false 39933 006000942X 9780060009427 885 204 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169340277m/39933.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39933.How_to_Read_Literature_Like_a_Professor_A_Lively_and_Entertaining_Guide_to_Reading_Between_the_Lines 11550 Thomas C. Foster 1021 248 4 0 false Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 15:14:51 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 06:58:45 -0700 2009
Three broad questions to ask when reading literature to make it more rewarding and fun.

Read with memory intact - Where have I seen this before?
Read and think symbolically - unless proven otherwise, everything is a symbol of something.
Read to recognize patterns - look beyond the characters, plot, etc to see the pattern.

This quote from the author in the appendix section, before his reading list sums it up quite well:

"Classics aren't classics because they're old; they're classic because they're great stories or great poems, because they're beautiful or entertaining or exciting or funny or all of the above. And the newer works, the ones that aren't classics? They may grow to that status or they may not. But for now they're engaging, thought-provoking, maddening, fun. We speak, as I've said before, of literary works, but in fact literature is chiefly play. If you read novels and plays and stories and poems and you're not having fun, somebody is doing something wrong. If a novel seems like an ordeal, quit; you're not getting paid to read it, are you? And you surely won't get fired if you don't read it. So enjoy."

I've added a few of the books from his reading list to my "to-read" list. We'll see what happens. ]]>