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The Art of X-Ray Reading Paperback – January 3, 2017

by Roy Peter Clark (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 286 ratings
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Roy Peter Clark, one of America's most influential writing teachers, offers writing lessons we can draw from 25 great texts.

Where do writers learn their best moves? They use a technique that Roy Peter Clark calls X-ray reading, a form of reading that lets you penetrate beyond the surface of a text to see how meaning is actually being made. In The Art of X-Ray Reading, Clark invites you to don your X-ray reading glasses and join him on a guided tour through some of the most exquisite and masterful literary works of all time, from The Great Gatsby to Lolita to The Bluest Eye, and many more. Along the way, he shows you how to mine these masterpieces for invaluable writing strategies that you can add to your arsenal and apply in your own writing. Once you've experienced X-ray reading, your writing will never be the same again.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    January 3, 2017
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.84 x 8.25 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0316282146
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0316282147
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Just when you think Clark, who has written some of the best books on the writer's craft, has covered everything related to the subject, he digs deep into literature and excavates a gold mine of artistic strategies for great writing....With lively, colorful writing and inspired practical advice, this guide earns a spot along with Clark's Writing Tools as essential reading for writers. Recommended for book lovers as well."―Kirkus (Starred Review)

"This enjoyable book is perfect for students, writers, and anyone who wants to learn more about great literature." ―Library Journal (Starred Review)

"This is an infectiously enthusiastic guide to becoming an active reader, an homage to the wealth of meaning in great literature, and a striking demonstration of how that meaning can be transmitted from author to reader across centuries and oceans."―Publishers Weekly

"Roy Peter Clark is a national treasure that needs to be mined aggressively" ―DeWayne Wickham, dean of Morgan State University?s School of Global Journalism and Communication, USA Today

"This book sits on the (well-oiled) hinge between close reading and manual. Roy Peter Clark, who knows a thing or two about the writer's trade, digs into passages of successful writing from King Lear to the Goon Squad in order to unearth such writerly tools as foreshadowing, wordplay, shock value, repetition, rhetorical tropes, soliloquy and many more. It's a delightful read and an illuminating method for beginner or pro."―Janet Burroway, author of Writing Fiction and Losing Tim

"Any honest writer will tell you this: It's not tricks that make you better at crafting prose. It's reading. Lots of reading. Close reading. X-ray reading. Roy Peter Clark decodes brilliant passages so that we can not so much emulate them, but make our own magic."―-Constance Hale, author of Sin and Syntax and Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch

About the Author

Roy Peter Clark is senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, one of the most prestigious schools for journalists in the world. He has taught writing at every level -- from schoolchildren to Pulitzer Prize-winning authors -- for more than forty years.

A writer who teaches and a teacher who writes, he has authored or edited nineteen books on writing and journalism, including The Art of X-Ray Reading, How to Write Short, Writing Tools, The Glamour of Grammar, and Help! for Writers. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he is considered a garage-band legend.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Spark; Reprint edition (January 3, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316282146
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316282147
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.84 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 286 ratings

About the author

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Roy Peter Clark

Roy Peter Clark

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Roy Peter Clark has been called "America's writing coach" as his stated mission is to help create "a nation of writers." Since 1977 he has taught writing to small children and to Pulitzer winning authors from his mother ship, The Poynter Institute, a school for journalism and democracy in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is the author or editor of 17 books on writing, language, and journalism. The latest, all published by Little, Brown, are "Writing Tools," "The Glamour of Grammar," and "Help! for Writers," which is now also a mobile app. His work has been featured on the Today Show, NPR, and the Oprah Winfrey Show. More than a million of his writing podcasts have been downloaded on iTunesU. On five occasions he has served as a Pulitzer juror and twice has chaired the jury on nonfiction books. His honors include induction in the Features Hall of Fame, an honorary degree from Goucher College, and a stint at Vassar College as Starr Writer-in-Residence. His next book, due out in 2013, is "How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times."

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
286 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jenny Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening....a must-read!
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2016
Verified Purchase
I’m a voracious reader, but this book made me feel like I’ve never truly read a book. I mean that in the most complimentary way. I didn’t realize how much I was missing when I read, until I read this book. It’s a very eye-opening experience that lead to many aha moments and a ton of “OMG, I can’t believe I missed that!” moments.

Each chapter focuses on a specific work and at the end of each chapter is a writing lesson. These lessons are the key elements that the reader should take away from that chapter. At the end of the book is a section called “Great Sentences From Famous Authors” and this is a chance to practice your new x-ray reading skills. Following this exercise are the “Twelve Steps to Get Started As An X-Ray Reader” which is a good reference to help new x-ray readers begin reading on a whole new level.

Out of the 25 works mentioned in this book, I’ve only read about half of them. Now that I have a new pair of x-ray reading glasses on, I want to reread these (as well as some of the others) with fresh eyes. I love The Great Gatsby, but wow, did I miss a lot! I missed the themes and symbolism, especially. I’m a Charles Dickens fan and I read Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, but somehow I missed her parallel to A Christmas Carol. How in the world did I miss that? (I knew the concept of intertextuality, but I didn’t know that’s what it was called.) I love it when I notice it in literature, but I’m sure there are many times when it slips by me unnoticed.

One of the most eye-opening experiences was the chapter about Hemingway. Although I never read A Farewell to Arms, I did read The Sun Also Rises. I was very disappointed in it, so I gave it a low two-star rating. I noticed it received a lot of high ratings and I couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t fond of his terse prose and Hemingway fans are always saying that if you don’t like Hemingway, then you don’t understand him. I thought they were just being pretentious snobs, but after reading The Art of X-Ray Reading, I realize that I truly didn’t understand Hemingway. I missed his rhythm and his intentional repetition and omission of words. I was too busy reading on the level of the story that I wasn’t reading it on the level of the text.

This is one of those books that you’ll not only want to add to your home library, especially aspiring writers, but also a book that you’ll want to read more than once. I checked this book out at my local library, but I already know that I’ll be buying it, rereading it and write in it. I want to absorb everything Roy Peter Clark teaches in this book (and his other books) and internalize it completely. I highly recommend this book to avid readers and aspiring writers.
48 people found this helpful
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Vickie
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on craft
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2023
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This is a wonderful book for writers. It takes a deep dive at great literature and explains why the writing works.
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Stephen N. Greenleaf
4.0 out of 5 stars Using the Best to Teach the Rest
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2024
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Roy Peter Clark seems to like nothing more than teaching how to write more effectively, whatever the occasion. In this book (and his written a bunch, several of which I’d read already), he culls themes and examples from the greatest of writers in some of their greatest works. Not a bad approach, I’d think on the front of it; on the backside, I found it worked quite well. Slowing down to carefully read (“x-ray read”) passages from great writers is a joy in itself, even if I don’t suddenly become the next Fitzgerald, Hemingway, or Morrison. Clark uses his twenty-five exemplars to show us how great writing is constructed; the bones of great writing are revealed by his x-ray reading. And he looks not only at the larger bones—plotting, pace, symbols, etc.—but also the smallest bones: the sound of words, the significance of names; the structure of a sentence.

I learned from this book that Clark received a doctorate dissertation on Chaucer (and, yes, Chaucer provides an example), but his love of reading and teaching takes him from the ancients to some of our most recent acclaimed writers. Clark shares his infectious enthusiasm for excellent writing by way of his varied examples. And in doing so, he delights his reader—at least this reader—in the process of providing us readers a bit of homework (on the order of having read this or that, more than once, with an eye toward appreciating how the author realizes the intended effect on the reader. And so it’s a read both pleasurable and instructive.
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CJ
5.0 out of 5 stars when I'm reading books on the art of better writing, I feel I'm being spoken to by ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2016
Verified Purchase
There is something different here. Usually, when I'm reading books on the art of better writing, I feel I'm being spoken to by authors who need
to tell, and so I get told. Being told doesn't allow me company and because there is enough disconnection in this world already, I just remain unmoved but with new information.
Roy Peter Clark seemed to join my eyes as I read over every word. He was there with me, and I was there with him and we were sharing the same thoughts that are written. Occasionally I'd get a little jolt and realize it was only Roy sharing his thoughts but it was never long before I'd be found back in the comfort of the oneness again. His style of communication left me feeling like a writer, not because I just read a book on it, but because I just EXPERIENCED being a writer.
This is an internal journey, that's why when closing the book the feeling of having just experienced something was always there.
You and the author will go inside some famous books and you'll know you are entering another world as soon as a certain first sentence becomes a door handle.
This EXPERIENCE alone is worth considering to purchase. It's rare and you cannot return as the same person once you turn a few pages.
This is what I found anyway. I'm no longer someone who thinks about myself as a writer one day, and I don't care about the fact that I have had nothing published yet, I am a writer now.
I am a writer now because I read this book and this book gave me the qualified experience.
The fuel that this experience has put in my tank can do nothing less than set off a chain reaction.
Forget a ticket to Bali - there is much more to gain for far less the cost by opening the covers of this book and diving in.
47 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Cole
5.0 out of 5 stars Nerd Alert, in all the right ways.
Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2022
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 Roy Peter Clarke has an undeniable love of the english language; he’s dedicated himself to a lifetime of writing and reading and learning and teaching. From that experience, he generously pours himself out in this book, drawing from one example after another — sharing snippets of text from legendary works of literature, and sharing what he sees, so you and I can see it too; so we can carry on and improve our own writing through the art of X-Ray reading.
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Nelson Vladimiro
5.0 out of 5 stars A linguagem corporal
Reviewed in Spain on November 25, 2023
Verified Purchase
Há pessoas mais fáceis de ler do que outras. Não consigo, ainda hoje, ter a certeza se a advogada fez o que fez de boa vontade ou se foi forçada. Em relação ao advogado não tenho dúvidas (nenhumas).
Numa guerra há sempre baixas civis e colaterais. Por muita muita boa vontade que os beligerantes tenham, há sempre baixas colaterais, civis ou não.
Isto também é válido para a arquiteta e para o Brasileiro.
(Obviamente, é extensível a todas as pessoas, haverá sempre baixas colaterais, por muito cuidado que haja)
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oXe
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!
Reviewed in Mexico on July 12, 2019
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This is an excellent book for people who love reading, for those who aspire to write fiction, and for anyone who wants to learn how to do close reading
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SoulFireMage
5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle, concise and useful English lit
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
I loved this. Bought it as audio as well. Wish I'd had it at English Lit class as I'd have had an A*.

Its a book on writing that I feel is very handy to have if you are a writer to be yourself.
2 people found this helpful
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StephenDS
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful for readers and writers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2020
Verified Purchase
If you are either concerned to improve your understanding of the books you read, or want to consider ways you might add depth to what you write, this is a useful book. The author selects well-known books and looks closely at how they create the effects that make them noteworthy and/or of generally agreed enduring quality.
He scans many books and authors: in my view, too many to supply as much depth of analysis as one might wish. In the case of "The Great Gatsby" this is unfortunate. To my mind, this is an over-rated book, that was very fortunate to be produced in thousands for GIs in WWII, to warn them not to expect things to be the same when they returned home. Huge sales to the US war dept. translated into too much respect. It's the American way!
On the other hand, there is much to be gained from Clark's treatment of books and writers such as: Lolita, James Joyce, Sylvia Plath, Madame Bovary, and many others.
As I read the sections I was particularly drawn to - I expect you will adopt a similar approach - it dawned on me that Roy Peter Clark's baseline assumption was that his book was aimed at writers who wish to produce high quality prose. You know the kind of thing: "It is a truth universally acknowledged…; or, the last paragraph of Joyce's "The Dead". If, as a writer, you have more modest ambitions, Clark's tips and pointers to improving your writing may be less helpful than he imagines. After all, "The Dead" is a great short story. However, in it, Joyce manages to describe a feast laid out in marvellous cinematic detail, but without reference to the appetising aromas that must have flooded the elderly aunt's room.
5 people found this helpful
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