A gem ( )

This is quite simply a terrific book. If I have a complaint, it's the usual one regarding William Zinsser's work. I wished there were more. But if it had been longer, it wouldn't have been genuine Zinsser. One of his prime rules is to 'reduce clutter.' If Zinsser is hard on his students about editing out extraneous stuff, he's obviously twice as hard on himself. Because Writing Places, like his other books about writing and his life, has been mercilessly edited and honed to absolute shining perfection. I despair at ever coming close to this kind of writing myself. And I am an adherent to Zinsser's work too. I first read his classic tome, On Writing Well, about five years ago and just loved it. But as a follower I'm probably kind of a failure. I think it all matters, so ...

I've also read his book, Writing About Your Life, which didn't have nearly enough about his own life (just my opinion, of course), so I was very excited to hear he'd finally written an actual memoir. Writing Places was a pleasure to read, but, as I've already said, I wished for more, particularly about his childhood and youth and his WWII service. Something like Andy Rooney did in MY WAR, or Sam Hynes in his two excellent memoirs, The Growing Seasons and Flights of Passage. If Zinsser ever decides to do this, I'd predict an instant bestseller, because there just aren't many more WWII memoirs that will still be written. The reading public is still hungry for such accounts though; witness the recent success in England of RAF pilot Geoffrey Wellum's book, First Light - a wonderful account of flying and the Battle of Britain.

What the hell though. I do so appreciate everything Zinsser has already shared with us. And what he's tried to teach us about good writing. My next assignment: to read his books about music and baseball - EASY TO REMEMBER and SPRING TRAINING. Particularly the first one, because Zinsser is an accomplished jazz pianist of many years standing. Gotta read that one. In the meantime, keep writing, Mr Zinsser, and I'll keep reading. ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3VD8WCCJGK48O/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm ( )