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Author: Alan Jacobs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019983167X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172
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Book Description
In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more methodical approach of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book (1940), Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.
Author: Alan Jacobs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019983167X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Get Book Here
Book Description
In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more methodical approach of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book (1940), Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.
Author: Antonia Fraser
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632862298
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 353
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Book Description
In this delightful collection, forty acclaimed writers explain what first made them interested in literature, what inspired them to read, and what makes them continue to do so. First published in 1992 in hardback only, original contributors include Margaret Atwood, J. G. Ballard, Melvyn Bragg, A. S. Byatt, Catherine Cookson, Carol Ann Duffy, Germaine Greer, Alan Hollinghurst, Doris Lessing, Candia McWilliam, Edna O'Brien, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Sue Townsend, and Jeanette Winterson. The new edition will include essays from ten new writers.
Author: Robert Alter
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393314991
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
A distinguished critic rescues literature from the ivory tower and reestablishes reading as a personal source of complex pleasure and insight.
Author: Eric Macfarlane
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1838590196
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 176
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Book Description
The Pleasure of Reading reflects on the joys of owning and reading books. It looks at the situations that lead people to become keen readers and the ways in which parents and teachers can encourage children’s love of stories. It is critical of traditional methods of studying literature that deter many children from regarding reading as a pleasurable activity. The book also looks at the interests and passions that motivate novelists and the wide range of subjects on which they choose to write, the kind of stories they tell, the themes that they explore and the skill with which they handle their plots, characters and settings. Particular attention is given to the novelist’s role as a protester against injustice, persecution and the abuse of power.
Author: Catherine Sheldrick Ross
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 379
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Book Description
Based on years of ground-breaking research, this book supplies a look at the unique relationship between each text and the individual reader that results in a satisfying, pleasurable, and even life-changing reading experience. Following up on her critically acclaimed Reading Matters: What the Research Reveals about Reading, Libraries, and Community, Catherine Sheldrick Ross takes a new look at pleasure reading through 30 thought-provoking essays based on themes arranged from A to Z. In short lively chapters, she discusses topics ranging from "Alexia," "Bad Reading," and "Changing Lives" to "Romance Fiction," "Self-help," "Titles," "Vampires," and "Year of Reading." Drawing on her own research as well as other published sources, Ross comments on the significance of each theme, provides examples of the phenomenon, and develops the topic chronologically, through further examples, or through reversals. The essays are unified by an underlying theory of reading that views readers as sense-makers, actively engaged in reading themselves into the text and reading the texts back into their own lives. It gives educators and librarians insights into their roles with readers and offers a message about the importance of pleasure reading. A short list of resources for further reading is supplied with each topic.
Author: Jeffrey D. Wilhelm
Publisher: Teaching Resources
ISBN: 9780545147804
Category : Books
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Explores the reading habits of teens and how educators can learn how to teach reading from the choices that young readers make for themselves.
Author: Kenneth Koch
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684824388
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 324
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Book Description
From the winner of the Bollingen Prize in poetry and author of the classic bestseller "Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?" comes a unique, highly entertaining book for anyone who wants to be a better reader and writer of poetry.
Author: Michael Lockwood
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446244466
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 170
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Book Description
Winner of the UKLA Author Award 2009 ′Lockwood has written a useful, supportive book which will help teachers and librarians...He describes the background and summarises the research and then proposes thoroughly practical programmes′ - Carousel ′Michael Lockwood has produced an excellent, practical overview and analysis of what works in the primary school to promote reading for pleasure....Lockwood′s work is grounded and valuable to those who need it most - teachers in the classroom working hard to engender a love of reading′ - English Drama Media ′This book is first class. It puts the matter very clearly and succinctly, and presents a great deal of evidence to support the argument that pleasure is not a frivolous extra, but the very heart and essence of what reading is about. It also gives readers plenty of ideas for carrying the principle into the classroom, and for justifying it...This is an excellent piece of work, which I hope will find a place on every staffroom bookshelf.′ - Philip Pullman English primary school children are less likely to read for pleasure than their counterparts in many other countries. This practical and focused book discusses the background to this situation and looks at how government initiatives have tried to address it. Drawing on the author′s own research project in order to identify good practice in promoting reading for enjoyment, the book presents specific activities which teachers can use to develop their own whole school and classroom practice, enabling them to put the fun back into reading. Each chapter features case-study material and provides examples of planning from schools that have successfully created thriving reading cultures through schemes such as reading assemblies, book clubs, library loyalty cards, school book evenings and quizzes. There is also an extensive, annotated list of print and internet-based resources. Topics covered include: - Becoming a reading for pleasure school - Promoting a love of reading in the early years - Developing reading enjoyment in the later primary years - Getting boys reading Promoting Reading for Pleasure in the Primary School is written for all those involved in education who would like to see as many children as possible develop a love of reading. It will be particularly relevant for primary teachers, teaching assistants, trainee teachers, advisers and consultants, as well as teacher educators and researchers.
Author: Harold Bloom
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684859076
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
Bloom, the best-known literary critic of our time, shares his extensive knowledge of and profound joy in the works of a constellation of major writers, including Shakespeare, Cervantes, Austen, Dickinson, Melville, Wilde, and O'Connor in this eloquent invitation to readers to read and read well.
Author: Prof. Yigal Bronner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520384482
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 284
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Book Description
A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. What are the pleasures of reading translations of South Asian literature, and what does it take to enjoy a translated text? This volume provides opportunities to explore such questions by bringing together a whole set of new translations by David Shulman, noted scholar of South Asia. The translated selections come from a variety of Indian languages, genres, and periods, from the classical to the contemporary. The translations are accompanied by short essays written to help readers engage and enjoy them. Some of these essays provide background to enhance reading of the translation, whereas others model how to expand appreciation in comparative and broader ways. Together, the translations and the accompanying essays form an essential guide for people interested in literature and art from South Asia.
