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Some good books for an advanced English speaker?


Qub1

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Hello,

Although I'm Dutch I've known how to speak English since I was three years old as my father taught me. However, we've recently gotten an assignment from our English teacher at school. We have to read an English book that matches your current reading skills.

Now I want to know if you could recommend some good books written in English that I could read for this assignment. I like books with action, fiction, adventure and / or mystery.

Thanks in advance!

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If it were me, I'd probably go for books like Harry Potter or the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. They are children's books, technically, but they are very mature in nature and not at all too easy to read. What I like about these types of books is that because they are supposedly made for children and adults, then they put in extra effort to make it entertaining because children are very easily bored, I think. That's just my take on it, at least.

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If you have an interest in the classics I recommend the novels of Charles Dickens.  Any and all of them are excellent.  'A Tale of Two Cities,' 'Great Expectations,' 'David Copperfield' and 'A Christmas Carol' are probably the best known and most frequently read of the novels.

As for contemporary literary works, the short stories of Raymond Carver and the novels of Margaret Atwood and Don DeLillo are excellent.   

There are many others -- both classic and contemporary -- but these come to mind as being quite readable and vivid. 

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I have been looking into some novels of Charles Dickens already and I must say that they look pretty interesting to read. I think I'll get some of his books as they look the most appealing to me and my prefered style.

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  • 1 month later...

By thinking about your preferences together with advanced English speaking, I recommend the following:

i.) Dan Brown (Angels & Demons, The DaVinci Code)

ii.) Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (combines Action, Mythology, Comedy, Fantasy and Mystery),

iii.) Mystery/Crime-Genre queen Agatha Christie (Death on the Nile, Poirot)

iv.) Robert Doherty's Area 51 series (Mystery, Action, Historical, Sci-Fi)

or

v.) Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series (Epic, Sci-Fi, Thriller).

Happy reading.

Regards,

The Antiquarian.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Any of the novels of Charles Dickens would be a good choice for you as he was a fabulous storyteller who created colourful characters and used language in an imaginative way. He was also a leading social critic in his time - he also worked as a journalist - so you will learn a lot about how life was for ordinary people, including the children, in Victorian England.

Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, a Tale of of Two Cities, Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, a Christmas Carol - these and other Dickens novels should fit the bill. He also wrote several collections of short stories, plays and non-fiction books, although his novels are the easiest to find. Happy reading, Qub1!

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  • 5 weeks later...

The Game of Thrones book series is a great one to recommend for an advanced English speaker. I haven't read the books, I've only watched the show, but I hear great things about the books. At the same time, I also hear that it's hard to understand.

It deals with many characters, many individual story lines, and each chapter gets even more interesting.

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I am seconding the Charles Dickens recommendation. He is a master author who is suitable for many ages, and I've had a lot of fun in my earlier years with his literature. His use of language and grammar is unparalleled, and I believe it's a perfect point to get a little deeper in the English language for an already advanced reader. Not hard to understand, but also advanced enough to be considered a challenge.

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It depends on what you like to read. By saying "advanced English Speaker" I'm supposing you're referring to near-Native proficiency in speaking, writing, etc of the English language. I'm not a fan of "literature"

so I'll recommend books that aren't classified in that genre. You could try this ones:

The Adventures of Huck Finn - Mark Twain [a true master of the written word].

Where The Red Fern Grows.

The Road - Ian McCormack.

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