Will ‘How to Read Novels like a Professor’ add to your reading?

I have loved reading ever since I can remember. As an introverted child and then an adult, reading provides a natural escape to alternate worlds. But it’s not just what’s on the pages, every excellent book is a puzzle looking to be solved. I am always in search or what’s between the lines, why the author made these plot choices, why the characters behave in a certain way and why write this story at all.

For me, it’s never been possible to truly enjoy any piece of writing without looking into a little deeper. Good critical analysis also requires training and not all of us are students of literature — and we don’t need to be. Books like How to Read Novels like a Professor exist to help the eager readers looking to get more of the pages.

Thomas Foster writes in a completely engaging style, not once sounding like a professor or a textbook! I picked up quite a few tricks on reading — elements to recognize as you read, relationship of the writer and reader, the influences on a narrative, the changes in the novel’s form in the last three to four hundred years. Foster shares several opinions on how the novel form has developed. He is not overly approving of Victorian novels’ tidy endings. At a point I found myself quite defensive of Charles Dickens and his long serialized novels and convenient endings.

“Every novel is brand-new. It’s never been written before in the history of the world. At the same time, it’s merely the latest in a long line of narratives — not just novels, but narratives generally — since humans began telling stories to themselves and each other.”
― Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World’s Favorite Literary Form

I agree experimentation on narrative style adds a little something to a novel. I increasingly reach for novels where the form itself requires untangling. If you think about it, each story is a rehash of something you have read before. The beauty lies in the telling. Novels are all about presentation. That is the reason I loved David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red. Or why I am currently engrossed If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler . It’s challenging and fun to keep up with writers whose narratives surprise you every few pages.

In How To Read…, Foster makes innumerable references to seminal pieces of literature, creating a list of must-reads for any aspiring writer. We could also name this book as ‘How To Write A Novel’ and it would still make sense. I am no novelist-in-waiting, so for me the joy was to explore the different aspects of writing and form interpretations that Foster takes us through.

How To Read.. is a great reading asset for anyone looking to be a more involved reader, a better writer or just wanting to expand their knowledge of literary trivia.

“When it’s over, we may feel wooed, adored, appreciated, or abused, but it will have been an affair to remember.”
― Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World’s Favorite Literary Form

In the end Foster’s conclusion is clear — there is no right way or wrong way to read the book. For every reader, it’s always going to be a unique personal experience whether they know how to read like a professor or not.

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