The Writer's chapbook A compendium of fact, opinion, wit, and advice from the 20th century's preeminent writers

George Plimpton, the editor of The Paris Review, has taken excerpts of interviews from the great twentieth-century writers (extracted from the "Writers at Work" feature) and placed them in a compendium arranged by topic. Here, one can read Robertson Davies on reading, Truman Capote on work habits, Aldous Huxley on artificial stimulants, Gabriel Garcia Marquez on inspiration, William Faulkner on films, and Ernest Hemingway on just about everything. Vladimir Nabokov considered editors to be "limpid creatures of limitless tact and tenderness"; Philip Roth sometimes considers his audience to be an anti-Roth reader whom he hopes to anger ("that can be just the encouragement I need"). Useful for reference or browsing, The Writer's Chapbook, full of the insights and anecdotes of the great minds of our day, is certain to delight and inform. To be indexed. --Benjamin Segedin

Plimpton has collected and classified choice bits largely from interviews in the noted Writers at Work series (published by Viking Penguin). Under headings like ``Work Habits,'' ``On Theater,'' or ``On Sex'' appear the remarks of several writers, ranging from lively one-liners to longer reflections. Naturally no consensus ever emerges, making this a book one dips into rather than reads through. It is thus more likely to be purchased than borrowed. Budding creative writers seeking how-to advice would have to heed the many quotes here denying that such a thing exists, although they would be entertained and perhaps reassured by the sheer variety of opinions. Most writers and readers would find more sustenance in the full original interviews.-- Donald Ray, Mercy Coll. Lib., Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.