As I thought about the books that have most benefited me, I realized there were too many to condense into a single post. But there are books on certain issues that could be collected and categorized.
Which brings me to books about writing. Here are 5 that have very much benefited me.
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon - I reviewed this fantastic little book back in April. Filled with compelling illustrations and pithy advice, this is a helpful book for creatives of all types. Its premise is based on this T.S. Eliot quote: "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn."
On Writing Well by William Zinsser - This is the best book I've ever read on the craft of writing. Every non-fiction writer should read it, I believe - or at least, the first two parts of it, "Principles" and "Methods." His chapters on "Simplicity" and "Clutter" were worth the price of the whole book for me.
Letters and Life by Brett Lott - Part memoir, part writer's manual, this is a beautiful book I return to again and again. Brett Lott has a brilliant way with words and I learn something new about writing each time I pick this up.
The Christian Imagination edited by Leland Ryken - This is a collection of dozens of essays by various living and dead writers. Often I will sit down and read two or three essays, mark them up, and think about their application for me.
Wordsmithy by Douglas Wilson - This is a short and practical book on writing from a Christian perspective (which is lacking from On Writing Well). There was nothing groundbreaking or shockingly fresh to me, but there were so many good truths. This is an important one for the Christian writer.