A list of books that can help the beginning and experienced writer improve every facet of his or her writing. Plus some books that are just fun to read.

General prose

Elements of Style. Fourth edition. William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White. Pearson Allyn & Bacon; 4th edition. 2000)

The "little book" that provides more good advice per page than any other.

Grammar, Rhetoric and Composition. Richard D. Mallery. Barnes & Noble. 1967.

A long-time standard.

When Words Collide: A Media Writer’s Guide to Grammar and Style. Lauren Kessler & Duncan McDonald. Wadsworth Publishing Co. 1992.

A good reference guide, particularly oriented to journalists.

On Writing Well. Sixth Edition. William Zinsser. Harper Collins. 1998.

Excellent book on writing prose.

Revising Prose. Third Edition. Richard A. Lanham. Macmillan Agency. 1991.

Although this is pitched at an undergraduate level, it has sound practical advice on self-editing.

Journalism writing guides (mostly)

The Art and Craft of Feature Writing. William E. Blundell. Plume Books. 1988.

The best book on crafting the kinds of features that land on page 1 of the Wall Street Journal. Blundell’s organization method is a tad quirky, but his message is not: Good writing requires detailed reporting and hard thinking.

Writing to Deadline: The Journalist at Work. By Donald M. Murray, Heinemann, 2000.

Aimed at the experienced newspaper writer who is seeking to raise his or her work to a new level. If you can find a copy of Writing for Your Readers: Notes on the Writer's Craft from The Boston Globe, which is now out of print, it's just as good.

Coaching Writers: The Essential Guide for Editors and Reporters. Roy Peter Clark and Don Fry. St. Martin’s Press. 1992

Aimed at newspaper editors, writers and executives who want to change their newsrooms from combat zones to cooperative ventures.

What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. Harper Collins. 1990.

About one-third of the exercises in this book have some usefulness for newspaper feature writers.

Writers on writing

The Writer’s Chapbook: A Compendium of Fact, Opinion, Wit and Advice from the 20th Century’s Preeminent Writers. George Plimpton, editor. Penguin Books. 1989.

Since the early 1950s the Paris Review has been publishing extensive interviews with writers on how they work. This book gathers together some of the pithiest and most interesting excerpts under general headings such as Editors, The Writer’s Life, and Plot.

Shoptalk: Learning to Write With Writers. Donald M. Murray. Boynton/Cook Publishers. 1990

Another good compendium of quotations from writers on writing.

Collections of good writing

The Art of Fact: A Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism. Kevin Kerrane and Ben Yagoda, editors. Scribner, 1997; paperback edition, Touchstone Books, 1998.

Great collection of writing, ranging from Daniel DeFoe and Charles Dickens to Tom Wolfe and Joan Didion.

2006-07 Best Newspaper Writing: Winners of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Competition. Aly Colon, editor. Poynter Institute for Media Studies. 2005.

Similar editions are in print for 1996-2005. Each volume has the winning entries, plus interviews with the writers on how they work. Categories are non-deadline writing, commentary, team deadline news reporting, diversity writing, editorial writing, and deadline news reporting and community service photojournalism. What good newspaper writers do and how they do it.