The importance of wider reading

Exploring wider reading is an essential part of the preparing for A Level English Literature at AS and A2. Over the two years of study you will be given six set texts, three at AS and three at A2. The rest of your reading is up to you; there are plenty of suggestions on this website for texts that relate to your exam and you should also talk to teachers and other students and check out local libraries. You should aim to cover a range and breadth of texts, including poetry, prose and drama, as you must comment on all three genres in your exam.

The exam board stipulates that your reading should include:

• the three genres of prose, poetry and drama
• literature written by both men and women
• literature through time (from Chaucer to the
present day)
• some non-fiction texts

Although you should read a range of whole texts, you should also supplement your core reading with relevant extracts and shorter pieces of writing.

Studying extracts is an ideal way of developing your reading strategies; exposure to more
writers will increase your awareness of textual contrast and similarity, and encourage you to consider the effects of writers' choices of form, structure and language and increase your awareness of alternative viewpoints from writers and critics alike.