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Christmas Reading: A THREAD
For any English teachers looking for subject specific CPD/reading this Christmas and not specifically on teaching itself here are just a couple of my suggestions /1
For any English teachers looking for subject specific CPD/reading this Christmas and not specifically on teaching itself here are just a couple of my suggestions /1
@BobEaglestone’s superb Doing English as well as Literature: Why It Matters. Both excellent explorations of the ‘the disciplinary consciousness’ of English /2
@BarbaraBleiman’s What Matters In English Teaching. As above, a really thoughtful consideration of what it means to teach English as well as its importantance. /3
Nick Royle and Andrew Bennett’s An Introduction to Literature, Theory, Criticism. This book had a profound impact on me when I first read it age 17, transforming what I thought of as literary studies. A collection of essays exploring different topics/issues. /4
Adam Nicolson’s The Making of Poetry, which is a wonderful account of the making of Lyrical Ballads, both exploring that specific volume as well as the power of poetry more broadly /5
John Sutherland’s A Little History of Literature, which is a brief and readable history of literature from Old English to modern literature. Lots of gaps given its length, but does a good job of providing some of its scope /6
John Carey’s A Little History of Poetry in the same series is also very good and offers an interesting overview of some of the milestones in the history of poetry. /7
Pretty much anything from the New Critical Idiom series, which I love. These are relatively short books on specific literary/philosophical topics. There are loads so will be something of interest and I always find them to be very well researched and written. /8
@BBCInOurTime and @themassolit are also unfailingly interesting and have masses of interesting literary topics on offer. /9
Kevin Jackson’s Constellation of Genius 1922: Modernism and all that Jazz is a surprisingly reading account of modernism and specifically its high point of 1922. It takes the reader through this single year teasing out wider patterns within modernity. /10
Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison. A superb reevaluation of the American literary imagination, interrogating and critically reflecting on key trajectories within American literature /11
The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Helen Vendler which is a masterclass in detailed close reading, exploring each sonnet in term and teasing out their complexity and sophistication. Her book on Emily Dickinson is equally excellent /12
A Little Book on Form by Robert Hass. One of the most interesting, insightful and erudite books on form I have ever read. It works through form in ways you honestly wouldn’t have thought about before. Amazing. /13
Don Paterson’s Reading Shakespeare Sonnets which charts his own reading on all 154 sonnets and appends to each a short, very readable reflection. A counterpoint to the far more scholarly Vendler book. /14
