10 Writers I Read To Learn To Write Better

“The Road” is one of my all-time favorite books. McCarty builds worlds like no one’s business. His sentences in “The Road” are, for the most part, short and straightforward. I was on the road while I was reading that book and I revisit it frequently. I was not a big fan of his latest two books, “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris.”

I started with “A Million Little Pieces” and fell in love with his voice. I’ve re-read that book multiple times. I’ve read all of his books. I’d also highly recommend listening to the episode 408 of “The James Altucher Show” when James interviews Frey. Awesome stuff.

James Altucher. Duh. We wouldn’t be here without him. I’ve never read a book by him that I didn’t like. His writing is free of pretension. He speaks with a rare and wide-open honesty. His style is so smooth. He’s the portal.

I prefer his poetry to his prose, but both are breathtaking. Nobody can weave otherwise ordinary words and ideas and observations into such searing insights as Bukowski can. Powerfully prolific. Undeniable.

I found him through listening to Altucher. I’ve gifted “Jesus’ Son” to several of my friends. The quote “Reading these stories is like reading ticker tape from the subconscious” really nails the experience.

I didn’t like reading him in college, but the documentary that Ken Burns released last year rejuvenated my interest in his works.

Although he’s not always the tidiest of writers, he was my first literary love and I return to the source often for therapy. I still encourage every reader I come across to read his trilogy.

Godin has such his own style as a writer and a thinker. His ability to cut through and clarify concepts is second-to-none. He tends to write short and simple chapters—and that’s a major part of what makes his work so brilliant and beautiful to read. A real treat every time.

He was the guy that kept me pinned to the page as a teenage reader. His style is like being swept along The Gulf Stream. It moves you along effortlessly. Kerouac helped me to learn to love to read as a young person.

At times his writing can be dense, but he was such a mind. He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Reading his biography “A Fire In the Mind” really impressed upon me what an amazing academic and literary life he led. We wouldn’t have “Star Wars” as we know it without his work.