Reading Archives – The Oxford Student

The increasingly popular ebook sat on top of the traditional physical version

Ebooks: how the Digital Age transformed the way we read

17th April 202019th April 2020Katie Schutte

Image description: An Kindle on top of a regular book I’m not old enough to pull the whole ‘back-in-my-day-I-read-by-candlelight’, and I certainly can’t relate to the youngest generation of readers who grew up reading in the dark. That last bit I don’t mean figuratively: Kindle’s, iPad’s and other self-lit electronic devices have made it so […]

Don’t look back: why authors shouldn’t return to their old characters

18th November 201817th November 2018James Ashworth

Image Credit: Martin Pettitt. Description: the exterior of the Palace Theatre showing ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ ‘Don’t look back in anger’ is a classic by Oasis. And for me, not looking back is advice that should be given to authors everywhere. Recently, some of my favourites have decided to revisit worlds they left […]

Five underrated classics

13th June 201813th June 2018Juliet Garcia

1.Cane, Jean Toomer (1923) – Harlem Renaissance author Toomer beautifully interweaves lyric, prose and drama in this series of vignettes written about the cultural history and experiences of African Americans in the United States. These stories are often pervaded by nauseating violence, such as cruel ostracisation in “Becky” or sexual violence in the “Box Seat”, […]

The magic of children’s literature

27th May 2018Chloe Whitehead

Children’s fiction contains a Wonderland of possibilities: dragons, mermaids and animal croquet (partially replicated on Oxford’s quads in Trinity). From the enchanting halls of Hogwarts to the battered old tent in Horrid Henry’s back garden, we all have memories – hopefully endearing – of reading as a child. Yet it wasn’t until I arrived at […]

Books that Helped Me Through Freshers’ Week

11th October 2017Sree Ayyar

Dear Freshers, Mammoth reading lists govern the life of most Oxford students’ lives. They dictate your evening plans, your library adventures and your closest friends will inevitably be those whose reading lists are comparable to yours. However, I’m asking you right now to do the unthinkable – forget these all-powerful lists for a while, because […]

Reading List Discrimination

8th June 2016Anonymous

Of course there are much bigger problems in the world for feminism than reading lists. No one’s disputing that. But a lot of people cannot see that there is really any problem with reading lists. They argue that it’s important to study the best writers, and if those writers tend to be white and male, […]

Maud – A Preview

26th February 2016Ùna O'Sullivan

“Come into the garden, Maud, For the black bat, night, has flown, Come into the garden, Maud, I am here at the gate alone; And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad, And the musk of the rose is blown.” So goes an eerie stanza from Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘Maud’- a dark story of a crazed […]

A new way of reading

6th January 20157th January 2015Stephanie Kelley and India Morris

Have you ever felt a creeping sense of dread when reading a book, wondering if maybe you’re doing it the wrong way? Have you ever wondered if there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to read? Do you sometimes feel an itch to reach for a pen and scribble vigorously in the margins, but stop yourself, […]

Up from the ASHes

11th February 2013Eleanor Sharman

On Wednesday evening last week, I decided to do something brave. I went to a poetry reading. Attending poetry readings does inevitably feel brave (people are often very honest, and that can be unnerving), but that courage can pay off. This wasn’t just any reading: Wednesday, 6th February was the launch of the Oxford Poetry […]

Blues impressive in Reading FC defeat

17th January 201317th January 2013Alex Biggs

A goal with just minutes remaining denied the Blues a famous draw away at Reading FC U18s on Wednesday. Having fought back from the disappointment of conceding two early goals, Oxford could have nicked it themselves in the second-half, and were unfortunate to concede when Reading’s left-winger cut inside and curled a delightful shot from […]