Book Smart: Your Essential Reading List for Becoming a Literary Genius in 365 Days

by Jane Mallison

Book Overview

Jane Mallison is the former head of the English department at New York's prestigious Trinity School More than five million Americans belong to a book club and members are always looking for new ideas... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071482717
• ISBN13: 9780071482714
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

This is a literary guide to be employed every day of a single year

Not reading the books that have endured in their reputation as literary gems for generation after generation of readers is akin to starving in the midst of an orchard of ripe, pluckable fruit. Jane Mallison is a self-acknowledged passionate and life-long reader of books. She was head of the New York Trinity School English Department from 1982 to 2004 and therefore employs a very special experience-based expertise in "Book Smart: Your Essential Reading List For Becoming A Literary Genius In 365 Days". This is a literary guide to be employed every day of a single year, at the end of which the reader will benefit from a month-by-month plan involving 120 of the most compelling books of our universal literary heritage. Presented on a January through December calendar, the suggested titles are organized thematically, ranging from titles that are 'Towering Works to Read in Translation' from Beowulf to The Aeneid; to 'Some Notable Biographies' from Flaubert's Parrot to "The Life and Times of Cotton Mather; to 'Winners of Major Awards' from Herzog to All the King's Men. The authors of these 120 recommended literary works range from Charlotte Bronte, Sophocles, Thomas Hardy, and Benjamin Franklin, to Joseph Conrad, Evelyn Waugh, James Thurber, and Voltaire. Each title is presented with a succinct description that includes historical notes, highlights on key themes and characters. Of special note is the cogent advice on how to approach reading. Ideal as a curriculum guide for highschool and college level English Literature curriculums, "Book Smart" is especially recommended for individual readers wishing to acquire a basic literary literacy. Especially since every single recommended title can be acquired for reading through a local public library, either directly or through their community library's free InterLibrary Loan System.

Witty, Graceful Erudition

This book is the real thing. The author's choices are solidly based and could well form the basis of fourteen to twenty-one year old students' literary education. But two other factors are very much present in this book and provide its true worth--Mallison clearly loves literature and she writes about her choices with remarkable brevity and wit. I do not remember such a graceful combination present in the myriad of Great Books and Great Literature guides published over the past forty years. Much needed and highly recommended.