Something I’ve wanted to do for ages is an evening class in critical reading. The Oxford Uni Lifelong Learning course ‘Contemporary Critish Fiction’ sounds wonderful based on novels by McEwan, Mantel, Ishiguro and Zadie Smith, but at 10 hrs a week study over 10 weeks it’s more time than I can commit to while working full time during term time, and at £415 isn’t cheap either.
To my rescue comes the Galley Beggar Press with its ‘Critical Reading, Critical Writing‘ courses with two sets of dates running from January 2026.
6 books – one per month – and a two hour zoom discussion per book with Sam Jordison – chief Galley Beggar! The books to be discussed are:
- January: Wendy Erskine, The Benefactors
- February: Octavia Butler, Kindred
- March: Edna O’Brien, Country Girls
- April: Dorothy L Sayers, Gaudy Night
- May: Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
- June: Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad
I’ve only read the O’Brien, which I’ll happily revisit – and like the mix of the others. I signed up to the Class 2 set of dates. If you’re interested, places are limited.
I’m really quite excited to take it to the next level.
Ha, what a coincidence. Sam is currently my writing mentor – he’s GREAT. Kind, easy to talk to and very smart. I’ll be really interested to hear how the critical reading class goes – bet you’ll love it.
He always sounds lovely in the newsletters he and Ellie write, and he ran the ‘Not the Booker’ comp for the Guardian back in the day which was fun. I’ve supported Galley Beggar Press for some years now, so am looking forward to it.
I would be interested in what you want to achieve from this course….no diss, but sometimes having an objective can help you decide if a course is any good. “I want to read better” is an bjective
I hope to take my thinking about what I’m reading to the next level. While I do love our book group discussions, they’re not always very long or deep.
How wonderful, Annabel! Please do share what you learn as you go, if you feel like it.
Absolutely. These classes came just at the right time and I hope they’ll provide a bridge between book group and the Oxford course (which I’d still love to do once I retire).
Sounds great! I’d love to do it, the timings are wrong for me now but I’ll keep an eye out for future dates.
I have a real soft spot for OUDCE. I did their Foundation Cert in English and then as a result joined Oxford Uni as an undergraduate in English Lit & Language, which I absolutely loved. They were so supportive throughout the course and when I’d gone onto the BA. I highly recommend them once you have more time!
Definitely on my list for when I reduce my hrs or retire.
Very interesting, but still costly (I’m in the USA so trying to do the math). I may pick one of these and read it, but I will certainly be interested in your posts if you do the class and post about it.
The classes are at 1900 GMT. I’m lucky in that I own copies of three of the books already.
This sounds great, what a good idea.
What a fab idea! I always like the thought of taking up some kind of study, but the cost is always an issue and I don’t know where I’d fit it in!!
This will be an affordable stepping stone towards doing the longer course when I have time.
Time, energy, funds – I’m not really in short supply of any of these but it’s a question of priorities for me; and much as I’d be interested in such a course I really can’t do online classes by zoom. It’s one of the reasons why, when Covid came along, I stopped doing creative writing classes – luckily I’d just just qualified for my Certificate of Higher Education in Creative Writing from Aberystwyth before lockdown. But thanks for enthusing about this, good to know these courses are available!
I agree face-to-face is ideal, but many of my meetings at school are on zoom these days, so I’m pretty used to it.
How neat! And what an interesting set of books, four of which I’ve read. It will be interesting to hear what pointers you learn.
Yes, if the set of books hadn’t appealed, I’d have waited until the next set of classes.
I do hope you enjoy it, I did a critical reading course at Oxford but not the same one as the one you mention, and loved it. It’s great being made to actually think about what you’re reading!
Yes, I saw Oxford does lots of different variations on critical reading – but as I’m not really interested in the canon, I’d pick one dealing with contemporary texts.