Reading the essay collections of authors better known for their fiction is a special kind of treat. Pay close attention and you can draw all sorts of conclusions about the way they observe, reason and process their thoughts.
Take a long look at Jonathan Lethem’s The Disappointment Artist, for example, and draw the curtain back a bit on his fiction. Ditto Jonathan Franzen, whose sharp How To Be Alone gives a backstage glimpse at the mental gears that produced The Corrections.
Meanwhile, you get to read deft pieces about Star Wars, superhero comics and John Wayne (in Lethem’s case) or privacy, despair and parents (in Franzen’s case). Osmosis is the best way to learn.
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don’t forget david foster wallace! a thousand times the essay writer of either of these guys…