Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing

Very well dobe to get a big picture of english literature and get into it.

There's only so much I can say about a book required for the class I am currently taking. I don't necessarily want it, however there are several good things I can say about it. The book is broken down into a curriculum format with supporting short stories, poems, and the like throughout. Aside from the format, finding a particular piece of literature is difficult. The table of contents is obviously set up in a fashion that shows the flow of educational material rather than where to find certain documents. To find whichever document required, you have to search each section of the table of contents until you find it.

A book written by teachers for any English major or an aspiring teacher is instant credibility. I used this book in class this semester and found it helpful as a refresher course in writing. The book incorporates a lot into teaching the fundamentals of English, writing essays (really important), making outlines and basically critical theory. The example essays were extremely helpful. Typicall when it comes to these kind of books most of them typically just have the stories in the book and don't have much in the way of a list of things to ponder in the writing process. Here though they really go step by step into all the writing essentials for the student. They also cover poetry and provide biographies of each author's work. THe glossary at the end was also a smart thing to do. Again, unless you have an MLA handbook nearby sometimes these English book tend to leave out stuff and already assume you're ready to just dive into the stories. The price is a bit heavy but I bought it used. The book covers more or less the 175h to 19th century of writers and poets with Shakespeare being covered as well. There's antique writings in here as well. All in all I found it to be a really valuable source. If I was a teacher, I'd definitely would have this book in my collection.

This anthology has a great selection of poetry ranging from well-known classics to little known modern gems. The series comes with the most helpful Instructor's Resource Manual that I've ever used. The book has excellent sections on how to approach different genres. It's well organized and easy to work with. I especially like the sections on how to write different types of papers. Unfortunately I probably won't use the book again because our school has a diverse student population and the authors chosen for this book do not reflect that range of voices and experience.

The book it self has many good short stories, poems, and drama plays. However the book pages are very thin and are easy to rip. Overall the entire book is a good book to be lectured from.