A-Level to Final Year: Which Book Comes Out on Top?

Tenielle
Jul 29, 2021
6 min read

I did it - I made it to the end of the final year of my undergraduate degree! I'll be continuing my studies in MA Magazine Journalism in September, but my time as an English Literature student has finally come to an end. It's safe to say that I have read MANY books over the past few years. Some of them I have loved, some of them not so much... but of all the books I have studied, which comes out on top?

A-Level

When I first decided to take A-Level English Literature, I didn't intend to study it at university. I wanted to do Journalism and it made sense to me to use A-Level English Literature as a stepping stone.

Worst-rated - The Merchant's Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer

Potentially an unpopular opinion, but I cannot stand medieval literature. Perhaps it's specifically Chaucer that I don't like. Besides the incredibly weird plot involving a marriage between an elderly man and a woman not even in her 20s yet, medieval English will never be my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, it gets easier to read after a while but I didn't enjoy the fact that the sentences don't flow easily when read. I can happily say that this was the only time that I studied Chaucer.

Best-rated - Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

If you know me, you know that this novel has a very special place in my heart. When I was told we were studying the Gothic in A-Levels, I was far from excited. It didn't appeal to me, it seemed so far from my interests and I thought I wouldn't enjoy it. And yet, Frankenstein ended up being the reason I knew I wanted to study English Literature at university. This was the first time I had experienced that 'eureka!' moment and I found the joy that so many people do in analysing literature. The novel has a very complex, multi-narrated plot. At first, I didn't get it and I thought it was boring. But when I started to unpack it, I realised just how genius it is. There are so many underlying themes from nature vs nurture, the cult of domesticity, science vs religion, female agency and so much more. For me, Frankenstein is one of the best novels you could study because there is so much to get your teeth into!

First Year

First Year felt overwhelming. You become so used to having close guidance in Sixth Form that suddenly being told you can approach an essay in whatever way you like seems daunting. You have to figure it out by yourself and find your own writing style. But that's exactly what First Year is about; establishing those foundations.

Worst-rated - The Psychopathology of Everyday Life - Sigmund Freud

I couldn't even tell you what this book is about if I tried. I think it's a no-brainer that anything Freud is deeply complex and I am the first to put my hands up and say that I had no idea what was going on. Having said that, I did find it interesting to delve into psychology because it's something I had never done before in school. This book was for a module titled 'Ways of Reading' and was to draw on the idea of psychoanalysis. As much as I enjoyed studying something a bit different, it remains one of my least favourites over the years.

Best-rated - The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins

This book was also studied on the 'Ways of Reading' module and I earned my first ever First Class grade in English Literature writing on it. This detective novel was written in 1868 and follows an investigation into a cursed Hindu diamond being stolen by a British officer. The purpose of studying this novel surrounded the representation of Orientalism in literature. I was shocked to find such stereotypical and inaccurate depictions of the Eastern world by the Western world. Most prominently, the Eastern world was shown to be backward, but it is important to remember this book was written around the time the British Empire in India was being formalised and so this representation of the East aligns with contemporary views. The story itself is engaging and the mystery of the missing stone keeps you guessing as to what will happen next. I remember not being able to put this book down!

Second Year

By the time Second Year came round, I felt as though I had settled into life at university and had figured out my style of writing and studying. This year turned out to be my favourite module-wise because I loved so many of the books I studied.

Worst-rated - Coriolanus, William Shakespeare

I'm not one to give Shakespeare a bad review very easily, but Coriolanus has been my least favourite play of his that I have studied. It has nothing to do with the story itself necessarily, but the plot is so complex with so many characters that I struggled to keep track of what was going on. This play falls into a mixed genre of history and tragedy, so for what it's worth the story is relatively interesting. I think I'll definitely stick with the comedies though.

Best-rated - What We Lose, Zinzi Clemmons

I adored this book for the module 'Writing Mourning'. You can read more about my thoughts on it in my previous blog post My Top 3 Reads of Second Year. I'm not sure whether it's my shared South African background with the protagonist or just the unusual form of the book itself, but I was really drawn to this novel. I read it one sitting, which speaks enough for itself. It's blunt, brutal, and doesn't sugar-coat the truth about mourning the loss of a parent, and that's exactly what made it addictive. Just the raw truth of a mourner. My love for this book was reflected with an achievement of 83% in my essay - something I was extremely proud of because I hadn't written on a modern text before!

Third Year

It's crazy how quickly three years of university flies by. I do feel sad that I have officially finished my time as a literature student, but I am so proud of how far I have come. I have finessed my analytical and writing skills this year and the hard work has definitely paid off. Although some of the modules this year weren't in my top favourites, I came across a few books that I ended up loving!

Worst-rated - Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

I know for a fact that a lot of people will disagree with me on this one, but Wuthering Heights is my least favourite Brontë novel. I had studied it during Sixth Form for an Extended Project Qualification and instantly didn't get on with it. I just found the plot a bit dry and the language tiresome to read. I think it had potential because after all it is a classic love story with plot twists and Gothic motifs, but how it was written just lowered the bar for me. I perhaps had such high expectations after reading Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey by Emily's sisters Charlotte and Anne because those are timeless classics. I tried giving Wuthering Heights a second chance this year in the module 'Gothic Fiction: The Victorians', but it just isn't the book for me.

Best-rated - The Witlings, Frances Burney

I had never heard of Frances Burney until I took this module about the Bluestockings, but that's kind of the point - they are a group of forgotten women writers and philosophers. Burney in particular came from a middle-class background and was involved in many literary circles, but the father figures in her life prevented her from ever making a career out of playwriting. The Witlings is a staged comedy inspired by the women and members of the Bluestockings literary club. Burney produced a hilarious parody of these figures in a play where not much happens. That's what I loved about it; all the humour was in the language and only a few actions on stage rather than a long and busy plot. It's a shame that the play wasn't performed until the 1990s, despite being written in 1779, but I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to be introduced to it!

The Top Four: Which Book Wins?

So I have chosen my top four, but how do they rank between each other?

4th: The Moonstone

3rd: The Witlings

2nd: Frankenstein

1st: What We Lose

It's an easy answer: What We Lose comes out as the winner. It's was a breath of fresh air being able to study more modern literature, and how it was written and formatted had me hooked.

Of course, I still love the other three (and many more books I didn't mention!). I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to study such amazing and renowned texts throughout my undergraduate years. I will miss studying English Literature, but as a bookworm analysing texts never truly ends... ;)