Robert DiYanni

"You Are What You Read: A Practical Guide to Reading Well" is a book written by Robert DiYanni, an expert in language and literature. The book is intended to help readers improve their reading skills and develop a deeper understanding of literature.

DiYanni begins by discussing the importance of reading and how it can enrich our lives. He then provides practical tips for how to read effectively, such as taking notes, annotating texts, and asking questions while reading. He also discusses different types of literature, including poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and provides guidance on how to approach each type of text.

Throughout the book, DiYanni emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and analysis in reading. He encourages readers to think deeply about the texts they read, to consider different interpretations and perspectives, and to develop their own unique understanding of the author's message.

Overall, "You Are What You Read" is a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their reading skills and develop a deeper appreciation for literature.
Certainly! "You Are What You Read" is divided into three main sections: "Reading Well," "Reading Poetry," and "Reading Fiction and Nonfiction." Each section provides readers with specific strategies for approaching and analyzing different types of texts.

In the first section, "Reading Well," DiYanni discusses the importance of active reading and provides tips for how to approach texts with a critical eye. He encourages readers to engage with the text by asking questions, making connections, and taking notes. He also provides guidance on how to identify important themes and ideas in a text, and how to evaluate the author's message.

In the second section, "Reading Poetry," DiYanni provides readers with a framework for understanding and analyzing poetry. He discusses the different elements of poetry, such as rhyme, meter, and imagery, and provides examples of how these elements can be used to convey meaning. He also provides guidance on how to read poetry aloud and how to interpret the emotions and ideas that are conveyed through a poem.

In the third section, "Reading Fiction and Nonfiction," DiYanni provides readers with strategies for analyzing and interpreting different types of prose texts. He discusses the different genres of fiction and nonfiction and provides guidance on how to approach each genre. He also provides tips for how to identify key themes and ideas in a text and how to evaluate the author's message.

Throughout the book, DiYanni emphasizes the importance of developing one's own unique understanding of a text. He encourages readers to think critically about the texts they read, to evaluate different interpretations and perspectives, and to develop their own informed opinions.… (mer)

In the two years I've been teaching essay writing to high school students, my personal volumes of essays have sprouted a garden of post-it strips and my copier has worked overtime. I usually avoid books with "great" in the title (except for Great Expectations, that is), but for some reason, I picked up One Hundred Great Essays, edited by Robert Diyanni. Reading in the preface that there are two other volumes with equally "great" names (Fifty Great Essays and Twenty-Five Great Essays), I was not encouraged. However, one look at the table of contents convinced me that this book truly offered a one-stop shopping experience for essay readers and writers. While the book's introduction is long-winded and by no means an example of great writing (especially the page that rambles on about what good writing is and starts each of six paragraphs with the phrase "Good writing is..."), the essays selected for this volume made me forgive its first 29 pages: two drafts of Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, Plato, Anna Quindlen, Susan Sontag, EB White, Sigmund Freud, Ralph Ellison, Henry David Thoreau ... 92 more. If nothing else, this books exemplifies what a robust and flexible form the essay truly is. As with short stories and poems, the compactness of the essay's size demands a precision in language. But while we will permit short stories and poems to use literary devices which often obscure rather than clarify their themes, essays demand clarity. The brilliance of great essays comes when clarity and art marry. In addition to this collection's artful selections, it's nice to see brief bio's of the essays' authors included with each selection. When analyzing the content of essays, students frequently fail to take the context of the piece into account. Unfortunately, scholarly-sounding summaries are included after each bio and before the start of each essay. These summaries are great for students who don't want to read the essay but want to sound like they did when called on in class; I will be whiting-out these summaries for my students. It's critical that students learn how to think about essays for themselves and not be spoon-fed the English Department "line" on each essay. And finally, the typical "questions for thought" are tacked on at the end of each essay. Even as a student, I resented these questions because they scream, "Think this way, not that!" Today, I'll be using Annie Dillard's "Living Like Weasels" essay from this collection to teach my students how to use language vividly to hook their readers. Even though a Google search will turn up countless student papers on this essay with these lines quoted, I'll include them here for your reading convenience.

"A weasel is wild. Who knows what he thinks? He sleeps in his underground den his tail draped over his nose. Sometimes he lives in his den for two days without leaving. Outside, he stalks rabbits, mice, muskrats, and birds, killing more bodies than he can eat warm, and often dragging the carcasses home. Obedient to instinct, he bites hie prey at the neck, either splitting the jugular vein at the throat or crunching the brain at the base of the skull, and he does not let go."… (mer)

I read most of this in April but had to return it before a trip. It's a neat mix of classics and modern works, all worthy examples and interesting in their own right. A few social themes are disproportionately emphasized, especially gender and race issues. Among my favorites of the selection were: Graduation (Angelou), Of Studies (Bacon), Politics and the English Language (Orwell), Notes of a Native Son (Baldwin), Calculated Risks (Cole), Attending a World (Bateson), The Trouble with Wilderness (Cronon), Letter from a Birmingham Jail (King), On Self-Respect (Didion), and The Geography of Imagination (by Davenport).… (mer)