Subjects Strategies: A Writer's Reader

Rating:
Summary: Not very instructive
Review: All the sample essays are great. But their structures, I think, are elusive. The essayists are too professional to choose a college-style method of writing and I had a very difficult time figuring out the elements of those essays. They scatter randomly in the articles and contradict what Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz teach us.

Read it through and you'll be overwhelmed with lots of flowery prose. It is a valuable reference resource, but not a GUIDE.

Rating:
Summary: solid basic writing text
Review: I use this book to teach a beginning writing class. The variety of essays is quite good; not every one is a winner, but probably 60% are accessible and there are some rarities here that the students have thoroughly enjoyed, including "Dumpster Diving" by Lars Eighner and "A Crime of Compassion" by Barbara Huttmann. There are enough writers the likes of Dillard, MLK, Ackerman, and Orwell to acquaint novices with great writing, balanced with a good variety of more pop-oriented magazine style pieces. The strategies and guidelines for essays are excellent, and a wealth of possible topics for further development is offered throughout. My class prep time is easy and concise thanks to the book's structure and execution.