September/October 2015 Books

Hi Guys!

*sorry this post is a couple of days late*

Over the last few weeks I have read a lot of texts. Doing a literature degree involves studying a wide variety of texts. From poetry to plays, sonnets to short stories and of course novels. I've probably read more in the last two months than I have in the last year.

1. Kate Atkinson - Behind the Scenes at the Museum

This was the first book I read for my course. It was a very interesting read. It took me quite a long time to read as the story had lots of characters and lots of different events. I enjoyed the way that footnotes were dispersed within the narrative. The novel tells the story of Ruby Lennox from the moment of conception. The footnotes tell the story of Ruby's female ancestors, something which intrigued me.

2. Ovid - Metamorphoses & contemporary poetry

This took me AGES to read! I wouldn't say I enjoyed reading this, but I do appreciate how much Ovid has influenced literature. We had to focus on five stories and they were all fairly straight forward. The main theme is transformation and this is the main reason why Ovid is referenced in so many other pieces of literature throughout history.

The week after we studied a collection of contemporary poetry which was influenced by Ovid's work. My favourite was Mrs Midas by Caroline Duffy as it changed the perspective of Ovid's story of Midas so that the story was told from Midas' wives point of view.

3. Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey

Personally I didn't like this book. I just didn't really feel like a lot happened. She only arrives at the Abbey in volume two and the ending was really predictable. Normally if I don't like a novel, I at least appreciate what the author was trying to achieve. However with this I don't even really appreciate it.

4. Don Patterson - 101 Sonnets

These didn't take long to get through and were ok. It helped to see how the sonnet form was represented in many different ways. It helps to see how the form was deviated from.

5. Claude Mckay - America, The White House and If We Must Die

These three poems have the common theme of racial inequality. McKay manages to put a high level of emotion into his poetry and that is what makes the poems so persuasive. I don't know why but I didn't think I would like these, but they really surprised me.

6. Graham Greene - The Destructors

This short story at first perplexed me and I was really confused as to the meaning behind it. If you are going to study this I was suggest to do some research about Britain after the Second World War as I promise it will really help. Part of it reminded me of George Orwell's Animal Farm with the struggles with leadership and the way in which Trevor treats the other boys.

7. George Saunders - Tenth of December

These short stories were weird! But they were also very interesting once you understood what was actually going on. This is the most modern text I have studied so far, being published in 2013. It has the main theme of a failing America giving it a dystopian edge. It is very interesting to see his views in the form of fictional short stories. But having said that it was probably the hardest text so far in terms of not having a clue what the heck was going on!

8. Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper

I first studied this short story in second year of sixth form and it was great to be able to study it again. I really enjoyed studying it the first time, but it was great to see how my views have changed and was my reading of it is now in comparison to this time last year. It was a pleasure to complete my portfolio on this in relation to the historical context behind it.

9. Caryl Churchill - Top Girls

A found this quite hard to read due to the overlapping dialogue throughout. Therefore it is easier to watch it and I would recommend the BBC version. I enjoyed studying this much more than I enjoyed reading it. I have ended up doing a 1,000 word assignment on it, so I must have enjoyed it. Word of advice if you are studying this is to research 1980s Britain and Thatcherism whilst reading to understand the historical context.

10. Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest

I first studied this in first year of sixth form and I have to say I didn't love it. It seems that all of the books that are deemed essential to read are the ones I just don't seem to like! Studying it two years later I still don't love it. However I think I've worked out why I don't like it. It is aesthetic meaning it is made to judged on the look of it rather than the meaning behind it. One of the reason why I enjoy literature is that I love learning the meanings behind different texts. At least I feel like I have improved in the last two years. In year 12 I did a whole presentation on aestheticism and decadence and I still had no idea what the heck it was!

11. Zoe Sugg - Girl Online On Tour

Wow different background, mind blown! This is something that I have little been waiting three months for. It was really good and was a pleasant read as it was just fluffy and didn't require as much brain power as when you are studying a text. Also I listen to this on audiobook when I was walking to and from uni and on the train on Friday and it was great as I managed to fit it around studying.

12. Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo

Technically this is not a book, but I have had to study it for my course in a similar way to studying a book. I found this a little bit weird, but it was really cool to study a film as it was something I had never done before. Learning about things like the use of colour and camera angles is something that will forever be imprinted on my brain so I will probably never watch a film in the same way!

Thanks for stopping by! :)