Tag: reading
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Childhood Reading, or, My Life in Books
I recently read Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan. I, like Mangan, spent most of my childhood reading (though unlike her I did go outside sometimes) and I very much enjoyed being reminded of some wonderful books I had forgotten, especially as my son is reaching the age where he is asking for…
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In praise of libraries
I’ve always had a very close relationship with libraries. When I was small (probably six or seven) my parents left me in the library, each thinking I was with the other. I was quite happy: the librarians knew me and kept an eye on me, and I sat and read until my horrified parents returned…
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Women Reading
I have a particular fondness for paintings of women reading. I suppose this is because I spend so much time reading – and I like images that have a woman, alone, comfortable, engrossed in a book, ignoring whatever is going on around her (including the artist painting her). I love this 1933 painting by Henry…
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The Uses of Literacy
The recent death of Richard Hoggart, the instigator of cultural studies and earnest prober of social tendencies (also a professor at the University of Birmingham and founder of their Centre for Cultural Studies) inspired me to read his most famous book, The Uses of Literacy. Sometimes accused of riding on the coat-tails of the Leavises,…
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Going back in time
I am very much a nineteenth-century specialist, and although I have read and studied fairly widely in other periods, it is with the Victorians that I feel most comfortable. However, my research interests have been gradually creeping backwards with my work on Gothic, and I am now beginning a new project which places me firmly…
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Booker Prize Longlist
I am quite excited to read about the longlist of the 2012 Man Booker Prize. While I haven’t read any of the books (yes, I know – but I am trying to finish writing a book, and prepare for next term’s teaching), several of them sound excellent and I can’t wait to start reading. The…
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Subversive Reading
The excellent Birmingham Book Festival commissioned the philosopher A C Grayling to give a lecture at the festival this year, entitled “The Good Reader and the World”. This is in part a tribute to the National Year of Reading, which encourages the promotion of literacy for children and enjoyment of reading for everyone. In line…
Dr Serena Trowbridge 