Here are 7 books that The Height of Land fans have personally recommended if you like
The Height of Land.
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My top read of 2025, Horse, by Geraldine Brooks, is an ambitious and masterfully written novel. I was a bit late to the party in reading Horse. How I wish I’d read this intelligent, artistic, and unforgettable book sooner. What lingers for me is Brooks’s exquisite use of language and careful braiding of time. Every word and sentence is brilliantly crafted with care. And she weaves 1850 Kentucky, 1950s New York, and contemporary Washington, DC as distinct stories, each amplifying the other, and resolving in a satisfying convergence.
"Brooks' chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling." -The New York Times Book Review
"Horse isn't just an animal story-it's a moving narrative about race and art." -TIME
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Daikon is a deeply engaging and thoughtfully crafted work of alternate history. Meticulously researched and thoughtfully structured, the novel offers an intellectually rich and emotionally resonant reading experience. The author’s command of historical detail is matched with a clear devotion to the craft of storytelling, evident on every page. I know, because the research mirrors the very ground of my own historical novel, Of White Ashes. Daikon stands as a meaningful and memorable contribution to historical fiction that honors the past while inviting reflection in our present and future. What if? When one is talking about nuclear weapons, those what-ifs are imperative.
"A riveting tale about war, intrigue, love, and perseverance." -John Grisham
"Absorbing...Unfolds like a detective novel...The story barrels ahead urgently...Duty, anger, sorrow, conscience and even hope mix together to form the novel's bracingly intimate ending." -The Wall Street Journal
"What if not two but three atomic bombs wound up in the Pacific theater?...Hawley's impeccably detailed narrative offers an unnerving fictional answer...The novel's tension mounts in highly cinematic fashion, despite our awareness of what the history books tell us." -The New York Times
"Thrilling...Builds to a pulse-pounding climax. The result is the most imaginative take on Hiroshima since…
I had zero interest in creative writing until a remarkable family story gripped my heart 30 years ago and wouldn’t let go. Years later, I decided to jump in at the deep end and write this story as fiction, but I had a problem: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I worked hard to learn the craft of writing fiction, and my award-winning historical novel, Of White Ashes, was published five years later. These five books inspired and helped me to understand the essentials of writing and build my confidence. I hope they’re helpful to you as you bring the novel only you can write to life!
I love that Bird by Bird doesn’t read like a reference book.
Lamott’s words feel personal. The book is personal to me because my daughter gave me her college copy of Bird by Bird when I began my writing journey. Lamott’s plain, honest, and affirming words, like first drafts are “shitty” and “writing a first draft is very much like watching a Polaroid develop,” resonate with me. Bravo to Lamott for this great metaphor!
Writing can be solitary, but Lamott reminds us we’re not alone. So, I heeded her words. I joined the party and became an active literary citizen. It’s there that we writers find our people, supporters, and dear friends.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times).
“Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review
For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom…
Katie's Gamble is an unexpected, unique story about a young woman who's trying to support her younger siblings by keeping her family's confectionery shop open.
In order to do that, she has to take on her older brother, who's a notorious gambler in Louisiana. Additionally, she has to outsmart Rowdy…
I had zero interest in creative writing until a remarkable family story gripped my heart 30 years ago and wouldn’t let go. Years later, I decided to jump in at the deep end and write this story as fiction, but I had a problem: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I worked hard to learn the craft of writing fiction, and my award-winning historical novel, Of White Ashes, was published five years later. These five books inspired and helped me to understand the essentials of writing and build my confidence. I hope they’re helpful to you as you bring the novel only you can write to life!
When I decided to write my debut historical novel, I was at a loss for how to begin and questioned if I had what it took.
Thankfully, my determination more than made up for my lack of knowledge and confidence. Celebrating 40 years on the shelves since its original publication date, Writing Down the Bones helped free the writer within me, giving me permission to approach my project in a way that felt right for me.
As Goldberg points out, you can’t divorce yourself from your own parts. Even if you’re a giraffe! Her cleverness and humor amused me from beginning to end, and her wisdom continues to resonate.
Experience a modern classic on writing as you've never heard it before. With nearly one million copies of Writing Down the Bones in print, Natalie Goldberg has helped change the way writing is practiced in homes, schools, and workshops across America. Through her heartfelt personal reflections and her ingenious Zen-based exercises, Goldberg makes writing available to you as a tool for personal expression, self-exploration, and healing.
In this enhanced reading of her seminal work, Goldberg offers new commentary about the creative, spiritual, and practical dimensions of writing. Join her as she looks back on her life, sharing the story of…
I had zero interest in creative writing until a remarkable family story gripped my heart 30 years ago and wouldn’t let go. Years later, I decided to jump in at the deep end and write this story as fiction, but I had a problem: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I worked hard to learn the craft of writing fiction, and my award-winning historical novel, Of White Ashes, was published five years later. These five books inspired and helped me to understand the essentials of writing and build my confidence. I hope they’re helpful to you as you bring the novel only you can write to life!
King’s practical advice and inspiration guided me in writing my debut historical novel.
As a new swimmer in the waters of creative writing, I appreciated King’s opinion that writers learn best by reading and writing, and that the most valuable lessons are the ones we teach ourselves.
I’ve always considered myself an experiential learner. Writing Of White Ashes was a masterclass in asking, “Wait, how do you do that?” And quirky quotes from King, like “the road to hell is paved with adverbs,” helped me choose strong words, construct them into vibrant sentences, and piece together a story I was uniquely suited to tell.
Twentieth Anniversary Edition with Contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S TOP 100 NONFICTION BOOKS OF ALL TIME
Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King’s critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work.
“Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools…
I had zero interest in creative writing until a remarkable family story gripped my heart 30 years ago and wouldn’t let go. Years later, I decided to jump in at the deep end and write this story as fiction, but I had a problem: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I worked hard to learn the craft of writing fiction, and my award-winning historical novel, Of White Ashes, was published five years later. These five books inspired and helped me to understand the essentials of writing and build my confidence. I hope they’re helpful to you as you bring the novel only you can write to life!
Then, page by page, the content courted me with insightful and inspiring essays. I’ve read many craft books. This brilliant and eloquent gem is my absolute favorite. Chapter by chapter, Benner Dixon and McDermott’s personal essays reveal craft—not as how-to, but rather through inference, story, and metaphor.
In the chapter on memory, they speak of how memories linger, betray us, and befriend us to be better. Consciously or unconsciously, our memories influence our writing in the best of ways, as memories are held in our bodies and in our hearts. And when we write from the heart, we’re able to give life to our characters in the best possible way, even if the memories are painful.
Winner of the 18th Annual National Indie Excellence Award in Writing & Publishing
Finalist of the 2024 International Book Award in Nonfiction: Creative Category
Millions of Suns is an open invitation for all writers to create something new. Each chapter features a pair of essays-in-dialogue between two working artists, Sharon Fagan McDermott and M. C. Benner Dixon, which addresses a specific writing element such as metaphor, inspiration, place, surprise, or imagery. These hybrid essays reveal how two very different writers approach the building blocks of their craft. Explore how white space intersects with grief, how the act of reading changes…
Papyrologist Lisa Emmer's world flips when the Sûreté detains her at her Metro station with news of the savage murder of the esteemed Paris historian Dr. Raimond Foix, her friend and mentor in the study of ancient documents.
Horrified, Lisa finds clues at the crime scene left behind for her…
I had zero interest in creative writing until a remarkable family story gripped my heart 30 years ago and wouldn’t let go. Years later, I decided to jump in at the deep end and write this story as fiction, but I had a problem: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I worked hard to learn the craft of writing fiction, and my award-winning historical novel, Of White Ashes, was published five years later. These five books inspired and helped me to understand the essentials of writing and build my confidence. I hope they’re helpful to you as you bring the novel only you can write to life!
I savored The Story Within and Oliver’s bright wit, insight, and ideas.
I highlighted many sentences and sections for future reference. There’s nothing better than reading a book about writing that is written by a talented writer and teacher. That’s what you get with The Story Within—practical advice written from Oliver’s heart with words strung together like the most perfect strand of pearls.
What I appreciate most about Oliver’s book is how thoughtfully she inspires and supports writers of all levels. I’ll return to this book often.
Laura Oliver has been teaching aspiring writers how to plumb emotional contradictions for insight for more than a decade in workshops and university classes. Now she has written the book her students have been asking her for, a book that aspiring writers of every genre can use to guide, coach, and encourage them on their journey.
The Story Within employs the compelling art of memoir to illuminate craft and touches on nuanced subjects only a teacher who is herself actively writing knows to address. Each chapter offers excerpts from Laura's own stories, as…
