Favorite Books to read in English

[SpiralArchitect]

I'll move away from the classics for a second and say HARRY POTTER! I adore HP, and I read the books in my native language, Portuguese, and then in English. Being called a "children's book", for some reason in the translations they also translated the names of the characters, which I hate. So reading them in English was great cause it was all in its original writing.

Well in all fairness, it IS a children's book and a perfect one to get kids into reading. The best way to read those books was the way most people in my generation did- growing up with the books. So by the time the later editions came, they were ready for the darker material.

[Elizabethr6144]

I love reading the book Have A Little Faith by Mitch Albom. I think this book would be a bit more challenging for people who are not fluent in English yet. However I would highly recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it. It is a book that really makes you think about life and what's important.

[jodiann12]

There are so many books which I enjoy reading, but one which really stands out for me is Animal Farm. George Orwell uses an allegory to criticize the Soviet Union and Communism. I think it's just brilliant!

[pandandesign]

My favorite book is the Christy Miller series written by Robin Jones Gunn. It is a Christian Young Adult Contemporary fiction that's written in English. Robin Jones Gunn is an American author, and she is a good Christian author. Another book I also enjoy is Lock and Key written by Sarah Dessen. It's also written in English. Sarah Dessen is an American author, and I really like her writing.

[pandandesign]

This is a great topic. Books and book authors have been among the most enjoyable topics on this forum, I think.  I'm curious to see the replies from both the non-native and native English speakers. 

My favorite books include some of the classics.  In particular George Eliot's "Middlemarch" is one of my all-time favorites.  I also like Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights."

My modern era and contemporary favorites include Don DeLillo's "White Noise" and Jayne Anne Phillips' "Black Tickets."

I agree! Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" is one of my all-time favorite English classic novels I have read. I like the story and the characters are well-written.

[Aheyz]

Where the Red Fern Grows is a great lower level book. It has it's ups and downs but is over all a great story. It provides basic english skills with a great story to back it up. I definitely recommend this book!

[pandandesign]

I've often recommended to my friends who are looking to improve and get comfortable reading English to start with popular mass market genre or YA type books.

Something like Harry Potter, romance or adventure novels, or the like.

The language is usually good but not too intricate, and the plots are interesting and keep you reading even if you don't get every little nuance.

Same here! I would recommend my friends to read Young Adult books because that's the most popular type in the United States. I like reading Young Adult Contemporary novels, which they can relate to real life stories. Contemporary is also one of my favorite genres.

[kniera]

When I was a kid I liked curious george, I started with English so early because my dad is American.

[Falkner]

My favourite is probably The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. While The Lord Of The Rings was great in parts, it was bogged down by very uneven pacing. The Silmarillion doesn't have that problem, spanning several ages in just under 400 pages. I also love Tolkien's prose (and I know that I'm pretty much alone in that).

[pandandesign]

I agree! Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" is one of my all-time favorite English classic novels I have read. I like the story and the characters are well-written.

I like Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" too. It is such an interesting classic book I have ever read. The storyline and characters are excellent. I personally think some classic books are way better than some of the books nowadays.

[Bonyi]

I enjoy reading in English and I read better in English. One book that has helped me is "rhapsody of realities".

[writeletters]

Currently, my favourite books would have to be Agatha Christie's novels. They are so well written and complex! I would recommend them to any crime lover. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to read, as long as you've known English for a couple of years.

[rebel]

I will answer this question instantly - Uncle Tom's cabin. I believe it's a great book, showing all aspects of slavery and really thoughtful. I enjoyed reading every single page of it and will certainly do so again in the near future. I recommend the book to anybody who's in the process of learning the language or is possibly willing to read something they have missed before.

Another good book is Farewell to Arms, by Hemingway. I've read it on one take, it's that interesting. It's so dramatic, real and meaningful at the same time.

[MissPotato]

As a child and teenager, books helped me learn English - and I mean novels, not textbooks. I probably learned more from them than I did in school (no offense to my professors). I read all Harry Potter books not just for the fun of it. I learned a lot in terms of UK vs US English. To this day, I read various authors' works. Some of my favorites are by Paulo Coelho (although his books are mostly translated by another person) and Mark Haddon.

[pandandesign]

I love reading the latest books because it's contemporary and it shows me how English is currently used.  I love reading classics as well, but sometimes, they are too conventional that they make me fall asleep.  Bestsellers are modern and it makes me more excited to keep on reading.

I love Contemporary novels. What are some of your favorite Contemporary books?

[jodig]

In topics like these, Rowling's Harry Potter series will always come first to mind! Such amazing books to read. I always loved Rowling's atmosphere and third person narrative. Some people just know how to write!

[pandandesign]

When I was a kid I liked curious george, I started with English so early because my dad is American.

Ha! I used to watch the cartoon show on PBS kids.

[lizbeth19hph]

English has been my favorite subject when I was still a student and as an English writer and online English tutor, I use the language everyday.   I love reading the books of Paulo Coelho, Mitch Albom, John Grisham and Stephen King among others. They got many books, I can't enumerate them all.

[PSLoveCharli]

Please, please try this book: "Extremely Loud, And Incredibly Close". It's a novel by Jonathan Kafran based on the life of a little boy who's father died in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks. But it's not solely focused on that, but more so focused on the life of the little boy and how he continued a relationship with his father on a mental level. Very, very good book. Let me know what you think!

[rosacrux]

Although I am not an English native speaker, I grew up reading lots of books written in English. As a Mexican it is easy to notice how much cultural influence the United States has over my country. Because of the large number of expats living in Mexico, there some libraries that sell English books. My favorite books in English are: The Road, The Ocean at the End of the Line Ulysses and the Dark Tower series.

[Champollion]

One of the biggest bestsellers in Britain is the Scottish writer Ian Rankin with his detective Inspector Rebus.

Not really a book for language learners except maybe for advanced level students, because the language is authentic. However, I would say that if you can read stuff like Harry Potter or Middlemarch then you can enjoy a great plot set in Edinburgh the last years of last century. I found the 3 I read of the Inspector Rebus (there are about a dozen) much more exciting than the contrived, implausible plots of Agatha Christie.

A word of warning.... you can find bad language at certain times.

[qaximor]

I read 2 books when I was in school and they were the best yet. One is called Call of the Wild which is a really famous story! And the second one is called Route 66 that talks about how people in USA used the route 66 to get from one part of the country to the other to find jobs and food.

[g2narat]

Non-native English speakers, such as myself, find it easier to start with basic books. If someone gave me a Shakespearean play to read when I was still starting to learn English, I would've thrown that to their face and given up on English. I actually started by reading Dr.Seuss series (yes, seriously!), then read things like Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck before moving on to heavier stuff. I actually consider The Little Prince my favorite English book even if it's written by a French author and even though it's a children's book.

[xbrix]

Recently, my favorite book to read have been The Fault in Our Stars.

I like The Fault in Our Stars because it has a great story line. It's about a girl with cancer, and I was crying by the end of the book.

[sidney]

When I was a kid and a teenager I used to read Sweet Valley Kids, Teens, and High, and also the Goosebumps series. I have read a Sidney Sheldon novel too. But now that I'm already an adult, I prefer reading self-help, inspirational and new-age books, I'm not really into fiction books anymore.