grandparent."

I found that kind of style tedious after a while. I've tried repeatedly to get through this book - even getting it on tape (and the author reads the entire thing in a monotone).

The overall tone is depressing (unless you really want to hear about cancer and cocaine abuse), and the points can be frustratingly contradictory. For example, she exhorts on writing your truth and pain, but at the same time quotes an editor who told her "you assume everything that's happened to you is interesting." This is like telling new writers to dig deeply within their own memories/experiences and write about them honestly, and then chiding them for writing "what really happened."

I only found a couple of useful tidbits, but with so many other books on this subject that say the same things more concisely and directly, this one just isn't worth it. If you really want to read it, check it out of the library instead.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Birds
Very easy to read. Could be rated pg-14 for some language. Encouraging for burgeoning writers who don't have time take a writing seminar.

Published 4 months ago by HSMamma

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect transaction!
Very pleased with my purchase. The book arrived promptly and in perfect condition. I would def buy again. Everything went smoothly!

Published 6 months ago by tooartsy