This book is fucking brilliant. Every book that Chee writes is fucking brilliant. I'm saving Queen of the Night so that I can savor it this summer. His essays are just as impeccable and sound as his fiction, although more straightforward. I'm obsessed with his writing, I'll read anything you send me from him.

Okay, it's not really the title and it's not really a memoir, but it is a great book of short essays and thoughts by Alexander Chee, who wrote the other much acclaimed book, "The Queen of the Night." If you liked that, give this a shot!

Chee' s book of essays shows some real passion when it comes to his activism, his abuse and his writing. This is his room of one's own which consists of a view of a rose garden or the subway with the gift of time to write. Chee writes essays on many subjects but my favorites are those that are political. HIV and Aids or the current state of affairs or a taxi driver's dire prediction. The writing advice is there along with the living advice. One for the Shelves to revisit.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

The Queen of the Night (also obtained via NetGalley), cemented Alexander Chee as one of my favorite writers, ever, within about 10 pages. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is, indeed, an autobiographical novel, and now Alexander Chee is one of my top three favorite writers, ever. A series of connected vignettes, this isn't just an autobiographical novel about a writer I love, it's one of those addictive writers-on-writing books that writers who love these kinds of books should have in their collection. After having just read a really lackluster page-turner of the sort that will eventually wind up being sold at Dollar Tree in that messy isle with the coloring books, this has been a refreshing change of pace and a reminder that literature might possibly still have a chance in this world, if writers like this keep writing.

This book of essays belongs on every writer's shelf, along with King's On Writing and Lamont's Bird by Bird. Why? Alexander Chee bares his soul, both as a human and as a writer about humanity and the writing craft. There is a central theme for me, that our living imbues our writing, and oh how Mr, Chee's life proves his point. I was entertained by the conversational style with which the book is written, as well as by the content. There are many nuggets of buried treasure within the pages, and I dare to say that reader's will draw different meanings based upon their own life's journey - and that returning to the pages at different times in one's journey might elicit different insights. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is on my shelf next to my mother's touchstone read - Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift From the Sea. She returned to it often, as I believe I will be picking out Mr. Chee's book from the shelf often.

I am ashamed to admit this but How to Write An Autobiographical Novel: Essays was my first Alexander Chee book. It will definitely not be my last. His essays are conversational in tone. It feels like a close friend telling you a story over dinner. It's an intimate affair. This book will make you feel and hopefully you will learn something from it.

I felt impelled to flick open Chee’s book as soon as I received it, and immediately found myself sucked in. I very literally could not put it down.

These autobiographical essays are absorbing, sensitive and beautifully written and crafted. His subject matter revolves around his life at different moments in time, overlapping and informing the other essays. The material he covers is vast, diverse and, always, intriguing. He talks about homes he’s lived in, his experience growing roses in his garden, episodes in his life as an AIDS activist, book seller and waiter, his relationship with money, the repercussions of abuse, literature and tarot readings and the taking on and shedding of personas, be it as a Mexican or even as a gorgeous girl.

The essays that I was most fascinated with, and obsessed by, related to his development as a writer, his literary landscape (engaging with other writers through their fiction or at workshops, including sneaky cigarettes with Annie Dillard). There are a couple of in-depth essays about the process behind his novel ‘Edinburgh’ which were eye-opening, thoughtful, intelligently conveyed and compelling (possibly needs a trigger warning?). (He claims his novel emerges like a ‘prosthetic voice,’ bought to life by the question: ‘what will you let yourself know.’)

The essays range in lightness (the most light hearted is ‘The Curse’ – don’t be misled by the title – it is full of the essence of a happy adolescent summer where he begins to understand the freedom of fluidity and flexibility of inhabiting different personas) and scope (there are intervals between chapters like ‘100 Things About Writing a Novel’ and the title essay ‘How to Write an Autobiographical Novel,’ that are written in a different format), but all of them make for addictive reading.

I have loved the work of Alexander Chee ever since I read his beautiful and harrowing debut, Edinburgh. His second novel, The Queen of the Night, is in my TBR pile and I’m excited to get to it, but before then I’m reading Chee’s latest which is a collection of essays entitled How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. Chee examines himself and his writing life against the sometimes horrifying tapestry of the recent history of the United States. I would argue that Chee is one of the most important of our contemporary voices.

This was my first experience with Alexander Chee, and I feel like I have been missing out.

Like any essay collection, there were some that I didn’t feel worked quite a s well, but most were fantastic. Chee has a way of seeming conversational without being informal; I felt like I was hearing stories from a good friend in a more organized way. I thoroughly enjoyed the voice of these essays.

At first, I felt like the collection was a bit disjointed and felt scattered. However, looking at the collection as a whole, it made sense as a collection of a life: of discovering and affirming identity.

I think this collection would be especially wonderful for aspiriring writers and creators. Beyond the technical writing advice, the last essay on the importance of creation and the arts, especially in our current state of chaos and turmoil was powerful. Even as a non-artist, it resonated with me.

I adored Chee's The Queen of the Night, published in 2016, and have been waiting for something from him ever since. In How To Write an Autobiographical Novel, Chee, ironically, leaves the fiction world for a collection of essays. His powers of observation are so acute, that each of the works in this collection feels special and true. I do have a favorite, however. It's The Writing Life, which discusses how Chee moved from being a visual artist to a writer and, most magnificently, his relationship as a student under Annie Dillard. There are so many wonderful tips and insights that Dillard imparted to her students that Chee shares here. A wonderful collection. Highly Recommended.

Chee's thoughtful and beautifully written essays cover his work as an AIDS activist, cater waiter to William F Buckley (and Pat) along with many other topics. Beyond the specific topics, though, I read this as a book about writing itself, both specifically in his essays on craft and teaching, and tangentially by seeing his words unfold.