The Art of Reading

By: Timothy Spurgin, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Timothy Spurgin

Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Artful reading - the way we read novels and short stories - is less about reading for specific information and more about reading to revel in the literary experience. Learning the skills and techniques of artful reading can improve your life in many ways, whether you're a fiction reader, an aspiring writer, a book club member, or a student.

And the best part: These skills are not difficult or unwieldy; rather, they are well within your reach. This entertaining, 24-lecture course gives you a veritable toolbox of knowledge and methods to approach even the most daunting reading experience with increased confidence.

You'll learn the definitions and characteristics of terms such as authorship, master plot, and genre. While some of these nuts-and-bolts concepts may be familiar to you, Professor Spurgin examines them from multiple angles, revealing hidden meanings that can escape even experienced readers.

Practical tips and techniques will maximize your effectiveness as an artful reader. You'll see why holding an initial reading session will acquaint you with the author's writing style and the characters, making the book easy to return to even if you take a few days off.

You'll also discover the benefits of "pre-reading" - exploring a book's organization and structure - and how to constantly ask questions to become more deeply involved with the characters and their stories.

Throughout the course, a host of literary "case studies" will refine and elaborate on the concepts of artful reading. Literary examples show how you can finally approach works that, in the past, might have seemed intimidating - making your future reading experiences both more engaging and more enlightening.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great Courses

Excellent course on artful reading

Entertaining, interesting, clear, useful. A much better way to spend time than watching nonsensical social media video clips.

Excellent and entertaining

This was chock full of information every serious reader should have. Timothy Spurgin is engaging and his presentations are as entertaining as they are informative.

Understanding the craft of writing as a reader

When reading a book, I wanted to be more understanding/ mindful of what ingredients are used to distinguish a great book from mediocre ones. This was the right book for this objective.

Long but worth it

If you want a fast course on literarure appreciation and profound understanding, this is the right investment for your time.

Practical for Readers and Writers

If you're a writer or a literary-minded reader, this set of lectures is insightful and immeasurably practical. The idea is teach styles and literary devices through example of works of great literature. Many of the examples used were not necessarily in my wheelhouse of normal reading, but the lessons still came across easily.

Prof. Spurgin is, on the whole, a good educator. His presentation is clear and well-constructed. I was often distracted, however, his delivery. It came. Across. At times like. William. Shatner. Should have. Been speaking. Ok, perhaps it wasn't quite as bad as all of that, but once noticed, it cannot be unnoticed. If you try this title out, apologies in advance for ruining that for you.

Interesting, insightful, really great course.

Why is this course disappearing from the catalog on February 2022? It is the best course about understanding Literature formally I know, it is greatly didactic and so much fun. I love Spurgin's voice, I love his energy and passion, I love to pieces everything about this course.

A foothold on the art of reading fiction and some

I enjoyed this series of lectures on the art of reading fiction. I will most likely listen to the entire series one more time. Not only do you get a foothold on the art of reading but you also get some really good book recommendations.

excellent course!

I found the course very interesting and insightful!
Prof Timothy added so many new books to my endless TBR!!

Strongly slanted toward literary fiction

This course should be titled "The Art of Reading Literary Fiction." The instructor tries to be inclusive toward commercial fiction, but it's pretty obvious he doesn't have a good grasp on the nature of commercial fiction. It's possible to tell a complex story using commercial fiction as the container. It's also possible to tell a complex story that isn't depressing.

It annoyed me when he suggested that (1) you should read 50 pages before deciding whether to give up on a novel, and (2) if you DNFed a book in the past, you should try again because you might have a better experience now. There are millions of books you can read, far more than you can read in a lifetime. If you don't enjoy a book, then read something else instead.

If you're a fan of literary fiction, you may find this course more useful than I did.

Good exercises for deeper appreciation of books

This audiobook is for readers who want to understand what makes a book good, bad, slow, fast, etc. It's like a wine-tasting class for drinkers - to expand your vocabulary to describe your experience. For example, an exercise you can do is to write down when characters appear in each chapter. Who appears frequently? Who did you think was an important character but only appeared in a few scenes? Another exercise is to note the point of view (POV). Who is talking? Is the person's view trustworthy? Is the story different when told by someone else (such as an adventure told by Dr. Watson versus Sherlock Holmes).