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Recommended Reads

Hello everyone just wondering what books would you recommend reading 📚? I need to read more to improve my English. Thanks 😊

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by NormalBrit

Hello everyone just wondering what books would you recommend reading 📚? I need to read more to improve my English. Thanks 😊

How good is your current level of English?

I know of some very complicated English texts that date back a few hundred years. However, I would say they are too advanced for a beginner in English.

On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend a Noddy book if you have adequate levels of English beyond the equivalent reading skills of a 6 year old.

It's otherwise a bit difficult to gauge without some context.

Reply 2

NormalBrit

Original post by MindMax2000

Hi I am fluent I'm English and I am in my teens, so my teacher recommends reading harder books to prep for my English gcses in future 😊

Reply 3

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by NormalBrit

Hi I am fluent I'm English and I am in my teens, so my teacher recommends reading harder books to prep for my English gcses in future 😊

Very well.

The more difficult texts that I have come across are Moby **** by Herman Melville and Shakespeare. If you're already preparing for yoru GCSEs, then you should have come across Shakespeare.
I don't know what texts you will be using for GCSE, but Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Measure for Measure, All About Nothing, and Othello tend to be favourites. Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films tend to be very faithful to the texts, and they are amongst my favourites.
As a side note, there was a series made telling a modern version of Shakespeare by the BBC called Shakespeare Retold. It's a bit of hit and miss in terms of quality, but in terms of modern telling of old plays, they are pretty good. 10 things I hate about you is similarly a retelling of Taming of the Shrew, but it's a more of a tween movie than actual Shakespeare.
You will also get English translations of Greek, Irish, Nordic, and Germanic poems e.g. Iliad, Oddessy, Beowulf, etc. These will really stretch your English language skills, even as translations.

Classic texts such as Wealth of Nations and The Republic tend to be slightly easier texts. However, you would be wondering what they are talking about some of the time. See more in the following link: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/classic-nonfiction

Something a bit easier than above would be books authored between late Victorian period until the 1960s. (I say the 1960s because some of the academic texts can sometimes come across like a foreign language and I don't know how people back in the day manage to get through their courses with the sort of English used.) Authors such as Jane Austen, Sir Conan Doyle, and Charles Dickens tend to produce works that are of this callibre, and they are good reads. If I wanted something that is semi-challenging that would stretch me, but not so much that it would stress me out, these tend to be good texts for me to read on a Sunday afternoon (if I ever get a free Sunday afternoon). See more books on the following page: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2022/05/100-must-read-classic-books
Personal favourites include Alexandre Dumas, Harper Lee, Jack London. People often recommend Lord of the Flies and The Catcher in the Rye for teens, but I haven't read those yet. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt is also a recommended read from someone I used to do English Lit with.

Reply 4

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by NormalBrit

Hello everyone just wondering what books would you recommend reading 📚? I need to read more to improve my English. Thanks 😊

The books by mike pannett are deffo worth a read.
So are the books by cathy glass and lisa stone.

Reply 5

VoxPoxNumber

I like books by Stephen King, Ursula K Le Guin, Philip K **** (not a swear word, that is his name), Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Julia Donaldson, Joey Vimsante, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Orwell, Jan Needle, Jules Verne, CS Lewis, Tim Scoch, Alexander McCall Smith, Douglas Adams, George Mackay Brown, and Simon Inglis.