Books Journalists Should Read, Maybe But Probably Not

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

Last semester, a wonderful listserv that I'm on through College Media Advisers, was abuzz with the books that you must have read if you're a journalist. It wasn't just the books, it was authors as well. So being the dutiful student of journalism that I am, I undertook some of this list.

Here are some of my comments on some of these books and authors. I'll be posting the list as well, just in case you want to become a dutiful student of journalism too.

I finally finished reading The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. I started this before Christmas, but had to take a break, since the book was hurting my hands it's so weighty. I went back to it after the first of the year, and finally finished it in February. Whew...

What can I say about this book: Plodding...In need of editing.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and major motion picture aside--the microscopic look at the execution of Gary Gilmore, the state of Utah and the Mormon Church were just as weighty as the book that left me pushing to stay involved. Not that I don't like weighty material...I do. However, there are some portions of this book that just need to be tightened.

The beginning is where I'd start the whittling. Take out some of the interminable description of Gilmore and his family. One or two anecdotes could really tell the tale. The number of anecdotes and details left me not even liking these people much less wanting to go on reading the book.

The ending did whiz by a bit better, but still, I could find some room to edit here as well.

While Mailer's writing is strong, he needed a more critical editor. Good writers really need good editors so they can continue to be good writers.

That may sound a bit confusing, but writers love their writing so much, it's often difficult to kill a single word, much less thousands of words.

While my CMA colleagues might differ with me on this--some may even call for my ban from the listserv for saying this, I'd say this book isn't a must-read book for aspiring journalists.

It does give great examples of exhaustive research, but what it doesn't do is show aspiring journalists, especially young ones, the importance of picking and choosing really stirring information that tells your story. This story seems to air it all. Not my idea of well-written and well-edited journalism. But then again, I'm an editor at heart.

Up next: a quick veer from the CMA list of books journalists should read: A review of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.