
The Art of Reading
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3 months free
Buy for $33.90
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Narrated by:
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Timothy Spurgin
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 CoursesListeners also enjoyed...




















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Excellent course on artful reading
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Endurance
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Excellent and entertaining
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Understanding the craft of writing as a reader
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Long but worth it
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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.
Practical for Readers and Writers
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Interesting, insightful, really great course.
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Also, I was puzzled at the prof's topic of "metanovels," novels about novels. Good, I thought, because there are a LOT of novels and short stories about writing, or books, or somebody stealing another person's writings, and I like thrillers with that topic. But it turned out to be a lecture on some wildly experimental fiction that sounded to me like "magical realism," that school of writing which bitter British writers say is simply fantasy by writers who happen to live in South America. However, I figure a lit prof is inevitably going to drag in some books nobody actually reads and short the popular ones: it's inevitable. He did NOT drag in Ahab and That Hated Whale, but he did have a good general lecture on descriptions, short or long.
Quick and light lecture series, I recommend it. I'm going to see if he's done any others.
Deepens my reading
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Insightful and fun
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Unfortunately, the narrator is so enthusiastic and driven that a serious listening attitude was not always applicable and at times I found myself unexpectedly giggling at best, squeaking audibly with delight at worst. How I would have loved to be in this professor's class room!
The lectures are well organized and clear, the narrator keeps a nice pace and is very easy to understand.
Additionally, through these lectures I have discovered some intriguing new titles to try my new found expert reading skills on.
Very informative and unexpectedly funny
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