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Suggested Reading for CO201
Many clients at the COM Writing Center are enrolled in CO201, the core introductory writing course.
Below are recommended reading lists for CO201. We think you'll find that these books are enjoyable and informative resources for anyone who wishes to improve his or her writing.
Suggested Non-Fiction Reading for CO201:
Memoir / Autobiography
Max Apple, Roommates
Max Apple's first memoir begins as an entertaining, at times touching
story of his relationship with his grandfather (who for a while was
Apple's roommate while in graduate school), and eventually becomes
an account of illness and death.
Jill Ciment, Half a Life
A contemporary memoir about a teenage girl's wild search for a better
life and a father figure to replace her distant, crazed father; at
once wry and despairing, this honest, unsentimental memoir takes
her from the seedy side of 1960's L.A. to New York and back.
Franz Lidz, Unstrung Heroes
An East Coast memoir about a boy's crazy uncles and how they care
for him while his mother is dying from cancer; a witty, moving portrait
of a decidedly odd, unstable family.
James McBride, The Color of Water
James McBride, who is black, gives us a lively and inspiring account
of growing up with his white mother, of his efforts to know her hidden
past and of his own struggle with identity. A terrific read.
Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes
A tour-de-force memoir about an Irish family that barely hangs on
to life amid terrible poverty; it's told from a young boy's perspective,
with lilting rhythms and heartrending imagery.
Daphne Scholinski with Meredith Adams, The Last Time I Wore
a Dress
A very interesting memoir about a young girl's experience in a mental
hospital as she's unjustly hospitalized for what doctors called a
"failure to identify as a sexual female." As one of her "cures,"
she's forced to wear makeup and style her hair.
Lauren Slater, Welcome to My Country
A beautifully written, complex account of a young therapist's relationships
with her patients. Slater is a former depressive; her musings about
her patients circle back to herself, leaving the reader with a sense
of her compassion for others and her puzzlement at the workings of
her own psyche.
Malidoma Patrice Some, Of Water and the Spirit
The life of an African man who was abducted from his village and
taken to a Jesuit mission school. Returning to his village, he must
undergo an initiation back into his spiritual world.
Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life
A classic memoir of a boy struggling to survive an abusive stepfather
in small-town Washington; a beautifully spare piece of writing, where
meaning seeps between the lines.
Profile / Biography
Tim Crouse, The Boys on the Bus
A comical and thoughtful view behind the scenes of the journalists
covering the 1972 presidential campaign (Nixon, McGovern and others);
it's an influential story of the battle between politicians and the
media.
Tracy Kidder, Among Schoolchildren
Tracy Kidder proves that journalistic narrative can be as affecting
and engaging as a good novel. This portrayal of one inner-city school
teacher's struggle to reach her troubled students sheds light on
the larger problems facing American schools.
Mark Kramer, Invasive Procedures
A deeply researched, well-crafted narrative about the lives of two
surgeons. Kramer dispels the myth of the all-caring physician; he
explores the impact of daily death-dealing on the psyches and behavior
of two startlingly flawed men. Kramer renders events in image-rich
prose.
John McPhee, "Brigade de Cuisine" in Giving Good Weight
In-depth profile of a compulsively perfectionist gourmet chef, teeming
with sensory detail, bemused character observations, and ultimately,
a sense of the unknowability of individuals to each other.
John McPhee, A Roomful of Hovings
A collection of five profiles by the dean of literary journalism.
McPhee explores the lives of former director of the New York Metropolitan
Museum of Art Thomas Hoving; Quaker forager of foods in the wild,
Euell Gibbons; mower of the Wimbledon grass tennis courts, Robert
Twynam; African adventurer Carroll Brewster; and author of the Fielding
travel guides, Temple Fielding.
Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff
A riveting, hysterically funny portrait of the test pilots and astronauts
who risked their lives at the beginning of the space age; a landmark
piece of creative non-fiction.
Adventure / Travel
Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic
An interesting account of Civil War reenactors. For these people,
it's a way of life and it's strangely fascinating.
Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm
A gripping tale of man against nature, with disastrous consequences.
Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air
The ultimate journey up Mount Everest, with disaster looming ahead.
Krakauer describes his tragic trek with a group of amateur climbers
who paid to be led up the mountain, only to watch eight people die
in the aftermath of a blizzard.
William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways
An account of the author's drive around America. Features quirky
reflections, astute observations of the land and people around him,
philosophical musings, personal soul-searching and passages of lyrical
writing.
Peter Mayles, A Year in Provence
A mouth-watering journal of a year spent restoring an old house in
the south of France; it's full of vivid characters and, above all,
incredible descriptions of Provencal food and drink.
John McPhee, "Travels in Georgia" in The John McPhee Reader
A humorous, densely imaged, imaginatively phrased account of the
author's travels with a zoologist and a conservationist, who chart
the shrinking "natural areas" of the state.
Essays / Criticism / Other
Gretel Ehrlich, Solace of Open Spaces
In this series of essays, Ehrlich writes lyrically of the culture,
characters and landscape of the Wyoming high plains, the West, and
of the sense of peace she finds in the harsh emptiness of the land.
David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
A collection of idiosyncratic essays on topics ranging from the Illinois
State Fair, David Lynch and life on a cruise ship, to tennis, television
and post-modern literature.
Pauline Kael, Reeling and Deeper into the Movies
The most influential and insightful film critic of the last 30 years.
Kael's reviews of the films of this era go beyond simple criticism
to state a complex, deeply felt view of the purpose of film. Kael's
smart, saucy voice and caustic criticism have spurred debates among
film lovers for decades.
Tracy Kidder, House
An engrossing, beautifully crafted account of a house-building, from
the blueprint stage to the final coat of paint. Epitomizes "literary
journalism": based on immersion reporting, packed with rounded characters,
deep in its background research, wittily and tautly told.
Alex Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here
A deeply moving account of two boys growing up in the Chicago projects;
reported to the hilt, reads like a novel, stinging in its depiction
of social and economic inequities.
Philip Lopate, Against Joie de Vivre and Other Essays
Personal essays in the grand old style -- deeply reflective, told
in a distinctive, sometimes cranky and contrarian voice. The title
essay is especially strong.
Roger Rosenblatt, The Man in the Water and Other Essays
A collection of this former Time columnist's literate, witty, nuanced
essays on wide-ranging subjects (literary, political, humorous).
Rosenblatt is a sensitive receiver of impressions and can be devastatingly
gifted in his turns of phrase.
Books About Writing
Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way
A somewhat touchy-feely but surprisingly galvanizing book that can
help closeted creative souls acknowledge their creative instincts
and gain resolve to work determinedly at their art, whatever form
their art takes. The book is a guide, of sorts, a companion for twelve
weeks of exercises that build in intensity.
Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
Annie Dillard brings her incisive, powerful voice to an exploration
of the effort to write. The book is beautifully written, engaging
and wise.
Marjorie and Jon Ford, Writing as Revelation An insightful look at how you can use writing to learn about yourself and the world and, conversely, how self-discovery enhances your writing.
Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones
An extremely accessible, encouraging and useful book about writing
from one's deepest instincts, surrendering to "process" rather than
fixating on "product," and developing a tribe of fellow artists.
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and
Life
One of the most engaging and wisest "how to" books on writing. Lamott
focuses on creative writing but her observations and insights about
writing transcend genre.
Patricia O'Connor, Woe is I
A fun, playful yet helpful grammar guide.
Other Suggested Titles:
- Peter Abrahams, Tell Freedom
- Russell Baker, Growing Up
- Ilene Beckerman, Love, Loss and What I Wore
- Joan Didion, Slouching Toward Bethlehem
- Annie Dillard, American Childhood
- Mark Doty, Heaven's Coast
- Bonni Goldberg, Room to Write
- Vivian Gornick, Approaching Eye Level
- Vivian Gornick, Fierce Attachments
- Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action
- Edward Hoagland, The Courage of Turtles
- Edward Hoagland, Heart's Desire
- Edward Hoagland, Walking the Dead Diamond River
- Mary Karr, Liar's Club
- Susannah Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted
- Doris Kearns Goodwin, Wait Till Next Year
- William Kittredge, A Hole in the Sky
- Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
- Camara Laye, The Dark Child
- Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz
- Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
- Kurt Vonnegut, Fates Worse than Death: An Autobiographical Collage
- Eudora Welty, One Writer's Beginnings
- Geoffrey Wolff, The Duke of Deception
- Tobias Wolff, The Pharaoh's Army
