"I began to stalk around his living room, like a trial lawyer making her case to the jury, explaining various aspects of the book, some of which, in my desire not to appear too obvious, I had forgotten to put down at all."

In addition to a great deal of practical advice on writing and the writing life, Bird by Bird is a hilarious dissection of the neuroses, panic states, jealousy, paranoia, insanity, depression, addiction, psychotic rage, insomnia, vengefulness, and rare but delightful moments of schadenfreude which make up the life of the writer. Perhaps Lamott is more neurotic than me, but I have experienced virtually every moment of insanity and pettiness which she describes, except for the bit where, after her editor hated her book after she was positive she'd finally gotten the umpteenth rewrite right, she goes off and snorts coke like an anteater.

Incidentally, Lamott's Operating Instructions is the least sappy book on parenthood I've ever read.

Out of print. Try the library, used bookshops, or abebooks.com

Essays on books and writing, all as beautifully written as any her fiction. This is not technically a book on writing, but one on reading; still, I learned more from it than I did from her book which is on writing, Steering the Craft. (I recommend the latter as well, just not quite as highly.) I've read it twenty or thirty times with no decrease in pleasure and learning.

If you only buy one book on writing, this one has the most bang for your buck. It's the only grammar handbook you'll ever need, and White's essay on writing is still a model of solid and amusing advice.