Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley is one of my favorite authors. Reading her novels, though, didn't prepare me for the depth of her insight into the novel. As the title suggests, she examines how the novel fits into history, art, morality, psychology, and so forth, all with humor and vision. She also includes two chapters on writing your own novel, as well as an examination of the process of writing one of her own novels. She concludes with opinions of one hundred (and one) novels that she read while writing the book. I highly recommend it.