[b:The Word Pretty|41397373|The Word Pretty|Elisa Gabbert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534875704l/41397373._SY75_.jpg|64616752] does talk about the word "pretty" and how it has come to mean less than beautiful, more of a disparagement than a compliment, "she's a pretty little thing." [a:Elisa Gabbert|716849|Elisa Gabbert|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1483379592p2/716849.jpg] discusses words and writing in this smart, amusing collection of essays. She tackles notebooks ("I should invest in nice notebooks, strategically, so I'll use them more often."), names of paintings, ambiguities in line breaks in poetry, the pleasures of front matter such as introductions, translators notes, the epigraph, i.e. highlighting [b:Howards End|38374795|Howards End|E.M. Forster|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518837828l/38374795._SX50_.jpg|1902726] "only connect." Book titles are scattered throughout, many of which I have on my list but enticing new TBRs. She discusses [a:James Salter|11298|James Salter|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1360177449p2/11298.jpg]'s sentences in a piece on punctuation, digressions in essays by [a:Tennessee Williams|7751|Tennessee Williams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206504901p2/7751.jpg]. Although she is a writer of essays and poems, the novel is her "desert island getaway" but she never writes fiction. The "introspective first person" is her narrative mode of choice, as it is mine. She enjoys scattershot plots like those of [a:Javier Marías|71956|Javier Marías|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1424100517p2/71956.jpg] & [a:Miranda July|65678|Miranda July|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1211471153p2/65678.jpg]. She's obsessed with books about people who ruin their own lives such as [b:Two Serious Ladies|215262|Two Serious Ladies|Jane Bowles|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172774282l/215262._SY75_.jpg|208395] by [a:Jane Bowles|100439|Jane Bowles|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1188820906p2/100439.jpg], [b:Broken River|31451121|Broken River|J. Robert Lennon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1487219261l/31451121._SX50_.jpg|52153910] or [b:The Awakening|58345|The Awakening|Kate Chopin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1170507247l/58345._SY75_.jpg|1970518]. She has an essay on titles and feels spondees make the best titles: White Noise, Jane Eyre, Bleak House. Poems can use a phrase from the poem worth highlighting as a title. And she finishes by reminding us of [b:Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing|859230|Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing|Elmore Leonard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407107201l/859230._SY75_.jpg|844671]'s "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." As a writer and reader, I thorough enjoyed this collection. ( )

I know the author doesn't give a f*ck what I think about her book her on GoodReads - she stated so in one of the essays - however, I loved this book. I become aware of her via the podcast, Poetry Off the Shelf. Through this particular book, I've added many books and authors to my to-read list and also dismay over the fact that I'm not as smart as I'd like to be. If you like Susan Sontag or Joan Didion, I think you will like this book. ( )