Word for Word: Learning to get more out of reading

My 90-year-old mother was recently regretting the fact that she hadn’t had a proper formal education. I tried to point out to her that that it didn’t seem to me to have restricted her life much, particularly when it came to her reading.

In the days when she could still read, not a birthday or a Christmas passed without my buying her a few good books. To be truthful, they were almost always books I wanted to read myself, and of course she always “lent” them back to me after she’d read them.

She did not need a degree in English to appreciate good writing, and she had little tolerance for bad writing. I don’t have an English degree either, though I did have the advantage of learning a bit about literary criticism while studying other languages. And yet, I too have felt on occasion that despite my capacity for devouring books and enjoying them, I might be missing layers of meaning.

So, when I spotted the attractive cover of Terry Eagleton's How to Read Literature in my local newsagents the other day, I decided to ignore Denis Donoghue's negative view of the book in this paper and bought a copy.

I’m halfway through it, and have already seen the basis for some, though not all, of Donoghue’s criticisms. But I’m really enjoying Eagleton’s analysis, while disagreeing with some of his opinions and conclusions.

For one thing, it’s been gratifying to note that by some kind of osmosis, and without the formal acquisition of the tools, one can have developed an instinctive critic’s eye for what is good and an automatic resistance to what is not.

The book’s real value for the critical neophyte is that it sets out good, clear reasons why some books are so much better than others.

One of the reasons I haven’t been tempted to go back and acquire that missing English degree is that I’m afraid I’d lose the joy of reading by becoming too critically aware. But I’m now wise enough to see that more attentive reading of literature brings more rewards, which is why my eye was caught by the Mountains to the Sea DLR Book Festival’s pre-event series of workshops for readers who want to enhance their reading experience. They’re calling them Spotlight on the Reader.

"Are you in a book club but feel it has become a bit predictable and needs a bit of a recharge?" they ask. Well no, to my shame, I'm not. I'm a book-club virgin, but maybe going to one of these sessions will persuade me to consider it. Kate Bateman and Niall McMonagle are the moderators and they will consider a number of literary genres, with a focus on the writers who are taking part in this year's festival. The sessions are free, but booking is essential.
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