Review - Writing Down The Bones

Reading Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott struck me as reading two very similar books from two distinct voices. Writing Down The Bones is a personal reflection on the craft and what works for Goldberg and might work for you. It's easy to digest, coming in short chapters, and it really does make you think about what you write, how you sit down to work, whether you're really dedicated to writing. The allusions to Buddhism and Judaism and how they affect her writing are also interesting. Some of her advice seems contradictory, but really it's just that it comes from different places in the process. Some of it is the average advice you get from all writers -- keep a notebook, take it everywhere, write in it every day, just as an example -- but coupled with her experience of doing that.

I felt like it was a little bit repetitive and it didn't focus much on what to do with the writing once you've done it, but it was still worth reading.

Review - Heart-Shaped Box

I enjoyed reading Heart-Shaped Box, but I don't think Joe Hill is quite mature in his writing yet. The pace of the book seemed a little odd to me, and it didn't actually grab hold of me and keep me going -- I was curious as to how it'd all turn out, but the narrative itself didn't keep pushing me through it. The characters are interesting but not really truly engaging, and the idea is a little creepy but not enough to keep me up at night or even to make me all shivery. Some of the formatting was irritating and kind of threw me out of it, too -- the whole sections of italicisation.