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Set books

edited April 2006 in - Reading

Comments

  • Does having to study a book for an exam put you off that book? Surely the author has written it to be enjoyed, not analysed?
  • When I was doing my A'levels, one of our books was E.M.Forsters 'A Passage to India.' I came to loathe it, purely because there was all this symbolism being discussed, and some of it I just couldn't see. Even now I can't.

    The other one, was Thomas Hardey's 'Jude the Obscure.' I had read a couple of his books before we did 'Jude', but after that I didn't read any for years.
    It was depressing. I didn't finish the last four or five chapters, I couldn't deal with it. Hardy must have been going through a bad patch when he wrote that, there couldn't be any other explanation.
  • In the sixties (!!!long ago) I had to study Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for my O Level. I have tried several times since then to read this book, but still hate it!!! Although, I did enjoy the recent film and bought a copy of the book but unfortunately even that did not change my loathing. So a definite YES from me, that studying a set text is off putting. Maybe 15 years old was too young to appreciate this text, and also the method of teaching was not good - we were only allowed to read one chapter at a time and then analyse it before moving on. 
  • I started an OU degree because I wanted to study literature. At Foundation level we had to study a lot of poetry. I was hopeless. I could see meanings in the poems that were nothing like the meanings that the text books gave. In the end I abandoned literature and studied History of Art.I think that the meaning of a poem or book depends on the reader's own personal experience and the time in which they live. All interpretations are valid - and I think that most writers would accept that. What do others think?
  • I agree with you Tilly, especially as far as poetry is concerned. I think it can have different meanings to different people. I don't like to analyse poetry or novels. They should just be read and enjoyed.
  • One of my set writers at university was Sylvia Plath.  I could never understand her poetry, and it put me off a bit, which is a shame, as I could always see she was a very good writer.  I'll try and read The Bell Jar soon.

    The Shakespeare, though, I always loved, apart from the history plays, which I could never get excited about, I'm afraid. 

    I was introduced to the writing of someone who became one of my all-time favourite authors at university, so it can't have been all bad - Michele Roberts is a fantastic writer.  We studied The Wild Girl, and I couldn't put it down, and now I have all her books except two of poetry which have been out of print for years.

    Mansfield Park, however awful it seemed at the time, didn't put me off Jane Austen, and for that I'm grateful :o)
  • I am in my fourth year of my OU literature degree, and I agree that I hated the poetry.  Of course it is about personal perception, in the arts there is no right or wrong answers.  All it should take is having a strong enough arguement.  Saying that though, I have had several tutors who would shoot me down for having a different opinion to them.

    That was two years ago, and I don't plan on doing any similar modules.  Last year I studied linguistics for the first time, which was fascinating to learn how the English language evolved.  Next year I will study Creative Writing, and the following year I will study Shakespeare.  So it will be interesting to see how I cope with the sonnets.

    This year I am studying Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Dombey and Son, Dracula, The Heart of Darkness, Portrait of a Lady, Madam Bovary, The Woman In White and Far From the Madding Crowd.  If it wasn't for university, I would never have read any of these wonderful books.
  • my daughter is studying macbeth forher SATS at age 14. I find it so hard to help her. Does anyone have any good ideas?
    I tained as a primary school teacher and we had to study Where the Wild things are and try to analyse various picture books. I wonder what the author thinks when they know lots of people are trying to read their mind.
    It is really difficult to understand the pleasure of books for children
  • Morning Salwrite,

    The best you can do to help is take your daughter to a theatre production.
    I studied Macbeth, for school exams, and was lucky that my school organised a trip to Shaftesbury Avenue. For some reason we boys were banned from crossing the road to investigate side streets but seeing the play professionally performed certainly helped understand Shakespeare.
  • I agree with you Sal. Seeing a production does put the text in perspective. I remember having to do Henry IV part one, and I never totally grasped it. Years later I went to see it at the Barbican, an RSC production, with Timothy Dalton playing Hotspur. Suddenly the bits that had given me problems became clear.
  • Jany, I wouldn't have minded Yeats for my A-level. I had to cope with Gerald Manley Hopkins and Wordsworth!
  • Oh Carol... you've just brought back the painful memory of being a young teacher (which meant you got all the worst classes) in an inner city high school (i.e there was a grammar school down the road)having to teach Hopkins on a wet Friday afternoon. I still shudder!!
  • You have my deepest sympathy Howard. No one should have Hopkins inflicted on them, be they a teacher or a pupil.
  • Hi Stirling.  Woman in White is a brilliant book.  I'm currently reading another Wilkie Collins book - "No Name."

    I don't know Hopkins.  What does he write?

    I can't remember ever having to study a book and being put off it.  I love reading, love Shakespeare, love poetry....
  • Hi HP, I remember teaching his very intense sonnets and finding them difficult to access. I think The Windhover is a famous one. He was an Anglican Vicorian poet who converted to Catholicism. I can't remember any more, I'm afraid.

    Isn't The Woman in White just wonderful! The opening is so engaging.

    My love of Shakespeare comes from a young teacher in his first job who inspired me. He took us to see Hamlet at the Nottingham Playhouse with Alan Bates in the title role.
  • Thanks Howard.  I'll have a bit of a search on the internet and investigate Hopkins.  Now I've heard of him I'll have to know more!  Hope you had a good Easter break back home with Mrs 'Howard'
  • Oh, I love Gerald Manley Hopkins - but then, I didn't have to study the poems.
    One of my favourites is
    "Glory be to God for dappled things"

    When I was younger, I couldn't see the point of Yeats, but now I'm coming to appreciate him more.  "Come away, human child," for instance, about the fairies stealing away a small child.

    One of the poems we did study at school was To Autumn, by Keats, and I managed to learn that off by heart (I can still do the first verse and some of the second and third) and I enjoyed it.
    Adlestrop, however, was universally loathed:
    "The steam hissed; someone cleared his throat...."
  • I honestly think that set books/poets are responsible for putting children/young people off literature, probably more than potential poor teaching.With all the symbolism and hidden meanings that you have to take on board etc.
    Maybe it has changed from when I was doing my A'levels (that does date me)and I hope it has.
    Children should be encouraged to read widely, as well as what they particularly like.
    Sorry I got off the subject.
  • I think things have changed a little. For GCSE and A level candidates need to be able to understand how writers use language and to give a personal response. Character and themes are still important but there is room for the students' own ideas.

    In Primary schools the literacy strategy involves plenty of text work but has meant less time for reading whole books. Schools are at liberty to adapt the strategy but of course they are still judged on SATs results.

    I don't have up to date knowledge of what's happening in higher education but as a student I used to resent the lecturers insisting we buy their critical publications and see the text from their point of view if we wanted good marks.
  • I seem to havestarted a new discussion about Shakespeare. I love going to the theatre and it would probably help me to understand the play better. Funnily enough,one of the past papers is for her to writethestage directionsfor aset scene in the play.
    Itook my daughter out today and shewas telling me howshe had nearly finished reading her Molly Moon book but it wastaking so long because of her English homework.
    It would be lovely to let thechildren do a detailed in depth project about the kind of books they like and why
  • i hate the majority of my set books excluding the shakespeare. i failed my AS unit on the modern novel which was 'the handmaid's tale' by margaret atwood. it was a closed book exam and i didnt read it as no matter how many times i tried i just simply couldnt get into it. i retook that unit and got the mark i needed to pass, so am retaking the module AGAIN, but theyve changed the book so now my tuesday lunchtimes are spent in an english room studying 'spies' by michael frayn. only slightly more interesting.

    i hated english at gcse, i hated it at AS level and i am STILL doing it at A2!!!! what is wrong with me?!?!

    i took it to develop analytical skills which can become useful for archaeology, and i couldnt think of anything else to take. gcse i spent 2 eyars doing nothing and got 2 As and that was without reading the texts!! i thought i could get away with doing the same at A level; apparently not :-/. but one of the joys of studying english is that the texts i do study i wouldnt read anyway so not much of a surprise really for me.
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