There are so much of books out there in the world and are you confused on where to start? Let me guess. You don’t know the right book to read to hone you English language skills…. Don’t worry friend! In this blog post, I highlight some of the basic books that one can read to level up your language skills.
https://www.millenialbeing.com/post/4-easy-and-free-ways-to-learn-english-at-home
“The more that you read, the more that you’ll know. The more that you know, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss.
Anyone who is an English speaking person, can absolutely agree with Dr.Seuss and there is no denying whatsoever. Reading can open your mind to brilliant new worlds and take you to a new level of English language learning. Adopting English books as learning tools can help you reach English fluency as rapid as ever before.
Have you ever taken a trip down a library down in your locality and explored the world of books? It can truly make a world of difference to your mindset, outlook and your language
Without further adieu,lets get straight into the subject matter.
Learning is fun-tastic!! And it is, once you have the necessary tools in your hand. Take a pen and paper and note down the below points diligently, if you are reading this to augment your skills.
(i) Classics
The best way to kick starting your game in learning is by going back to the roots of the language. Take it in anyway, be it French, Italian or Spanish, you need to go back to the basics. And what not than the Classics of the 18th or 19th century for example.
Some of the best romantic novels have the best stories and the innate language that one can possibly experience. Some of my all-time favorite classics are Pride Prejudice by Jane Austen, To kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee, Middlemarch by Georg Eliot, Great expectations by Charles Dickens and The Great Gatsby by Scott F Fitzgerald
PRO TIP – When you’re going through classics, have a pencil in your hand, and make sure you circle all the new words that you come across. Skim through the words. Its totally fine, if you don’t understand everything word by word…but a gist is more than enough. At the end, search all the new words in a dictionary and note em down. In this way, you can learn the words as well as get the overall thought of it
(ii) Comics
Remember the old times where as a child you used to read books with image content? With the addition of pictures, these books served as a magic wand and transformed us instantly by sliding us very quickly inside the contents. This genre is generally fun, interesting and in simple terms, light hearted books. In my personal experience, as a child, I was drawn more towards comic books, because of the bright colors that had grasped my attention way back then. The main purpose of this genre is to make sure, that your reading experience is made fun all together. If you’re an absolute beginner, I suggest you start reading ones like Batman, Superman and basically, all things Marvel
PRO TIP – The reason why Marvel and DC comic books are mentioned here are, it makes sure that story is etched deep within your heart and also there are some interesting dual languages (such as French) also portrayed here.
(iii) Mystery Novels
If you’re someone who gets overwhelmed by the size of the book, then I’d suggest you should start reading by small size books, basically short stories are the ones which usually contain pages of close to 200 to max 300.For an absolute beginner, out of the whole lot mentioned here, I would advise you to start with mystery novels, because, at the end of the day, we are trying to instill the habit of reading, which is ultimately meant to be long lasting. Slowly, as weeks pass by, you will gain the confidence to pick up larger books. My top 3 recommendations are Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Goosebumps by R.L.Stine
PRO TIP - Most novels are now also available as audio books. If you find that reading takes too much time, then why not try listening to an audio book as you drive to work or relax on the sofa? Try using Blinkist, Audible or Storytel
(iv) Biographies
If today, there exists an avid reader in me, I would totally it to the biographies that I had read since my teen days. This genre is something that I prefer personally to any other genre, because it serves like a curtain to someone else’s life. You will be amazed to know, the lives of some of the world famous people. The best example I can give is Lady Diana. There is an unfathomable thin line that existed between what was portrayed by the media and the one that is given in her words. And I truly prefer the latter, ever since I had started reading biographies, my language took off to a whole other space and I am not boasting though: P. It’s when you read autobiographies that you learn English from people of other nationalities speaking it and depicting it in another way. Some of my recommendations are Moonwalker by Michael Jackson, My experiments with truth by Mahatma Gandhi and Lady Diana in her own words by Andrew Morton, Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance etc.
PRO TIP: Always have YouTube and Netflix as a second preference, wherein if you find any words confusing and if you don’t understand the gist of the biography, there are tons of documentaries on the same.
(v) Fiction books
Lastly, the list would be incomplete, if I didn’t add fiction books to the list. Fiction books are those which are created with the intent of an imaginary narrative and serve as a catalyst in transforming the readers into a monde of their own. This is something which sticks deep within their noggin. All great readers are the ones who have started off their journey by fictional books. Most definitely, the wordings prompted in this genre are intermediate to high level English (Be it American or British). Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling, Deception Point by Dan Brown are some of my recommendations for starters. (Do let me know, if you want me to make a separate blog post on book recommendations for each genre too)
PRO TIP – Most of the fiction books that exists today are 90% transformed into a motion picture. However, if you want to stay ahead of spoiler alert, make sure you read the book first and then swap to the movie. If you have been doing this the other way around, then try the former step.
For more bestselling book ideas, visit Amazon’s best sellers section or the New York Times best sellers list.
I am sure you won’t be disappointed!
So readers, language learning takes time, take it one step at a time each day and maintain consistency even if you don’t see results. Because, that’s where real progress lies!
Happy Reading and Learning!!