The book clearly explains how to recognize symbols and patterns in literature, and it has sharpened my eye.

The title alone makes this book intriguing. What does it mean to read a book? That's something I've wondered especially when reading literature. Why did the author create these situations and characters? What did they want to say? I often want to understand the intent but end up moving on without knowing. This book helps satisfy that curiosity. All language carries meaning, and reading is an act of predicting outcomes around the author's subject while stimulating our imagination. Thanks to How

This book kindly explains, with examples from many works, how to read a text more deeply and richly than by following only the plot. (Since the author is an English literature scholar, all the examples are from British and American literature.) The author shows how to read symbols beneath the plot through Shakespeare, the Bible, fairy tales, and Greek mythology, and explains that even weather such as rain or snow—or the mention of a particular illness—can carry symbolic meaning. This is not a

It was easier than I expected, and I enjoyed reading it. How to Read Literature Like a Professor...what is that? I saw a blog post saying anyone who likes novels should read it, and when the revised and expanded edition came out, I bought it. The preface and first two pages were difficult, probably because I didn't know any of the example works. Since the author says he reads them with students, they must be famous works that appear in American textbooks. I recommend it if you're curious about

If you've usually read literature by empathizing, try looking for what comes next! The phrase 'like a professor' made me imagine something stiff, but I read with curiosity about what scholars do differently and hoping to find something new. Reading novels or plays used to exhaust me, probably because I immersed myself in the characters and empathized with so many feelings. I thought that was enough to enjoy literature. This book showed me there was more. Instead of the stuffy professor I

Would I have been more excited to read this if the title had been something like Reading Literature Like a Pro? Meeting the kind Professor Foster made me realize how biased I had been about professors. He has already traveled this road, but he doesn't show off or intimidate you. Instead, he builds anticipation for new discoveries and gives you the courage and practical tips to take one more step. I read the introduction most slowly. Maybe my own resistance and preconceptions were at work. I

When I was in middle and high school, assignments to read literary works from a time so far removed from my own made me yawn first. That habit stayed with me as I grew older. I'm glad this book helped me understand why: I was only an ordinary reader. Ordinary readers focus on plot and characters when reading a novel, but literature asks for more: memory, symbols, patterns. The author says that whenever he reads a new work, he asks all kinds of questions—“Where have I seen this character before?

In high school, I secretly had a crush on my literature teacher, so I worked really hard in literature class. It became my favorite class, and I sought out and read many Korean and foreign literary works beyond the ones in our textbooks. Especially when reading novels, I got absorbed in the characters and gradually realized how many different lives and kinds of people there are. Since high school, my experience with literature had mostly been the occasional novel borrowed from the library; I

For busy modern people who find it hard to finish even one book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor sounds difficult just from its title. I wondered whether we need to read literature like professors. My conclusion: it is like a veteran chef teaching cooking secrets to ordinary people so they, too, can enjoy delicious food. Before communication between novelists and readers breaks down completely, Professor Thomas Foster steps in to share techniques for finding hidden meanings in works. My