Review: How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form (2008) by Thomas C. Foster

If you read novels for leisure, can you find a more enjoyment from reading? Thomas C. Foster thinks so. His book takes you through the elements of a novel, a brief history, narrators or voices, style and authors.

I oriented myself using the early chapter on a potted history of novels. Novels, as we recognise them, started from 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Pamela' (and the first parody, 'Shamela'), became voluminous in the Victorian era due to serialization, took on stream of consciousness ideas in the early 20th century, were declared 'dead' in the late 60s, and were reborn soon after. While the history of the novel is incidental to the subject of reading, it often gives the reader some economic or social reason for the subsequent discussion about the stucture, subject and style of novel.

Foster's tone, as indicated by the blurb, is disarmingly light and chatty, but it continuously informs you of the benefits of analysing text as you read. There's some criticism that Foster overuses the same examples, such as 'Huckleberry Finn' and 'Ulysses', it is obvious that he loves those books and it is hard to imagine writing as enthusiastically about novels that you don't care as much about.

I found this a delightful book about the pleasures of reading.

5 out of 5 stars.