I spent weeks with this book, letting my thoughts wander on Birkerts-inspired tangents, much like he did for other writers he mentions in his essays. It cracked open my mind at a time when I was needing inspiration. Yet even with pages of notes, I couldn’t seem to shape a review. I looked back at some of my reviews for flash and short story collections, but none of those formats seemed right.

I talked with a librarian friend about the issue, saying I didn’t know how to frame the review because my thoughts kept spinning into personal essays sharing my interpretations of what I’d read. She mentioned how the written material informs your response, so what was the book? I said… personal essays. On writing and memory and learning and art.

Suddenly, it felt completely natural to write a review as a personal essay. After all, Birkerts reflects on how Dylan, Borges, and others influenced him, his thoughts, and his writing, just as he has now influenced me.

Read the full review here: https://www.birchbarkediting.com/microlit-almanac-reviews/the-miro-worm-and-the-mysteries-of-writing-sven-birkerts-allison-renner