Writers and Editors

Books are ideal gifts for those who read, and the titles on these recommended-reading lists will make someone happy:
• Food Memoirs and Biographies
• Style guides and other books on editing (these are the ones aspiring writers and editors often can't afford)
• Books to help you write your own (or someone else's) life story
• Memoirs and personal accounts of vocation, avocation, occupation, profession, "calling" (a reading list)
• Books for aspiring fiction writers and editors
• Outstanding narrative nonfiction  Read More 

"She is the great English novelist renowned for her polished prose, of whom it was once remarked: 'Everything came finished from her pen,' writes Anita Singh, arts correspondent for the Telegraph, in Jane Austen's famous prose may not be hers after all.  Read More 

Irked or appalled by a badly edited or sloppily produced book? Submit details about the book's shameful qualities to the Hall of Shame, sponsored by the blog An American Editor. Check out the first nominees. Read More 

By popular demand, here's my list of books for those of you who are good at spotting typos and spelling errors and wonder if there's a career for you in freelance editing or proofing. Check out your skills first, and then develop them more fully. You can do a lot with these books, after  Read More 

"I do hope you realize that every time you use disinterested to mean uninterested, an angel dies," writes Roy Blount Jr., "and every time you write very unique, or 'We will hire whomever is more qualified,' thousands of literate people lose yet another little smidgen of hope.  Read More