Wednesday, November 27, 2013

On “Odd Type Writers”: A Book Review

 
Title: Odd Type Writers: From Joyce and Dickens to Wharton and Welty, the Obsessive Habits and Quirky Techniques of Great Authors

Author: Celia Blue Johnson

Genre: Non-Fiction

About the book

Odd Type Writers, as the lengthy subtitle suggests, takes a look into some of the unusual and bizarre habits of well known writers.

What I think…

This was a fascinating book! I am more than prone to wanting to know more about how well loved authors went about their writing and am always happy to find a book that offers up unusual facts. There were a number of interesting things to be learned in this book  including that Alexandre Dumas (of The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, etc…) used different color paper dependant on if he was writing fiction, poetry, or articles, and that Harper Lee, in frustration, threw a draft of To Kill a Mockingbird out her apartment window.

As far as the way this book was put together, I like how Johnson broke up the chapters alternating between ones that are on a specific author and then topics that relate to multiple authors. I also felt that she covered a wide range of authors, instead of just focusing on one time period or genre.

To sum it all up…
Great book if you want to know a little bit more than average information about some very well known writers! And it’s perfect to read either all in one go or just during small snatches of free time.

2 comments:

  1. :::gasps:::: Harper Lee!!! I have to read this now. Thanks for the heads up on this book!

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    Replies
    1. There are only a few things about her, but it's definitely worth reading!

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