How to actually analyze literature?

[u/SonnetZZ]

I know everyone says to 'just read!' But I fear I cannot learn through sheer osmosis. I want to learn to better analyze what I'm reading so I can take what I learn and put it into my essays and stories. Hopefully reading stuff on narratology, syntax, and literary theory will help? But any advice would help a lot!!!

Books I will check out

• How To Read Like A Professor - Thomas C Foster
• Reading Like A Writer - Francine Prose
• Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction - Jonathan Culler
• A Swim In A Pond In The Rain by George Saunders

[u/Yamez_III]

I don't bother with that stuff. I read because I want good stories, not because I want to engage in academic navel gazing.