This week, I’m wrapping up my season of “Brit Lit” by looking back at an ambitious reading project built around a trip through England. My goal was to arrive with some understanding of English history, a feel for the landscape and literature of northern England, and a grounding in English Christianity.
Some choices were spectacular: Bede and Bijan Omrani became invaluable guides to the places we visited, while Tom Jones, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Shakespeare’s history plays brought the English countryside and its past vividly to life. Other choices taught me something about building a reading list itself: narrow the focus, be realistic about time, leave room for discoveries, and don’t let someone else’s recommendation distract from your purpose.
Was the whole project a little pretentious? Probably. But it also gave me something I rarely make enough room for before a trip: anticipation. Reading before I traveled meant seeing England through two sets of eyes—mine and those of Bede, Fielding, Brontë, and Shakespeare. Next time, though? Three books maximum.
BOOKS IN THIS EPISODE
Venerable Bede — An Ecclesiastical History of the English People
King Alfred the Great — The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (Note--I really didn't like this edition at all but go ahead and check it out if you want)
The 1662 Book of Common Prayer — especially the Psalter
Bijan Omrani — God Is an Englishman
Henry Fielding — The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Anne Brontë — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Helene Hanff — Q’s Legacy
Helene Hanff — 84, Charing Cross Road
James Herriot — All Creatures Great and Small
William Shakespeare — Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; Henry V
Antony Sher — Year of the Fat Knight
Dan Jones — Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England’s Greatest Warrior King
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