A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

George Saunders is one of the best short-story writers around—he blew out the doors of the genre back in the '90s and has not rested since—and if you've seen him speak or read his interviews you'll know that he's also one of the wisest givers of advice on the craft and creative process of fiction writing, so it's no surprise that this book is a treat. Based on a class he taught at Syracuse for two decades, it includes seven stories by 19th-century Russian masters (including three by Chekhov, among them the exquisite "Gooseberries," the source of his title), each followed by Saunders's modest, funny, and thoroughly insightful analysis of both the technical and—dare I say it—moral details that make them tick. It's obviously a book for writers, including some exercises at the back that I, who hate writing exercises, might actually try, but it's equally a book for readers, especially those for whom stepping back and examining how art is made just adds to the wonder of its creation.