The final thing I want to do each week is something my students consistently say is one of their favorite things about taking my courses. They get to read good sentences. The reason they get to do this is because reading good sentences is a crucial part of becoming a better writer. The Irish writer and teacher, Colum McCann, makes this point quite nicely in his book, Letters to a Young Writer. "So here it is, before I forget again. A young writer must read. She must read and read and read. Adventurously. Promiscuously. Unfailingly." Or how about this from Nadine Gordimer, the first South African to win the Nobel Prize in literature. "The only school for the writer is the library." In case you don't have easy access to a good physical library, we'll provide a link to a wonderful digital library. Premised on the idea that to write good sentences, you need to read good sentences, it is called, straightforwardly enough, Good Sentences. When you pick from the various examples of journalism, fiction, memoir, history, poetry, and many other forms of writing there, I want you to focus not just on the content of the sentences you're reading, but also on the craft with which those sentences were put together. Too often, the American writer, Francine Prose suggests, in reading like a writer, "Students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class -- or worse, some kind of self-help manual. In fact, the important thing is the way the writer uses the language." Prose later notes that, "Every so often I'll hear writers say that there are other writers they would read if for no other reason than to marvel at the skill with which they can put together the sort of sentences that move us to read closely, to disassemble and reassemble them, much the way a mechanic might learn about an engine by taking it apart." That's how I want you to read the Good Sentences selections. You don't have to worry about memorizing any information. You're not going to be tested when you're done. But what you are going to be asked to do is slow down, at least once, and pick your favorite sentence from whatever you decided to read. I then want you to type that sentence into the space provided. Don't cut and paste, I want you to actually type it out, or even better, handwrite it before you type it out. Remember what we said about how a lot of learning starts in your hand, travels up your arm, and only then lodges in your brain. Taking this step will help you internalize the rhythm and structure of quality writing, the hope being that you will soon learn how to better produce high-quality writing of your own.