A couple years back I read Gay Talese's A Writer's Life. It is a vastly underrated book. All the news about the book seemed to focus on the small part of it concerned with the Bobbit case.
In fact, it's a brilliant book, as only Gay Talese could write. It violates everything I harp on about how to structure a book, but guys like Gay Talese learned and practiced all those rules for so long they can now break them masterfully.
Here's an article from the New York Press about Gay Talese that reminded me yet again of why I love New York. Best line: "By the clicking of our thumbs, something wicked this way comes." Read the entire article for the context.
And if you need a good summer beach read, A Writer's Life is out in paperback.
3 comments:
Just this once I'll get right to the point.
Great piece.
What I love most about Gay is that he openly took sides against his own wife in the James Frey memoir debacle. He drew a line in the sand between his principles and his loyalty to the Mrs.
Thanks for lighting a fire under me and reminding me of my intention to read his book.
I'm a huge Gay Talese fan. Fame & Obscurity is my writing Bible. Best, Mike Geffner
http://mikeswritingworkshop.blogspot.com
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