Books that saved my writing: Five under-the-radar titles every writer should read

Not every book that changes your writing shouts about it. Some sneak in sideways, books that don’t always appear on must-read lists but lodge themselves somewhere deep in your process. These aren’t craft manuals. They’re stranger, quieter, more potent than that.

When writers talk about the books that shaped them, it’s usually the big names: Bird by Bird, On Writing, maybe a bit of Joan Didion or George Orwell. But some of the most essential books in a writer’s life aren’t the ones offering advice.

The annotated life: Why marginalia is back in style

Marginalia, you either love it or hate it. Once considered the mark of a disrespectful reader, someone scribbling on the pristine pages of novels, marginalia has returned with an unexpected flourish.

Instagram is full of annotated pages, complete with underlines, post-its, and impassioned scribbles. On TikTok, readers film themselves reacting in real time, pen in hand. Even published authors are weighing in, sharing how marginal notes shaped their early reading lives.