Review: Letters and Life

Author: Bret Lott

Title: Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, on Being a Christian

Description: Lott is one of the more respected Christian writers active today; this book is a collection of his essays on the Christian writer’s life.

Writing style:  In one way, he’s very down-to-earth; he teaches Sunday School and mostly goes to work every day. In another way, though, he’s different from us—not too many have been chosen by Oprah for her club. I do like the down to earth parts.

Audience: Anyone interested in Christianity and writing, or even in being a Christian thinker.

Major ideas: I’ve latched on to Lott’s idea of testimony as a framework for the writing life since the first time I heard him speak (at Calvin’s Festival of Faith andWriting several years ago). Here he elaborates on that.

Wrap-up: This is a small book, and nearly half of it is a long essay about the death of Lott’s father, which I could have done without (or at least he could have shortened it). I am sure it was necessary for him to write, but it didn’t do anything for me. The essays about the writer’s life, though, are completely worth the price of the book. 4/5*

Review: Vernacular Eloquence

Author: Peter Elbow

Title: Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing

Description: Elbow is further developing his thinking about how to write well and how to teach writing by advocating bringing more of the sound of speech to the page.  Not only his now-familiar freewriting, but drafting and revision can all benefit from more vernacular influence.   

Writing style: If he advocated writing sounding more like speech but then wrote in the typical formal academic style, Elbow would have a major fail. He doesn’t fall into that trap, though; the whole book sounds like he’s sitting in his living room talking to the reader.

Audience: Composition profs and academic writers.

Major ideas: Not only does Elbow prove his point via the writing style of the book itself, he gives lots of ideas about teaching students how to make their writing come alive by writing in the “vernacular.” He also demonstrates that straight speech isn’t appropriate for writing, so there is a trick to making the writing sound like speech, but not strictly duplicating speech.

Wrap-up: I’m already a big Elbow fan, and he’s always delightful to read. I’m looking forward to trying some of these ideas in the classroom. 4.5/5*