Reading, not righting

Foreigners, eh? Coming over here, working their way onto our GCSE English Literature syllabus. Not on Michael Gove's watch, though - no, he's come over all Faragey and wants to send the buggers back so pupils study more British works rather than the likes of To Kill A Mockingbird or Of Mice And Men.

Of course, it's preposterous and petty-minded - though, in truth, the reading list for my own English Lit degree would certainly have met with Gove's approval. Careful not to encroach onto the American Studies department's turf, the English department avoided choosing US books as set texts. The result, inevitably, was that once I'd finished reading three or four books a week out of duty, I began devouring as much US literature as I could get my hands on...