How I Read Classics!- Some Handy Tips

Hello readers!

Hope you had a good and relaxing weekend wherever you are in the world. I am currently at 65 subscribers as I type this post and this blog has only been active for a few weeks so a big thank you to everyone who have subscribed and are following my classics journey! I really appreciate it ❤

Today’s post is about how I read classic books and the things that helped me when it came to reading and writing about them for GCSE coursework a few years ago. I am returning to study English Literature as one of the main subjects on my Access course in the autumn so some of the old things I used to do in school, I will be continuing with for College and hopefully University.

The book in this picture is An Inspector Calls by J.B Priestley and the particular edition is the Penguin Modern Classics one which comes with a couple of other plays in the book as well but I haven’t read them (I need to though) since I enjoyed An Inspector Calls when I read it for GCSE.

I will be sharing five tips on how to read and analyse classics, hope at least one of these tips help and don’t forget to share your own tips in the comments section of this post! So, let’s go!

1, Try and get an annotated edition of a classics book so that you get a feel for the layout on how the story and characters are analysed. Normally, the notes are either bullet-pointed or short paragraphs.

2, Write character factfiles for each character listing their full name, age, relation to the main character and their traits such as being a heavy smoker for example. You can then use these notes for comparing characters should that question come up on an exam paper. Style the factfiles like a card.

3, Use highlighters, different colours for different purposes. I use neon pink for example if a new character is mentioned and neon green for any plot twists or interesting conversations. Adding in quotes will get you extra marks in exams.

4, Talk about the book with other people such as students in your class or other book bloggers. Sharing opinions and helping each other with analysing shows that you are willing to discuss your views. Don’t plagiarize notes but do check to see if you are correct and if others agree.

5, I like writing what happens chapter by chapter in bullet points and then once I’ve finished with that, I pick out the events that stick out the most and underline them with a pencil so I know which parts to talk about my essay.

Hope these little tips help! Let me know what posts you would like to see here on my Classics blog. Don’t forget to follow me across all of my social medias:

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Thanks so much for reading, see you all soon!

Alice.