First You Write a Sentence.: The Elements of Reading, Writing ... and Life. (Paperback)

Joe Moran has a genius for turning the prosaic poetic -- Peter Hennessy
Thoughtful reflections on how to write well -- John Mullan * Guardian Review *
What a lovely thing this is: a book that delights in the sheer textural joy of good sentences. Joe Moran has written a book about writing that is itself a collection of sentences to inspire, divert and console. Any aspiring writer should read it, if only to be reminded how crazily hard it is to write words 'in such a way that they can be deciphered in your absence' -- Bee Wilson
Thoughtful, engaging, and lively expose of the quirks and beauties of the full sentence . . . It's a style guide by stealth: when you've read it, you realise you've changed your attitude to writing (and reading). -- John Simpson, formerly Chief Editor of the OED and author of The Word Detective
Joe Moran is a wonderfully sharp writer, calm, precise and quietly comical . . . Moran's own sentences are perfect advertisements for the aims they espouse -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *
Joe Moran is the most perceptive and original observer of British life that we have -- Matthew Engel
Moran has fast become Britain's foremost explorer and explainer of the disregarded -- Juliet Gardiner, author of 'Wartime: Britain 1939-1945'
Moran is a past master at producing fine, accessible non-fiction. -- Helen Davies * Sunday Times *
Moran is a wonderful, witty writer, and here he surpasses himself -- Marcus Berkmann (on Shrinking Violets) * Daily Mail *
Whether you're composing an ad for a shop or embarking on your first literary masterpiece, it is indispensable. As an inspiration to savour every encounter, to train your lazy brain to be alert to a beautifully devised phrase, a poetic alleviation, a mood-changing bon mot, it is even more rewarding -- Jane Annie * Big Issue *
Joe Moran is a wonderfully gifted social historian...he has the poet's ability to find the remarkable in the commonplace -- Craig Brown
Moran's genius is to show us what was right in front of us all along -- Bee Wilson
Moran is a past master at producing fine, accessible non-fiction. His trick is to take what might be considered a perfectly ordinary behaviour ... and uncover fact after fascinating fact -- Helen Davies * Sunday Times *
Compelling . . . There's plenty in Moran's book to delight grammar and language nerds -- Daniel Hahn * The Spectator *
Humane and witty . . . as a primer in generous and lively writing, First You Write a Sentence is blithe and convincing * New York Times *
Exquisite...Moran's own sentences are so deliciously epigrammatic that I considered giving up chocolate in favour of re-reading his book...He is more mentor than instructor -- Irina Dumitrescu * TLS *