John Hersey's Blues

In every chapter of Blues the Fisherman also alludes to some poem pertinent to the day's lecture subject, and the chapter ends with that poem. Which explains the long Permissions Acknowledgments in the back of the book, the list of authors ranging from Ogden Nash to William Shakespeare.

But wait, there's more. Yes, you get a bonus in every chapter: a recipe for bluefish. Good ones. Real ones. Recipes that fishermen can appreciate and use, not cooking school projects that require three hours, a Garland stove and two sauciers to finesse.

Hersey, the author of 20 other books, had to haul out almost every transitional devise known to writers in order to cram all these elements into the 12 chapters of Blues. He was certainly diligent in sticking to his format, but he would have had a more successful book had he lightened his burden.