The Skeptic’s Guide to Great Books by Grant L. Voth is a 2011 Great Course presentation.

This The Great Courses class consists of twelve thirty- minute lectures which suggests alternatives for those who might struggle with literary canons, but would like to read something comparable, but a little less dense, and more manageable for them.

The first part sticks to substitutions for specific hallowed literary canons, such as "War and Peace", while the second half explores more contemporary literature that should perhaps be on a list of great books because they offer us many of the same benefits as reading the classic canons.

The twelve books explored are as follows:

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Death of an Expert Witness by P.D. James

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold- John le Carre

Watchmen- by Alan Moore

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A long while back, I received a recommendation to try out The Great Courses, which I accepted, and have been a fan ever since.

When I stumbled across this series of lectures, I was looking for another course on grammar. I was struck by the title of the series- and after reading the description I immediately checked it out instead.

Despite the impression the title might give, the series does not question or dispute any of the great books or Harvard literary canons. However, the professor offers book suggestions to readers, which will cover the same basic themes, but are shorter, and easier to retain.

The author gives a breakdown of each book, exploring the main themes and similarities between it and a comparable literary canon, or classic.

I loved the way the professor approached the lectures, his tone and occasional humor. I also appreciated that he realizes some books that are considered literary greats are hard for many people to complete, much less digest, and that guilt for not having read them, is not necessary. One does not have to read Dickens in a continuous loop to get the same literary quality in a story.

So, if you are looking to read more literary novels, but find the canons daunting- this lecture will point you in the direction of some nice substitutions that will assuage any guilt for not reading more literary novels.

Plus, the professor makes it clear that there are many great books out there that explore important themes and gives us a glimpse of life from many different perspectives, but does not fall into the literary category.

The second half of this lecture proves that, and you can bet that for once I was the one with a smug feeling when the author included a spy novel, a graphic novel, and a mystery novel on the list.

Overall, this is an interesting series of lectures, that not only introduces readers to important books outside of literary canons, it also promotes the joy of reading. One can still feel a sense of accomplishment at having read something meaningful and thought provoking without feeling overwhelmed.

I enjoyed many aspects of this course, and felt a magnitude of validation. It has inspired me to venture outside my comfort zone a little more often, without the fear of feeling as though I will be completely of my element.

*One minor drawback may be that some spoilers are unavoidable- but the author did go to great lengths to prevent that in most instances.

4 stars ( )

Great intro to literature of all types. ( )