# Please recommend good books!



## waves

Hello! all, 

I want to improve my English by reading books, can you recommand me some good books I can borrow from the library? Thanks!


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## maxiogee

Hiya, waves.
All books will have some merit. We cannot advise as we do not know what books you have available to choose from, in the library.
A good rule of thumb if you want current English usage is to choose writers who are still alive. Shakespeare wrote wonderful works, but I wouldn't recommend him to a foreign student.
Sorry I cannot be more helpful.


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## zebedee

Hello waves,

Take a look at this thread. Here we discussed good short stories in English for language learners.
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=14726&highlight=literature
You'll find a lot of ideas here to help you choose in the library.

regards,
zeb


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## nichec

If you are just a beginner in English, why don't you try very simple ones like popular crime/detective novels or National Bestsellers? I'm a literature lover, but I'll never recommend poems or New Yorks Times Bestsellers or Booker Prize winners or even Nobel Prize winners to beginners. Try stories that have plots interest you, whatever kind of plots they are , because by doing that, you'll have the urge to finish reading even when you bump into too many words that you don't understand.

I think "*Harry Potter*" are good stories for beginners, and you can also try books from Tracy Chevalier, they are usually not too long yet extremely beautiful. If you like historical novels, Philippa Gregory is a good choice, she doesn't use too difficult words, and she definitely has a talent of story-telling. If you are interested in vampires, Ann Rice is the author that will take your breath away. It eventually really depends on your taste of books, but my suggestions (and also my experience) is that try not to go too fast. Pick easy ones in the beginning, and never give up even when you don't understand a thing, try to make yourself get used to the language and the way the writers express themselves (believe me, it can differ hughly because of the cultural difference). Don't stop and look up every word you don't understand in the dictionary, that will kill all your will to read on. Keep on reading, one book after another, and then one day, you'll be happy to realize that you enjoy reading them a great deal.

Good luck! (if you can tell me what kind of stories you like, maybe I can help you more)


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## Zakalwe

There are the books i read during one year when i started reading english books:
- My first books in english was Harry Potter's one. It is easy to read and do not have too  much vocabulary.
- Then i read Orscon Scott Card books (Ender Saga) which are a little more difficult. They are Sci Fi books
- Finally i read Pillar of the Earth which is a best seller and has more vocabulary and descriptions.


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## hald

The last books I read in english were "The iron council" and "The scar" (both from China Miéville). The author classifies them as "weird fantasy" novels. I really liked these books, but sometimes had a hard time understanding everything.
If you like fantasy you should try A song of ice and fire : it's not that hard to understand, and it's one of the best fantasy novels I ever read (and believe me I read a lot of them  ).


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## *Cowgirl*

Harry Potter  
Old mysteries like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys would also be good for a beginner.


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## Alberto77

ciao, i have read all the books by sophie kinsella, like "the secret dreamworld of a shop-aholic", "shopaholic and sister", and so on... 
they are very enjoyable and also modern, so you can learn actual expression,
ciao
alb


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## kevinleihuang

My life written by Bill Clinton


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## waves

Thanks so much for your recommandations! I'm going to the library tonight!


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## whatonearth

I highly recommend (depending on your literacy in English) 'The Beach' by Alex Garland, 'Catcher In The Rye' by J. D. Salinger and 'The Elephant Vanishes' by H. Murakami!


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## Zakalwe

whatonearth said:
			
		

> I highly recommend (depending on your literacy in English) 'The Beach' by Alex Garland, 'Catcher In The Rye' by J. D. Salinger and 'The Elephant Vanishes' by H. Murakami!



I've read the first two ones and i confirm


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## jester.

As nobody has yet proposed the books of Dan Brown, I do so now. Although I have only read them in German, I have heard from many people that these books are relatively easy to read and comprehend in their English origional versions.
Additionally, they are, in my opinion, very enterntaining, I think this is necessary in order to have fun while reading, especially if the book is written in a foreign language and therefore a bit more difficult than one in your mother tongue.


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## *Cowgirl*

j3st3r said:
			
		

> As nobody has yet proposed the books of Dan Brown, I do so now. Although I have only read them in German, I have heard from many people that these books are relatively easy to read and comprehend in their English origional versions.
> Additionally, they are, in my opinion, very enterntaining, I think this is necessary in order to have fun while reading, especially if the book is written in a foreign language and therefore a bit more difficult than one in your mother tongue.


 
Yeah! Dan Brown is awesome. John Grisham books would be good as well.


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## maxiogee

Do you think that a learner needs to be exposed to "Grail" and "Opus Dei" and Magdalene, among other words?
To say nothing of the fact that The Da Vinci Code was a load of twaddle!


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## nichec

Dear Waves:
Since you told me that you are also a literature lover (thanks for the thank you note by the way, you are most welcome), I think I can help you more here.

My all time favorite writer is also Charles Dickens, why don't you try " *Great Expectations*" ? It's got great, touching plot without too "big" vocabularies....(I will never recommend Virginia Woolf or Henry James to a beginner ) "*The Age of Innocence*" and "*Gone With The Wind*" are great love stories (of course they deal with more than love, and they can probably tell you something about American society ) "*The Awakening*" and "*Madame Bovary*" are masterpieces to see the authors' insight of women. I love "*One Hundred Years of Solitude*" a great deal, it's highly entertaining even though it's a Nobel Prize winner. I also love Michael Ondaatje, whose work includes "*The English Patient*". If you love dark love stories, I'll recommend "*Wuthering Heights*" and "*Jane Eyre*" (funny, they are written by sisters)

Oh, I'm sorry I've got too excited when I talk about literature or arts...I just finished reading "*The Time Traveler's Wife*" and it's the most beautiful modern novel I've read in years.....

I hope this long list can do you some good, after all, reading does bright up my life....Enjoy 

Edit: Oh, did I forget *"Anna Karenina*"? No wonder I felt that Anna is angry at me Oh, and there's also "*The Name of The Rose*" and "*The Lord of The Ring*" and "*The Quiet American*"...I think I really should stop now before I got banned from this forum 

Nicole


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## la reine victoria

Dear Waves,

I've noticed that you are having difficulty in inserting a 'smiley' in your posts.

Just go to the browser bar at the top of the post page.  You will see a smiley face next to the capital letter *A. *  Click on this and you will see a whole collection of faces and other symbols to choose from.  Click on the one you need and it will automatically be added to your post.

Agatha Christie's novels are still international best sellers.  Easy to read, fun to try and discover 'who did it' (they are detective novels with a difference) and give a good account of the English way of life in her time.  Very genteel!

Happy reading.


La Reine V


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## *Cowgirl*

nichec said:
			
		

> Dear Waves:
> Since you told me that you are also a literature lover (thanks for the thank you note by the way, you are most welcome), I think I can help you more here.
> 
> My all time favorite writer is also Charles Dickens, why don't you try " *Great Expectations*" ? It's got great, touching plot without too "big" vocabularies....(I will never recommend Virginia Woolf or Henry James to a beginner ) "*The Age of Innocence*" and "*Gone With The Wind*" are great love stories (of course they deal with more than love, and they can probably tell you something about American society ) "*The Awakening*" and "*Madame Bovary*" are masterpieces to see the authors' insight of women. I love "*One Hundred Years of Solitude*" a great deal, it's highly entertaining even though it's a Nobel Prize winner. I also love Michael Ondaatje, whose work includes "*The English Patient*". If you love dark love stories, I'll recommend "*Wuthering Heights*" and "*Jane Eyre*" (funny, they are written by sisters)
> 
> Oh, I'm sorry I've got too excited when I talk about literature or arts...I just finished reading "*The Time Traveler's Wife*" and it's the most beautiful modern novel I've read in years.....
> 
> I hope this long list can do you some good, after all, reading does bright up my life....Enjoy
> 
> Edit: Oh, did I forget *"Anna Karenina*"? No wonder I felt that Anna is angry at me Oh, and there's also "*The Name of The Rose*" and "*The Lord of The Ring*" and "*The Quiet American*"...I think I really should stop now before I got banned from this forum
> 
> Nicole


 
Nooooooooooooo!  Not _Great Expectations, _lets let him learn modern English 1st. It also has a lot of dialect in it.


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## hald

A non-native's comment about The Lord of the rings : it's really hard to read unless your english is very good. I would definitely not recommend it to start reading in english except if you have a very strong motivation.

maxiogee : I agree with you about DaVinci Code. Unfortunately (or fortunately ?) I had read Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" not long before. That one is really good, and Dan Brown's novel obviously couldn't stand the comparison so maybe it somewhat made my opinion on DaVinci worse than it should have been.


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## You little ripper!

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> Agatha Christie's novels are still international best sellers. Easy to read, fun to try and discover 'who did it' (they are detective novels with a difference) and give a good account of the English way of life in her time. Very genteel!
> La Reine V


I learned Italian from reading the translated versions of Agatha Christie novels. They are beautifully written in English as well as Italian.  
I think the best way to learn a language (apart from learning the basic grammar) is to read novels by authors that you really enjoy in your own language that have been translated into the language you want to learn.  It needs to be enjoyable, otherwise you'll soon get bored and give up.


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## Mei

Hi,

What about Oscar Wilde? He was a gook writer and his books are great.... just my opinion  

Mei


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## nichec

Oh, you guys may be right about *"Great Expectations*" and "*The Lord of* *The Rings*", I guess my problem here is that I've been reading English literature for ages so I didn't really encounter any difficulty reading them...(and let's not forget, our dear Waves here is an English major as she/he told me ) 

My own opinion: I don't like "*Da Vinci Code*" too much either, I would much rather recommend "*The Name of The Rose*" and *"The Rule of Four*", Eco is a master in post-modernism/post-structuralism, so it's interesting to see someone who doesn't believe in words to creat a novel of hundreds of pages full of words, "*The Rule of Four*" is two young men's first try of creating a novel together, it's rich in history and it's also a lot of fun.

I've been reading "*Heir to the Gimmering World*" for what seems like ages, it's....hum.....it takes your full attention to get into the plot, plus I'm reading two other books at the same time, so...hum....I don't personally recommend it 

I think I talk too much again, I'm sorry to bother you guys


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## nichec

Charles Costante said:
			
		

> I learned Italian from reading the translated versions of Agatha Christie novels. They are beautifully written in English as well as Italian.





			
				Charles Costante said:
			
		

> I think the best way to learn a language (apart from learning the basic grammar) is to read novels by authors that you really enjoy in your own language that have been translated into the language you want to learn. It needs to be enjoyable, otherwise you'll soon get bored and give up.




Can't agree more, or you can even buy both versions and compare them while you are reading, it helps a lot when you are just a beginner.


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## Maria Juanita

Well, I'm going to recommend you one of the best writers I have ever read. His name is *Saki*, and he's just hilarious. If you like dark humour, i'm pretty sure you will enjoy it. 
I would say anything from *Oscar Wilde*, he's just great. I also like *Raymond Carver.*I do not like Dan Brown, anyway. And I think that for a beginner it's better to go with short stories and do not begin by reading epics and too big things. 

I agree with Charles Constante, it would be excellent to read translations of litterature you like and you would have the opportunity to compare them and learn idioms, and stuff. But try to pick a good translation because there are some lousy ones and you'd be surprised. 

A suggestion: you could recommend _us_ some good litterature from your country, I know this doesn't fit quite much with the purpose of this thread, but I always find any book recommendation very nice, specially coming from someone who loves litterature as much as I do. 

Saludillos


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## hald

Other books I read in english for school :

Martian chronicles by Ray Bradbury, science fiction but quite poetic at times. I found it really great.
The picture of Dorian Gray
The great Gatsby

As far as I remember those were quite easy to read, I think they would be a good start for someone who is learning english.

Maria Juanita : that's a good idea, maybe you should open a new thread on that subject


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## la reine victoria

hald said:
			
		

> Other books I read in english for school :
> 
> Martian chronicles by Ray Bradbury, science fiction but quite poetic at times. I found it really great.
> The picture of Dorian Gray
> The great Gatsby
> 
> As far as I remember those were quite easy to read, I think they would be a good start for someone who is learning english.
> 
> Maria Juanita : that's a good idea, maybe you should open a new thread on that subject


 
Dear Hald,

Not so long ago, a request for a 'Literature Only' forum was made and discussed.  Let's hope it comes to be.  Then we can all share our interests, as well as helping each other with comprehension and translation of specific works of literature - Shakespeare and Chaucer for example, wonderful as they were, can be a nightmare to understand even for native English speakers.  


LRV


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## nycphotography

Nobody has suggested Vonnegut!

I don't remember how complex his language and vocabulary is, but the stories themselves make each word worth looking up.  Especially interesting reading now, as a few decades have elapsed since they were written and we can see how they stand up over time.

Another suggestion would be Orwell, either 1984 or Animal Farm.  Of course, those may be hard to come by in some "restricted" libraries.  I wonder if those have been put online?


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## ayaram7700

Hi everyone, if you really have time, please read John Steinbeck, his stories are wonderful. Also, at school I read Edgar Allan Poe's EVERYTHING; Robert Louis Stevenson's adventures; Jerome K. Jerome "Three Men in a Boat" to laugh from beginning to end; I love mysteries and poetry, T.S. Elliot, etc. There is this new mystery author Bruce Alexander who writes  lovely, dark stories;  P.G. Woodehouse, for a good laugh, etc. etc. sorry, I have to go back to work, otherwise, I would be here all day.

Bye bye,

Ayaram7700


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## ayaram7700

j3st3r said:
			
		

> As nobody has yet proposed the books of Dan Brown, I do so now. Although I have only read them in German, I have heard from many people that these books are relatively easy to read and comprehend in their English origional versions.
> Additionally, they are, in my opinion, very enterntaining, I think this is necessary in order to have fun while reading, especially if the book is written in a foreign language and therefore a bit more difficult than one in your mother tongue.


 

Sorry, I do not like Dan Brown at all, he writes badly and I won't waste my time reading anything else, I read two novels one of them Da Vinci Code, he does not even have good style, I would rather stick with classics, like "The Great Gatsby" and do not forget poetry.


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## maxiogee

I would second the recommendation for *The Time Traveller's Wife* - an absolutely excellent book, both in style and content.

I'd also recommend any learner to have a read of *George Orwell*'s works. They are wonders of good writing.

Of course it goes without saying that Irish writers of the 20th century (and before) produced some of the best works of "English Literature" ever. Shaw, Wilde, O'Casey, Behan, and my own soft-spot favourite Roddy Doyle.


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## Laia

If you want to improve your English reading, the best option in my opinion is to choose a funny and pleasant novel, and avoid boring reading.
I recommend you Marian Keyes. Choose any book she has written and... enjoy!


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## nycphotography

OH! And if you are an _advanced_ student, and want both Cultural knowledge, and current colloquial language:

Sex, Drugs and Coco Puffs
by Chuck Klosterman

Note: This book will probably have you posting many many questions in both the English Only AND the Cultural Forums.


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## Outsider

What would I recommend a language beginner to read in English?... It's not easy to focus on a couple of names.

I think Orwell is accessible, but the book _1984_ is probably too depressing to start there. I would suggest _Animal Farm_ instead.

I will second the recommendation for Agatha Christie's mystery novels, especially the best known titles starring Hercule Poirot, such as _Death in the Nile_. And why not try Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's _Sherlock Holmes_ stories, as well? Ruth Rendell is also a good, more contemporary, mystery writer.

Do you like horror stories? _Dracula_ and _Frankenstein_ are two classics you will not regret reading. Stephen King is a renouned American contemporary horror writer, although the quality of his books varies.

In the genre of science fiction, I would also recommend Ray Bradbury's _Martian Chronicles_, another book that is definitely worth it. I am currently half way through Carl Sagan's _Contact_, and it's been better than I expected; give it a try. Or perhaps short stories -- see Sir Arthur C. Clarke's _Expedition to Earth_, or another of his anthologies.


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## Maria Juanita

You were right. And Vonnegut's book are dark humour too. I think Chuck Klostermann is great, I used to read his column in a magazine. Hilarious (I don't know if I can actually say the name here)

But wait, we don't know if our friend Waves is going to like sarcastic books.(In fact, he should tell us what kind of subjects he like cuz I see many DIFFERENT recommendations here)  If so, I would recommend Chuck Palaniuk's though I don't like the end of them

And, Reine Victoria, well, I don't think they want to take our suggestion for a literature forum. That would be a great gift for us but it's just a dream 

Hey Outsider: I wouldn't begin by reading Dracula; I mean, it's great but too, too long. To start going Goth, I would pick Mary Shelley's Frankestein first. Just my opinion.

Saludillos 





			
				nycphotography said:
			
		

> OH! And if you are an _advanced_ student, and want both Cultural knowledge, and current colloquial language:
> 
> Sex, Drugs and Coco Puffs
> by Chuck Klosterman
> 
> Note: This book will probably have you posting many many questions in both the English Only AND the Cultural Forums.


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## esteban

I've read excellent English books that have already been mentionned. Let me just add Anne Rice's original vampires' chronicles trilogy. They've even made a film with the first one of the trilogy (interview with the vampire) that I also recommand.
Oh and please try reading Adrian Mole's diaries. It's SO funny. It's not literature but if you read it, you're gonna learn thousands of typically English expressions and English slang. I saw the word _bloke_ for the first time!

Cheers

esteban


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## cuchuflete

> I want to improve my English by reading books, can you recommand me some good books I can borrow from the library?



This thread is not for
-suggesting ways to buy books....it clearly asks for books to be borrowed from a library.
-talking about "my favorite books"...it's about books to help a beginner improve their English
-advocating for new forums

Please continue to offer helpful suggestions that address the thread topic.

thanks,
Cuchuflete


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## maxiogee

It might be helped if Waves gave us some idea of the range of authors available in the library.
It might then be a (relatively) simple job for us to tell Waves which to avoid.


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## Roi Marphille

maxiogee said:
			
		

> It might be helped if Waves gave us some idea of the range of authors available in the library.
> It might then be a (relatively) simple job for us to tell Waves which to avoid.


yes, and what about his/her preferences?
I mean, do you like historic reading, science fiction, thrillers, kid stuff, essay...?


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## nycphotography

Actually, the BEST book to read in english is....

TADAAAAAAA

Any fiction which is also available translated into your own language.

Get both... read the english, and use the translation as your own personal "rosetta stone".


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## GipSy AnNy

There´s an excellent book: GETTING EVEN.The author is   Woody Allen. I really enjoyed it, I laughted a lot...If you like this gender of books, you can try with it!!! You´d have a lot of fun....


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## nichec

maxiogee said:
			
		

> It might be helped if Waves gave us some idea of the range of authors available in the library.





			
				maxiogee said:
			
		

> It might then be a (relatively) simple job for us to tell Waves which to avoid.




Yeah, as you haven't replied in any way ever since the thank you note, we really don't know what kind of book you like or whether you like our suggestions or not. But I went to a very famous bookstore the other day, and I saw "*The Secret Garden*" and "*The Little Prince*", I know they are books for kids, but they are really beautiful in their own ways, and since they are for kids, it won't be too difficult to understand them....

Another one to get into American history/society "*The Human Stain*"


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## Pizca

I'm really liking this thread! So much to read so little time.

Here is my recommendation: _The Kite Runner. _Best book I have read in a while...  Couldn't stop reading it!


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