NOW READING: The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition (2000)

This will be the last reference book covering words and writing skills I read for some time. My next few reads will still have a reference component to them but they will serve as a supplementary material. Stay tuned for that announcement; this current book is short.

I purchased The Elements of Style at the recommendation of Stephen King. It is listed chief among the horror master’s recommended materials for improving your wordsmithing. King’s On Writing is a terrific read in it own right and I look forward to getting to it before I tackle some fiction. I don’t remember when I got this book but I believe that I requested it either for Christmas or for my birthday one year and this reading journey was taking shape in my head.

This book’s goal is to clear up weaknesses that plague writers. Coming off the heels of The Bedford Handbook and its dose of Toolbox Level 1 content, I hope to use this book to strengthen my ability to assess Toolbox Level 2 content in future reads. In the end, I hope that enhancing my ability to recognize good style will lead to exhibiting good style in my own writing.

I don’t believe that I will post any reading updates for this book. It is a slim thing, not even 150 pages. If it is as enlightening and essential as Stephen King claims, I suspect that I will make short work of it.