Book 27 - The Well-Educated Mind by Bauer

The Well-Educated Mind by Bauer is designed to assist adults in reading and understanding the great literary works of fiction, autobiography, history, drama, and poetry.  She starts with the basics of setting aside time to read; keeping a journal of notes, summaries, questions, and responses; and laying out a basic plan to work through each book for understanding.  From chapter 5 to the end, each chapter tackles one specific genre of literature and gives a brief history of that genre from its beginnings to the present.  This is followed by a discussion of how to evaluate the book in three increasing complex levels of analysis:  grammar (understanding the basics of what is being said), logic (determining the overall message of the work), and rhetoric (evaluating the implications of the author's ideas).  This is followed by an annotated reading list in chronological order of suggested books to read.

I would say overall this makes an excellent introduction into reading great literary works.  As with any lists, there are some books I consider more important, some I will probably skip, and a few that I will probably add to the list.  The introductory material is excellent as are the chapters on genre.  I thought the poetry chapter was not as well developed as the other genres, but that may just be because the variation and complexity of that genre is extremely difficult to summarize within the confines of a single chapter.  Still, overall I enjoyed the book very much and will be using it in the upcoming year with my high school student as we begin our study of the Great Books.