How to Read Literature Like a Professor

The perfect book for this blog! How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster is a must-read for all who enjoy getting into books and wallowing in the plot while also pondering what it could really mean. Really, this book sits beside Strunk and White on the bookshelf, for while Strunk and White expounds on the grammar of the English language, How to Read Literature formats you with the grammar of the novella, short story, novella, or even poem. Even though it talks about something a college student or thereabouts needs for his studies, this book still won't go over too many people's heads. As long as you have read a book not taken out of the Young Adults section of the library, or at least can imagine one, this book will be interesting and understandable.

In his book, Foster explores such catagories as the influences of modern literature (Shakespeare, the Bible, folklore, and Greek mythology), the symbolism behind important acts (quests, communion, sex, violence, baptism), the reason behind the setting (season, climate, geography, rain, snow), the meaning behind a character's condition (heart disease, cancer, birthmarks, scars, death, and tuberculosis, endlessly tuberculosis), and how the social/political condition surrounding the author can provide proper undertone the the story.

I won't ramble on about this wonderful book. But it is wonderful. He talks about tons of books to provide basis and substance to his topics, but Never fear! because even if you haven't read the work he references, he sufficiently explains its relevance without giving away too much of the story. Even he gives away the whole story, I found that he in no way dampened my desire to read the work. In one instance, I had never heard of the short story by Marquez that he talked about, but it sounded to intriguing that I wanted to pick it up right away.

If you liked this book, or just really interested in how the English language works, another basic in reading and writing is The Elements of Style, by Stunk and White.