I was given an e-copy of Colum McCann's latest book by the publisher, Random House via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

I would give this book more than 5 Stars if I could! It will become the "go-to" reference for both new and experienced writers. There is so much beneficial information and recommendations from Mr. McCann and it's all done in 52 short essays. Each essay is headlined with a meaningful quote from a famous writer.

You don't have to be writing a novel to find this book helpful. We all write at some point even if it's a letter, memo, posts on social media, or perhaps a book review. Mr. McCann lists rules for writing and then encourages you to break them! So much useful information in such a small amount of space is hard to believe but it's all for real. This is a book to hang onto because each essay is like having a consultation with a splendid teacher!

I would recommend this to absolutely every person who ever picks up a pen, touches a keyboard or composes a sentence in their mind. It is years of writing expertise by one of the greatest writing teachers alive today, condensed into letters so intimate they feel like one part of your soul speaking to another.

I started highlighting quotes for my review and ended up highlighting entire letters. It’s beautiful, it’s a dose of harsh reality, it’s inspiring, it’s funny, it’s educational. There’s advice in here from finding the idea for the story right up to finding editors, begging for blurbs and stalking your critics.

This is the best book on writing I’ve ever read. Five stars woefully underestimate it. Every sentence has such depth and brings so much meaning that you could spend weeks discussing them in writers groups. Each word is a seed that could grow into a forest. This book makes me want to shake off my old, dead leaves and start writing my own fiction again (instead of just critiquing the wonderful works that are sent my way).

I have pages and pages of quotes on my kindle, and it’s hard to just choose just one. But don’t worry; people are going to be quoting McCann’s wisdom in Letters for decades.

"A good book will turn your world sideways. It will also turn your own writing inside out. The prose writers should read the poets. The poets should read the novelists. The playwrights should read the philosophers. The journalists should read the short story writers. The philosophers should read through the entire crew. In fact, we all should read the entire crew. Nobody makes it alone."

Through the wonderful fiction of Colum McCann I have wandered through ravaged post World War Two Eastern Europe with Roma, been a tunnel digger in New York City, made a transatlantic flight in 1917 from the USA to Ireland, met Rudolf Nureyev and Frederick Douglas, walked across a very high wire while the great world spinned on.

Letters to a Young Writer is based on the experience and wisdom McCann acquired in teaching for twenty years in the MFA program at Hunter College in New York City. The program takes two years and accepts only twelve applicants out of hundreds. Students have

gone on to win a Booker Prize and other top literary awards. He tells us he begins his class by informing his students creative writing cannot really be taught and then he tells them to open their minds and prepare to learn.

There are fifty three chapters, each one readable in just a minute or two. McCann ranges over topics such as what to read (read difficult books, Ulysses is his candidate for greatest novel ever written), where to write, what music you might play while writing, finding and dealing with an agent, how to employ your personal life in your work, assuming your readers are at least as smart as you think you are, down to dealing with success and learning from failure.

I am not an aspiring writer of fiction but I believe very strongly that deep reading is one of the most creative arts and the greatest tribute one can pay to a writer. Much of McCann's advise about writing could apply to reading. You just have to use your imagination and free yourself from the bonds of pedagogy.

I highly recommend this book to all aspiring writers.

Mel ulm
The Reading Life