The Blog

First of all, make sure you read a lot.

Second, find your beat early on.

Third, start at the top of our syllabus (above) and start working your way down. (And if none of these topics enhance your literary passions, you can always loosen your ambitions and lower your standards. That also works sometimes.)

Tags: book list, David Rakoff, Eudora Welty, Gay Talese, Gloria Steinem, Janet Malcolm, Kevin Sessums, Norman Mailer, syllabus, to read, Tom Rachman, tom wolfe