The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well

Rating:
Summary: THE NONPAREIL BOOK ON WRITING
Review: For anyone who wants to improve his/her writing, be it a novel, report, or personal correspondence, there is no better guide than Paula LaRocque's The Book on Writing.

She defines and illustrates such divers topics as wordiness, jargon, vague qualifiers, archetype, and many more. Writing in which the narrative is elegant, concise, and easy for the reader to follow is decidedly not easy. After reading LaRocque, the verity of Mark Twain's admission that, "I would have written you a shorter note if I had had the time," will be more fully appreciated.

This is not a dry, pedantic `how to' book on writing. It is an entertainingly easy to follow guide on not only what to do, but just as importantly, what not to do. Building interest and suspense, creating word pictures, use of appropriate metaphor, and other writing techniques are explained and illustrated in this superb book.

Rating:
Summary: A very useful guide - one of the best
Review: It seems there are a lot of people who think they can write an authoritative book on the art of writing. It is always a wonderful surprise to find one that actually knows what they are talking about and can convey their expertise is a clear and concise manner. Author Paula LaRocque is one of those few and shares her knowledge in her book "The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well". She divides the book up into three sections - A Dozen Guidelines to Good Writing, Storytelling, and Language and Writing Mechanics. Through the use of illustrative texts both before revision and afterwards she clearly illustrates each item as she discusses it. This is one of the best books on writing and should be read by anyone wanting to move their writing up to the next level.

Rating:
Summary: A very useful guide - one of the best
Review: It seems there are a lot of people who think they can write an authoritative book on the art of writing. It is always a wonderful surprise to find one that actually knows what they are talking about and can convey their expertise is a clear and concise manner. Author Paula LaRocque is one of those few and shares her knowledge in her book "The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well". She divides the book up into three sections - A Dozen Guidelines to Good Writing, Storytelling, and Language and Writing Mechanics. Through the use of illustrative texts both before revision and afterwards she clearly illustrates each item as she discusses it. This is one of the best books on writing and should be read by anyone wanting to move their writing up to the next level.

Rating:
Summary: How to make prose more accessible by eliminating pretensions
Review: Professional writing coach, consultant, award-winning journalist and assistant managing editor at "The Dallas Morning News" from 1981 to 2001, Paula LaRocque offers her impressive expertise in The Book On Writing: The Ultimate Guide To Writing Well. Individual chapters informatively detail just how to make prose more accessible by eliminating pretensions, unneeded euphemisms, and overly long dependent phrases, as well as strengthening storytelling skills, debunking the myths of writing mechanics, and more, The Book On Writing is an excellent and highly recommended guide to clarity of thought and printed word.

Rating:
Summary: How to make prose more accessible by eliminating pretensions
Review: Professional writing coach, consultant, award-winning journalist and assistant managing editor at "The Dallas Morning News" from 1981 to 2001, Paula LaRocque offers her impressive expertise in The Book On Writing: The Ultimate Guide To Writing Well. Individual chapters informatively detail just how to make prose more accessible by eliminating pretensions, unneeded euphemisms, and overly long dependent phrases, as well as strengthening storytelling skills, debunking the myths of writing mechanics, and more, The Book On Writing is an excellent and highly recommended guide to clarity of thought and printed word.

Rating:
Summary: A First-Rate Write
Review: There are many books that tell you how to write, but read with the verve of a chemistry text. Ms. LaRocque shows you how to write well, but with the ease of sipping a good cup of coffee. This book is well-organized, cleanly written, and keenly insightful. It embraces the whole of writing -- whether of great novelists or office managers. She's as comfortable with the structure of sports stories and office memos as the clever sonance in the names of Faulkner's Snopses. There is no hint of the literary snob. In the clear voice of your favorite teacher, she identifies the practices that separate pointless prose from enduring literature and effective memos from bulletin board trash. This is really good and useful stuff.