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A Level English Literature

31 replies

lemonsorbet1 · 12/07/2020 13:46

Hello. I’d be very grateful for thoughts from any teachers of English Literature A Level or parents of those of who have recently studied it. Dd has chosen A Level English Literature as one of her subjects next year. She really enjoyed English Lit GCSE (particularly the plays and poetry) and did well in the assessments and class work. Hopefully she should receive a decent grade in August. She’s keen to do A Level but I am concerned that she doesn’t do much ‘reading around’ the subject. Clearly A Level is a huge step up and she is aware she will have to do much more than just read the set texts. So, in order to start this process, which books would you recommend she read (or listen to on audible) before the start of the course? Exam board is Edexcel. Thank you for any suggestions.

OP posts:
clary · 12/07/2020 14:18

Can't do any harm to read the set texts surely. What Shakespeare? Find some film versions and watch those?

Just asked DD and she says for sure read the actual texts; also if she is doing a Shakespeare tragedy, read other tragedies, ditto for a comedy.

lemonsorbet1 · 12/07/2020 14:14

Thank you Serenity, reading list would be great and that’s a great idea about book then film. I guess I was looking for ideas of things a widely read student should be reading rather than just what’s on the spec. But I guess at this stage, it’s about getting back in to reading having done nothing for months! Thank you all.

OP posts:
SerenityNowwwww · 12/07/2020 14:09

I’d recommend she ploughs through a variety of books to keep her ‘reading’ up. Also for fun - read a book then watch a good film version and see what was changed/was it better - pick it apart.

SerenityNowwwww · 12/07/2020 14:08

Has the school sent a reading list? We have one - I’ll send a copy of you are interested. Lots of good stuff on there.

lemonsorbet1 · 12/07/2020 14:05

Thank you. She’d study A Streetcar Named Desire, A Thousand Splendid Suns etc so we’re starting with other books by the same authors. Would you recommend reading the set texts before she starts as well as others by the same authors? I suppose I didn’t want her to go too early on the set texts themselves as they’ll be studying them for a while.

OP posts:
clary · 12/07/2020 13:58

I would look at the spec and read the books on there. Can you find out which books they study? For example if they do Handmaids Tale, could she read other work by Margaret Atwood?

Dd did eng lit. One thing she had to do (different board) was a special piece on a book of her choice - she looked at female characters in Donna Tartt's Secret History. What might inspire your Dd?

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