Denis Donoghue has written a delightful book about eloquence and style. Unfortunately, a little over a decade ago, Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner wrote a better book: CLEAR AND SIMPLE AS THE TRUTH. Donoghue analyzes some of his favorite writers: Shakespeare, Virgina Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Samuel Johnson, John Donne, and a dozen more. Donoghue is conventional. Thomas and Turner’s classic is more subtle (nothing is as clear and simple as the truth) and ironic.

By all means read both books. But you’ll find one is merely good while the other is great.