check the syllabus
I love the first day of school.
Also known as syllabus day, professors go over the course syllabus, and students typically hope they won’t have to do real work.
I’ve now been on both sides of that, and I spent a lot of time before the spring semester putting together my first class syllabus. But even before that official experience, I have often thought of my general approach to reading in terms of a syllabus.
I’ve never formally made a document, though I’ve certainly thought about it. Instead, how I decide what books to read next, or which books to read close together, resembles how I would decide a reading list for a class.
A huge and obvious example is books that relate to my Alice Dunnigan book. I have three full shelves, plus many library books borrowed and returned, that fall under this category. This includes books that feature Alice Dunnigan directly, are about a topic (like history of the Black press) or time period (like Truman’s presidency) that relate to her, or are written in a form that is similar to my book. Within this broad category, I could make dozens more specific reading lists.
From this year’s reading so far, I can easily make two syllabi. The first would be a class all about The New Yorker, the magazine founded in 1925. After seeing it recommended on the internet, I placed The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker by Amy Reading on hold at the Lexington Public Library. Once it became available, I checked it out, read it and loved it.
(Side note: Checking out books from the library introduces actual deadlines into your syllabus-esque reading!)
Having becoming immersed in the world of The New Yorker, I remembered that I owned several books about and related to the magazine that I hadn’t yet read, so I moved those up on my to-be-read list. In the next month, I read:
An Editor’s Burial, edited by David Brendel: This collection of pieces from The New Yorker inspired Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch.
About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made by Ben Yagoda: Thrifted and gifted to me by a friend many years ago, this book was an in-depth history of the magazine.
Essays of E.B. White: Nearly every essay in this collection was originally published by The New Yorker, and E.B. White was the second husband of Katharine White. Both had a huge impact on The New Yorker’s development and success. Another reason I read this book when I did: I purchased this at a local bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, two years ago while there for the ACE conference. I read this while in Milwaukee for the ACE conference this year. I love a thematic or temporal connection!
My current syllabus is about Mark Twain—and I still have a lot of work to do! I am nearing the end of the 1,000-page Mark Twain by Ron Chernow, which was technically due back to the library today. I am hoping to finish it tonight and drop it off at the library tomorrow morning.
Since I’m reading nonfiction about Twain, I decided to pair it with related fiction:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: I haven’t read this since junior year of high school, so it’s due for a reread. Though I love school, I won’t miss taking an AP English book quiz after reading.
James by Percival Everett: This is a retelling of the novel, focused on Huck’s companion Jim, an enslaved man. This book won all kinds of awards in the last year, and I’m looking forward to reading it.
Going in another direction, I am also thinking of reading an owned-but-still-unread biography about Teddy Roosevelt soon, since it’s an overlapping time period with Twain.
Some people blame school syllabi for ruining their desire to read in their spare time, and I do understand that. But for me, it’s a fun way to organize and connect the many books that I read and hope to read.
Now, back to Mr. Samuel Clemens.