English Literature

A fond interest of mine that has blossomed over the past few years is English Literature; everything about the topic triggers an inquisitive side of me and raises hundreds of questions in regards to analysing an extract of text due to the purposes of specific words that are at the reader’s mercy to be interpreted in however they wish.

 It was an English teacher of mine that sparked an interest in the subject as she lent me books that she imagined to be personalised to my taste, at the time I was considerably careless in terms of what I read due to me being a ‘newbie’ to Eng Lang so I read books like ‘Starter For 10’ and ‘One Day’ both by David Nicholls (both amazingly written books for the lovers of a good romance novel). 

This genre of book intrigued me and lead me to venture out into other genres that possessed a little more depth in terms of how I was able to interoperate obscure hidden meanings behind phrases that as first glance look incredibly meaningless and this genre is ‘horror’ not just the fiction stuff but the non-fiction reads that are analytical pieces in themselves like books that discuss real life cold case murder stories. 

This may seem considerably dark and somewhat morbid but the ability to unravel hidden intentional meanings created by the author through the use of metaphors allow the reader to feel like they’re reading a completely different book from what’s just on the page, the phrase ‘read between the lines’ most certainly applies here when an English Literature enthusiast like myself is reading any kind of text.




Since finding my calling in terms of reading genres I've persuaded myself to take on popular reads like ‘The Fault In Our Stars’, this book really did prove to be a compelling piece that I finished in just under 2 days last summer because of the intricate storyline that had a continuous theme of ‘star crossed lovers’, and the constant questions with regards to the status of the relationship between Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters that incorporates unconventional real life scenarios like complications cancer can have on a young and blossoming relationship.

 This is a totally real situation and why it’s appealing to me as I don't enjoy reading unrealistic love stories that are completely unrelatable to as I believe it’s important to be able to make a connection with the plot in order to enjoy it thoroughly and be able to make complex connections that only fuel the addiction to reading books.


The most current reads of mine have been the hunger games trilogy, I have to admit I watched Hunger Games and wasn't compelled to read the book but after I watched Catching Fire the relationships between characters had deepened and grown to be more than simplistic storylines, as created in the first film as a movie is far too short to be able to create links to the characters, hence why it was the second film that intrigued me to read the books as it was from this point that I was able to make subtle connections from the second film that at times referenced the first film and extended the suggested ideas causing the tension and anticipation to build. 

As a result of this I've read all 3 books and now can't wait for Mockingjay part 1 and 2 as the relationships turn into something deeper than traditional storyline characters because Mocking Jay isn't just a continuation of Catching Fire but it involves both books and this is a refreshing twist in terms of a book series as whilst reading it the reader has to make conscious connections throughout all of the previous books to leave aspects of the story to be decided by the reader but it all ties in together in the end despite personally thinking it ended abruptly it is an amazing read never the less.  

(I just have to mention that I've heard about a prequel to the book series and if this is true I have to say I cannot wait to see in what fashion she writes the book as obviously this doesn't necessarily mean the original cast will be written in but I can't help but think how she will maintain such strong connections she’s so strategically and intricately created!)





To conclude my love of books influenced the qualifications I took during secondary education as I completed a Literature course and my experience with this compelled me to continue the same subject in 6th form at a Grammar school that I’m due to start this September so I’ve been reading as much material as I can in anticipation for the start of the course!

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