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University of Manchester
University of Manchester
Manchester

2015 English Literature

Hi,

I was wondering what other people's plans were in relation to buying the texts for the English Literature 2015 course. I've decided that I'm going to buy all of the texts for semester 1 over the summer and buy the semester 2 texts at a later date. Has anyone got a similar plan to this? Moreover, I emailed the department a few months previously to ask whether or not reading the texts over summer is necessary or advisable and they seemed quite lenient about whether or not you should read the texts prior to the beginning of the course. Does anyone know if we will be given sufficient time during the course to read the texts? I'm a bit worried that they might just expect us to have read the texts during term without any warning and I end up only having a few days to quickly read the text.

Thanks:smile:
It's generally a bad idea to buy books before you arrive, you'll probably find that you end up not using most of them so it's a waste of money. The'll also be available in the library and there are often book sales at the beginning of term where you can buy second-hand books from last year's students.

Unless you've actually been told to buy something, wait until after you've arrived as you'll have a better idea of whether or not it's worth it. If you're expected to read something over the summer, the school will explicitly tell you.
University of Manchester
University of Manchester
Manchester
The department told me that the books listed on their site are the books we will be studying. I can't buy them once I get there because my mum and dad can't afford to buy them all at once
Also I have to but specific copies of the texts e.g. certain publishers so it's unlikely that the library will have the text I need and I'd need to annotate in the books.
Original post by Bibliophile96
The department told me that the books listed on their site are the books we will be studying. I can't buy them once I get there because my mum and dad can't afford to buy them all at once


How can you afford to buy them before arriving if you won't be able to afford them after?

Original post by Bibliophile96
Also I have to but specific copies of the texts e.g. certain publishers so it's unlikely that the library will have the text I need and I'd need to annotate in the books.


The libraries deliberately stock books that are needed for certain courses, I'd be surprised if they didn't have most if not all of the specific copies on your list.

Are they all literary texts? I was kind of operating under the assumption that some would be textbooks. If you know for sure that you'll need to refer to them regularly and annotate them etc. then I guess buying them is the best solution. There's still the possibility of buying second-hand ones from other students though. If buying these books is such a necessity for your course, then I'd imagine there'd be quite a lot of second-years eager to get rid of theirs at the start of term.

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