What Unites Us

Dan Rather's optimistic account, subtitled "Reflections on Patriotism," is at its best when he draws on the experiences of his youth in Texas or his long career at CBS News. His interview with Medgar Evers and the tales of how neighbors pulled together during the Depression are highlights. At other times, however, he descends into platitudes.

Spring Snow

Yukio Mishima's Spring Snow, the first installment in a tetralogy called The Sea of Fertility, is filled with all the elements that make a novel both worthwhile and challenging. The writing is simply gorgeous, full of rich metaphors and descriptions of nature; the side trips into history and ideas such as Buddhism are fruitful; and the narrative itself is a classic form rendered with powerful effect. Every page has its moment of beauty, a staggering achievement. Here is just one, about the main character, Kiyoaki Matsugae: "He had never looked forward to the wisdom and other vaunted benefits of old age. Would he be able to die young – and if possible free of all pain? A graceful death – as a richly patterned kimono, thrown carelessly across a polished table, slides unobtrusively down into the darkness of the floor beneath. A death marked by elegance." 

The Book of Daniel

E.L. Doctorow found his voice in this, his third novel, published in 1971. The Book of Daniel places a family's destruction on a giant canvas – postwar Left politics – and achieves its ambitions with kaleidoscopic effects. The shifting narrative styles and digressions into subjects like Disneyland and the origins of the Cold War remind me of John Dos Passos's techniques in U.S.A., but they are done here not in imitation but in service of delineating the narrator's character. The novel casts a spell that is not easily resisted.

To Live and Die in L.A.

The source material for William Friedkin's 1985 neo-noir film, this novel by Gerald Petievich crackles along with period dialogue and a propulsive plot. Much of the investigative work is presented in an appealing no-nonsense style that reflects the author's time in the Secret Service. 

How to Write a Sentence

Stanley Fish provides some helpful insights into sentence-writing by focusing on form and exercises: Once you master a form with repeated exercises, you can make your own sentences with whatever content you wish. This is the nuts and bolts of good writing, and Fish's emphasis provides a useful antidote to more artsy-fartsy approaches.