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Loading... How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the…by Thomas C. Foster
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  MerryMary | Dec 6, 2009 |  This book provided some interesting thoughts about what a novel is, and what things to pay attention to while reading them. However, much of the 300+ pages were devoted to either the author's preferred styles and books or to specific examples out of classic works. While these portions weren't necessarily uninteresting or inapplicable, I do feel that it detracted from the seeming purpose of the book in the first place. I honestly tired of hearing him ramble about his favorite authors and books, and be somewhat condescending to those who don't appreciate those books like he does. The book should have been titled "How to Read Novels that This Professor Likes". (  ) melopher | Oct 6, 2009 | This is a good explanation of what to look for when reading a novel and, unlike many books of its kind, does not presume that only the classics are worthy to be read and analyzed. I probably would have enjoyed this book more if the author and I had any common ground in what we liked in novels. He briefly mentioned a few of the authors I spend most of my time with, spending more time on Joyce and Nabokov than I enjoy. Still, for a crash-course in literary interpretation, this is a good book. (  ) kaelirenee | Aug 9, 2009 | good examples of twists and turns -- in sentences, words, paragraphs, plots ( ) pcalico | Jul 16, 2009 | For anyone that ever wondered why literature majors could push out a twenty-odd page paper on the significance of anything in a novel and not even bat an eye when asked, "why does this matter?" this book can explain all of that in a way that's actually enjoyable. Not only does Foster present the concepts of narrative, voice and characterization in plain language, he actually makes it immensely accessible. He'll even sneak in lessons on the history of the novel, history in the novel and metafiction. Examples in the book run all the way from Beowulf to Harry Potter and everything in between - when you get a chapter that offers up examples like The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Vanity Fair, Lord of the Rings, Lolita and The Odyssey, you know that he's thought his point through. One warning - your to-be-read pile will grow while reading this book! (  ) stephmo | May 17, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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Of all the literary forms, the novel is arguably the most discussed . . . and fretted over. From Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote to the works of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and today's masters, the novel has grown with and adapted to changing societies and technologies, mixing tradition and innovation in every age throughout history.
Thomas C. Foster—the sage and scholar who ingeniously led readers through the fascinating symbolic codes of great literature in his first book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor—now examines the grammar of the popular novel. Exploring how authors' choices about structure—point of view, narrative voice, first page, chapter construction, character emblems, and narrative (dis)continuity—create meaning and a special literary language, How to Read Novels Like a Professor shares the keys to this language with readers who want to get more insight, more understanding, and more pleasure from their reading.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:51 -0400)
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I think I would love Prof. Foster's classes. He has a way of phrasing his ideas and assertions that is humorous, friendly, and accessible. In this book, he covers the development of the novel, the Victorian influences - which were apparently monumental - and post modern writing. I personally prefer linear writing (I found out), but Foster does a such good job of explaining experimental writing that I may overcome my middle-aged stubbornness and check it out! (