I think the best English writing of the last 150 years is easily Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. I wish I’d found and studied this book about 30 years ago when I was starting my writing/illustration career.

Bradbury crafts sentences in a way that makes each a little gem; paragraphs absolutely glitter and shine with refracted ideas. About the only downside to the pleasure of reading what he writes is that I often find myself re-reading and musing over sentences to the point that it takes about twice as long to read his books. (But perhaps I should look at that as getting twice the reading for my money.)

One thing’s for sure: A beginning author could learn a lot by analyzing what Bradbury does with his writing.

My advice? If you want to be a great writer, get a copy of Dandelion Wine and study what Bradbury has done. You can buy a copy from Amazon.com or about any bookstore.