Informative and entertaining to find out how 109 writers talk about their writing process and book careers: from interviews on C-Span' s tv show "Booknotes" ( )

This book is drawn from a C-SPAN program called "Booknotes", an author-interview format. The focus is on the "craft" of writing, and the interviewer is dropped out so as to "hear" the voices of the authors. [xxiii] Most of the passages are well-edited and short, and differs from the actual writings as these are basically transcripts of oral responses.

Three groups of people are represented -- story-tellers (46), reporters (47), and public figures (26). For the most part, this is less about their ideas than about flogging their books and indulging in what can charitably be called "name-dropping". Still, that is a craft too: Ideas about self-promotion. There is a real charm in the program and this book.

A book that is the companion to BookTV. Tells great behind the scenes tales of the writing life.

This book contains excerpts from transcripts from the show.

I don't really like the format. As they simply edited down the transcripts, there are many times when a section on a particular author ends abruptly, almost in the middle of a thought.

In addition I didn't much care for the stories themselves for the most part. I don't care much about Vietnam or about whether Nixon was a nice guy. These aren't my defining moments, and they're not fascinating for me like they would be for someone who lived through events. The subtitle "on reading and writing, and the power of ideas" is certainly misleading. Very little in the excerpts presented is actually about writing or the importance of reading. Most of the book is about the books the authors came to discuss, understandable, but not interesting to me as they're books I haven't read, nor do I want to. I'll leave non-fiction to others.

If you enjoy the show, this may be an excellent way to relive some of your favorite episodes and your favorite authors, but I was unimpressed. ( )

transcripts from the Booknotes series - a great way to preserve good programming and interesting discussions ( )