Reading Pathways

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Posted by
Jeff
May 8, 2012
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Getting Started with Toni Morrison: A Reading Pathway

This post is part of our Toni Morrison Reading Day: a celebration of one of our favorite authors on the occasion of her new novel, Home. Check out the rest right here.

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The only living American with a little thing we like to call The Nobel Prize for Literature, Toni Morrison is not only one of the most important novelists of our time, but also one of the most difficult. While Beloved and Song of Solomon are her most famous novels, I don’t think that’s where I would start.

Here’s my suggested beginner’s course in Toni Morrison, with reading Beloved as the goal:

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Posted by
Jeff
March 15, 2012
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READING PATHWAYS: Philip Roth, Volume I: The Social Novels

I’m cheating with this one. To my mind, there are two main thoroughfares through Roth’s work: the big social novels and the experimental novels. And rather than do the right, hard thing of charting a course that integrates both of them, I am splitting them up. So I also have the meta-level pathway to suggest: if you are new to Roth, start with the social novels, then move to the more experimental stuff.

Here is my recommended pathway for the social novels:

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“Goodbye, Columbus” from Goodbye, Columbus (1959)

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Posted by
Greg Zimmerman
March 6, 2012
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Reading Pathways: Zadie Smith

For whatever reason, Zadie Smith is a lightning rod for sanctimony. She gets picked on so much more than most writers and certainly a lot more than is deserved.

But with the news last week that, in September, Smith will publish her first novel in seven years — titled NW — now’s a great time to discover her past work and decide for yourself whether the criticism is warranted. Here’s a hint: It’s not. Smith is one of my favorite writers, so here’s hoping the new novel will muzzle her critics once and for all!

Start with On Beauty

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Posted by
dr b
March 5, 2012
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Reading Pathways: Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood. Maggie. Companion of the Order of Canada. Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Bad-ass bitch of Canadian letters. Margaret Atwood.

I have been finger-tied putting together this Reading Pathway about Margaret Atwood, because from my position as a (a) Canadian (b) feminist (c) academic working in (d) Canadian Literature, Maggie is my personal lord and saviour. The right answer to “what should I read by Margaret Atwood?” is EVERYTHING. RIGHT NOW. DO IT. I recognize that this is not at all helpful, but it has kept me all confused about how to approach the task of recommending a way into the enormous and diverse Atwood oeuvre.

Because that’s the thing: it’s maddeningly diverse. There’s speculative fiction and historical fiction, there’s poetry and non-fiction prose, there’s treatise on the history of Canadian Literature and some of the most exquisite fiction you will ever encounter. 13 novels, 9 short story collections, 20 poetry collections, and 10 works of non-fiction. And it’s pretty much all awesome. So where do we start?

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Posted by
Jennifer Paull
February 8, 2012
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READING PATHWAYS: David Mitchell

Posted by
Amanda Nelson
January 18, 2012
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READING PATHWAYS: Jane Austen

Reading Pathways is a regular Book Riot feature in which we suggest a three-book reading sequence for becoming acquainted with certain authors. Check out previous entries on Toni Morrison, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, and others.

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Jane Austen wrote possibly the best, most biting and entertaining social commentary of the English middle and upper classes that exists in the literary canon. She also created some of the most iconic couples in literature. If you’ve never read Austen, this is the order I would suggest:

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Posted by
Jeff
December 20, 2011
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READING PATHWAYS: Colson Whitehead

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There are many ways in which being a book nerd is different than being a rock nerd, but this is the most significant; book nerds love it when someone they were in on early becomes more widely known. For some reason, reading taste is validated by this where music taste is somehow threatened by it. (I feel a future post burbling…)

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Posted by
Greg Zimmerman
December 15, 2011
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