On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Cindy interview James Banks. James is a civil servant, veteran, teacher, former academic and writer living in Austin, Texas. Prior to moving to the Lone Star State, he studied Renaissance Literature and taught at the University of Rochester. But it was only after leaving the academy that he rediscovered his passion for Shakespeare, Spenser, Chaucer and all things literary. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Weekly Standard, the Literati Quarterly, the Intercollegiate Review and elsewhere, but he is best known for being the brother of Thomas Banks and brother-in-law of Angelina Stanford. James talks about his childhood relationships with books and stories, and the massive leap he took from not being able to read to being a reader. He tells about his desire to be a teacher and his undergraduate experience. He also elaborates on how he came to his love of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. James tells why he ended up leaving academia and how he rediscovered his love of literature. He also gives some examples of how he reads so much and makes the most of his time. The Cross of Snow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In the long, sleepless watches of the night,    A gentle face — the face of one long dead —    Looks at me from the wall, where round its head    The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white    Never through martyrdom of fire was led    To its repose; nor can in books be read    The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West    That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines    Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast    These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes    And seasons, changeless since the day she died. Book List: (Amazon Affiliate Links) Big Wonderful Thing by Stephen Harrigan John Buchan by His Wife and Friends by Susan Tweedsmuir The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey Good Things Out of Nazareth: Uncollected Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Friends The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov The Sword of Honour Trilogy by Evelyn Waugh Cultural Amnesia by Clive James Pat Conroy The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare The Meaning of Shakespeare, Vol. 2 by Harold Goddard Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Silas Marner by George Eliot The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper Anne Bradstreet Eudora Welty The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare P. G. Wodehouse The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll On the Edge by Edward St. Aubyn War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta The Aeneid by Virgil Selected Non-fictions by Jorge Luis Borges The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco Upcoming Book Discussions: Check the “Upcoming Book Discussions” tab to see what is coming your way on the podcast in 2020! Support The Literary Life: Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support! Connect with Us: Find Angelina at  https://angelinastanford.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/ Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/ Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s