Books: Anatomy Of A Prizewinner

1. Name the authors of the last three fictional books you read.

2. Who were the protagonists? Male or female?

3. When browsing for books, what guides you? The title, the author's name, or the cover? Is it the same with non-fiction? 

4. Do you follow literary awards? Do their decisions influence your book buying?

5. Before reading the infographic, are the following statements true or false?

a) Female writers are more comprehensive in their ability to describe life.

b) Male writers only write about experiences that they can identify with.

c) The panels who decide on prizewinners are male dominated/biased towards a mostly male publishing industry.

d) It's easier to please male book buyers.

Read the infographic halfway down the page here: Anatomy Of A Prize Winner Reading

6. Have you read any of the books/authors from the infographic?

7. Do you think book buyers care about the gender of the author? Do women write books for women, but men write books for everybody?

8. What good reasons can you think of for not finishing a book?

9. Are there any books that you regret not finishing, or not starting?

10. Which authors from your country are most present in prize-giving lists? Is there a male/female divide?

11. If I wanted to appear well-read, which books from your language should I have read, or claim to have read? 

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Situation

You are the literary correspondent at the BBC. You are doing a radio interview with a host (your teacher) who is asking you about the best books of 2022. Give your recommendations for the best reads of the year (You can use any book that you have read in the past - we'll assume that it was published in 2022).

.......... 

Discuss quotes

1. ‘Classic – a book which people praise and don’t read.’

- Mark Twain

2. “The book trade invented literary prizes to stimulate sales, not to reward merit.”

― Michael Moorcock

3. ‘If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.’

--- Oscar Wilde 

4. ‘There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.’

--- Joseph Brodsky 

5. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”

---  George R.R. Martin

Student Handout PDF: Anatomy

Literature As Communication

 

1. Is literature still a popular subject choice for university-level students in your country? If there has been a decline in the uptake of literature studies, what would you attribute it to?

Read article here: Literature As Communication

2. Were you surprised that today's students are 40% less empathetic than previous generations, and that this fall in empathy correlates to the drop in numbers of those studying literature?

3. Can you think of any book-reading friends? Do they seem more empathetic than non-book-reading friends?

4. What is the stereotypical image of someone who can be classed as a 'bookworm'? Does 'empathetic' fit their description?

5. The article makes use of an MRI study that showed increased blood flow to the brain while reading literature - it's unlikely that you can feel the increased blood flow, but have you noticed any tangible effects while reading? Improved mood, increased equanimity? What were you reading at the time?

6. Which of these two statements do you agree with most?

a) Literature describes human experience, and it is this which stimulates empathy.

b) Literature demands close reading, and it is this which stimulates empathy. I could close-read a supermarket catalogue and get increased empathy.

7. Could the findings of the study lead to any 'downstream' treatments, do you think? Could psychiatrists/doctors prescribe a reading list to patients who are mildly depressed? Could close reading be used in treating brain injury?

8. Could/should universities make use of this research in promoting humanities courses? Could it lead to a renaissance in literature studies?

9. What books should world leaders have read before becoming eligible for power?

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Situation

You are an admissions officer for the English department at your local university. You are talking to the parent of a potential student, who is looking to enrol his son at the best-choice university. He thinks that engineering would be the best choice for his son. Convince him of the benefits of taking literature as a subject.

..........

Discuss quotes

“When we read great literature, something changes in us that stays changed.  Literature remembered becomes material to think with.”

--- Donald Hall

“In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. . . .

 It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.”

--- S. I. Hayakaw

“We read to know we are not alone.”

---- C. S. Lewis

Student Handout PDF: Literature As Reading

Photo: Cottonbro