Today is a theme day for the blogathon. We’re supposed to write about our five favorite books on writing. I can think of a few I like and one I’m unsure of, but most of what I’ve learned from writing I’ve learned from reading great writers.

Sometimes I underline passages, corner pages, or otherwise deface my books to note lines of particular beauty. In my blog two days ago, I mention a quote from Ian McEwan’s book Saturday that moved me. Other books that have left me with an appreciation of how writers use language include Amos Oz’s autobiography A Tale of Love and Darkness, Annie Dillard’s A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and a book I go back to again and again, Pride and Prejudice, which over the last 30 years has taught me that good writing can stand the test of time, no matter how drastically language and society change.

There are books about writing that I also enjoyed. One, which is out of print, taught me that grammar isn’t boring. Pinckert’s Practical Grammar was the first book I’d come across about the dry business of commas and semicolons that imparted knowledge with a good dose of humor. It has a counterpart in the more current offering on the same topic, Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss.  That I like both these books is not to imply in any way that I abide by the laws of grammar. I have always believed that language is a living thing, and that how real people use it in the real world trumps rules. I do try to use proper grammar, but I don’t always succeed and will often knowingly flout a rule if I think a sentence sounds better with a split infinitive or a dangling participle.

One book I’ve read over and over is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. She inspires me and alleviates some of the inferiority I feel for never having studied literature at the university level. I read her and believe my stories are worthy of telling to a wider audience.

I can’t say I feel the same about the book The War of Art. Stephen Pressfield talks with authority on how to break through the blocks that commonly afflict writers. But I have trouble when he asserts that nothing short of being on your deathbed (and maybe not even that) will keep a real writer from his or her craft. As someone who suffers from a debilitating chronic illness and is a single working mom to an autistic teenager, I don’t need that kind of accusation coming at me. There are days when I can’t write even a sentence, when it’s all I can do to feed my kid, walk my dog, floss my teeth and remember to moisturize. But aside from that gripe, it’s a worthy book for those who sometimes struggle to find the thread of thought that takes them to the next paragraph, page, or chapter.

I don’t read a lot of books about writing, but I read a lot. I know what is good writing and what is dross. I know when a story is good but the writing is bad, when the characters are engaging but the plot is slow. And I love those times that I find a book that has great characters, a plot that impels you forward, and clear and moving language — I just finished What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman which has all of those elements.

There was someone, sometime, who I was reading who implied that only those who study literature can truly write. I don’t believe that. But I believe that more than any writing class or book about writing, reading the work of those who can put an engaging sentence together will show a writer the way forward. And if you need help picking something to read, let me know. I have a gift for putting people together with books.