The essays in Lydia Davis's book Essays, our Book of the Week this week, contain some of the sharpest writing about writing and about the reading of writing you are likely to read. 
>>Read Thomas's review. 
>>"There's no such thing as no style."
>>On balance and coherence. 
>>"A few words well chosen."
>>"Language is character."
>>A writer's writer's writer. 
>>Advice to the young. 
>>The art of fiction. 
>>"Honour the syntax."
>>"My style is a reaction to Proust's long sentences." 
>>"Did the idea of having your language corrected have a repressive effect on your talking?"
>>Davis's short — and often very short — stories are exemplars of the form, and her translations are outstanding.