literary criticism / books & reading

"Explores how English authors altered and transformed the English language and forms of writing. Describes prominent authors' works and how those works were influenced by, and in turn influenced, historical contexts and literary contexts"--Provided by publisher.

"Provides information and examples of the various authors, works, and literary movements that make up American literature"--Provided by publisher.

"The former Los Angeles Times book critic expands his short book on the importance of reading to include considerations of fake news, siloed information, and the necessity of critical thinking as a key component of engaged citizenship and resistance. Ulin builds the case in favor of slow reading in this distracted and troubled time"--Back cover.

"Focuses on the importance of reading for pleasure and the difference that it can make to a person's life chances, with a focus upon how libraries and librarians help reluctant and struggling readers"--Amazon.com.

Pamela Paul has kept a record of every book she's every read, tracing the trajectory of her life through reading, and how these stories have shaped her life.

"Since Achilles first stormed into our imagination, literature has introduced its readers to truly unforgettable martial characters. In Men at War, Christopher Coker discusses some of the most famous of these fictional creations and their impact on our understanding of war and masculinity. Grouped into five archetypes-warriors, heroes, villains, survivors and victims-these characters range across 3000 years of history, through epic poems, the modern novel and one of the twentieth century's most famous film scripts. Great authors like Homer and Tolstoy show us aspects of reality invisible except through a literary lens, while fictional characters such as Achilles and Falstaff, Robert Jordan and Jack Aubrey, are not just larger than life; they are life's largeness-and this is why we seek them out. Although the Greeks knew that the lovers, wives and mothers of soldiers are the chief victims of battle, for the combatants, war is a masculine pursuit. Each of Coker's chapters explores what fiction tells us about war's appeal to young men and the way it makes- and breaks-them. The existential appeal of war too is perhaps best conveyed in fictional accounts, and these too are scrutinized by the author"--.

"An illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading"--Provided by publisher.

"Harold Bloom, named "The indispensible critic" by the New York Review of Books, returns with a definitive yet personal book on twelve American writers upon whose work he believes the American canon is built. While his references to American writers are wide-ranging, he focuses on twelve: Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Mark Twain, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, and Hart Crane, those writers whose works make up what he calls the American sublime. A book by our greatest literary critic writing on these great American writers will be a must-read for anyone interested in American literature"--.

A new exploration of the novel "The Great Gatsby," discussing what makes it great and why it endures.