5 Great Books For Aspiring Writers

If you’re an aspiring writer you've probably already suffered the pain of a blank page staring back at you, or being blocked for days struggling for inspiration. Don’t be alarmed, even the best writers out there struggle too, sometimes; it just takes some time, experience, and –if you’re lucky- getting the right info or advise at the proper time. And you can consider yourself lucky, because the following books can really steer your head into Inspiration Town leaving behind that frustrating blank page, overcoming the lack of inspiration, and giving you the keys to write like a pro. 

Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You

by Ray Bradbury

"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a land mine. The land mine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces back together. Now, it's your turn. Jump!" Zest. Gusto. Curiosity. These are the qualities every writer must have, as well as a spirit of adventure. In this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and  excitement of a lifetime of writing. (Amazon)

Get the book clicking on the link: Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You

The Writer's Path: A Workbook To Release Your Creative Flow

by Todd Walton

Walton and Toomay have published numerous stories, essays, poems, books, and screenplays while teaching creative writing classes at various West Coast venues. They combine efforts here to share insights into the writing process and offer exercises designed to stimulate creativity and develop skill.  (Library Journal)

Get the book clicking on the link: The Writer's Path: A Workbook To Release Your Creative Flow

Keys to Great Writing 

by Stephen Wilbers

Entertaining and interactive lessons this versatile guide will encourage writers to test their knowledge, learn new techniques, and pay attention to detail. Keys to Great Writing covers every aspect of the craft, showing you how to develop a writer's voice that is unique, precise, and effective. From grammar rules to revision strategies, you'll find the crucial information you need in short, easy-to-browse sections that enable you to hone your own signature writing approach. (Amazon)

Buy the book following this link: Keys To Great Writing by Stephen Wilbers

Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated 

by Nancy Kress

In Dynamic Characters, award-winning author and Writer's Digest columnist Nancy Kress explores the fundamental relationship between characterization and plot, illustrating how vibrant, well-constructed characters act as the driving force behind an exceptional story. Kress balances her writing instruction with hands-on check-lists to help you build strong characters from the outside in. Blending physical, emotional and mental characterization, you'll learn to create characters that initiate exciting action, react to tense situations, make physical and emotional transformations, and power the plot from beginning to end. (Amazon)

Ready to build your characters' personalities? Get the book clicking here: Dynamic Characters: How To Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated

Mastering Point of View 

by Sherri Szeman

Point of view is one of the most important elements in a novel, yet most writing books address the subject briefly, in a single chapter or less. Only this book focuses on point of view with the depth and insight the subject demands. Mastering Point of View walks writers through the difficult but essential process of understanding, choosing and using point of view in a novel. With examples from James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges and many others, author Sherri Szeman illuminates the challenges writers face in deciding point of view and provides clear, straightforward instructions for overcoming them. (Amazon)

Get the book clicking here: Mastering Point of View, by Sherri Szeman


TBB

Hunter S. Thompson - Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."
Samuel Johnson

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a novel by Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman. The book is a roman à clef: a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction, and it's heavily rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they descend on Las Vegas to chase the American Dream through a drug-induced haze, all the while ruminating on the failure of the 1960s countercultural movement.

The work is Thompson's most famous, and has been notable variably for its lurid descriptions of illegal drug use, its early retrospective on the culture of the 1960s, and its popularization of Thompson's highly-subjective blend of fact and fiction that has become known as gonzo journalism. The novel first appeared as a two-part series in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971, and was printed as a book in 1972.

Plot Summary

The novel lacks a clear narrative and frequently delves into the surreal, never quite distinguishing between what is real and what is only imagined by the characters. The basic synopsis revolves around journalist Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson), and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo (Oscar Zeta Acosta), as they arrive in 1970s Las Vegas to report on the Mint 400 motorcycle race. However, they soon abandon their work and begin experimenting with a variety of recreational drugs, such as LSD, ether, cocaine, alcohol, mescaline, and cannabis. This leads to a series of bizarre hallucinogenic trips, during which they destroy hotel rooms, wreck cars, and have visions of anthropomorphic desert animals, all the while ruminating on the decline of culture in a city of insanity.

You can buy the book on Amazon clicking the following link: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

Source: Wikipedia

Welcome to The Book Bourgeois!

My name is Santiago and I'm a frustrated aspiring writer from Montevideo. I like books and I like talking about books. I also like candy but I won't be discussing candy here. So, I'm interested in sharing, discussing and reviewing the books I love, and maybe some classic French movies (The Nouvelle Vague, etc).

Reading really is my passion, so in The Book Bourgeois you will find book and film reviews, classic masterpieces and new treasures worth reading or watching. Enjoy!

Here are some of my all-time favs, with upcoming reviews.

Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Joseph Conrad, Heart Of Darkness

Hunter S. Thompson, Hell's Angels

Jack Kerouac, On The Road

Hunter S. Thompson, Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas

What's your favourite book? Leave a comment in the comment section below! (If you say "Twilight" or "50 Shades of Grey" I will find you and kill you make drunk phone calls at 4 AM in the morning)