15 Books In English Ideal For Learning The Language
Knowing languages is a basic requirement nowadays. Both at work, training and personal level, we are required to be able to express ourselves in and/or understand languages other than our own, and it is advisable to focus on those languages that have the greatest level of expansion throughout the world, being one of the main ones and that The English language is taught from childhood.
One of the ways through which we can learn and improve our level of English is through literature, since it allows us to acquire vocabulary and see different grammatical structures while allowing us to imagine and give meaning to the material learned. That is why in this article we focus on presenting fifteen books in English ideal for learning the language
Because knowledge of English is an essential factor today, a series of books, stories and novels are highlighted below with which we can improve our ability with the language.
Most of them are stories that the majority of the population already knows, but this is useful as it allows us link what is already known with what we want to learn or improve In some cases it is even possible to find movies and audiobooks, which can complement learning and improve both written and oral comprehension.
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
A classic frequently used in schools to help learn English In this novel the life of Dorian Gray is explained to us, of whom an artist in love with his beauty makes a portrait. Young Dorian is seduced by the idea of pleasure-seeking conveyed to him by a man named Lord Henry.
Realizing that time will ruin his beauty and health, Dorian comes to wish with all his soul to remain as in the portrait. Over time, he will realize that while he remains young, the portrait will undergo the changes typical of age and the type of life he leads (solely dedicated to obtaining his own pleasure and committing various atrocities along the way).
2. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Another great classic that has subsequently been transformed into a film, and whose reading is recommended to reinforce the learning of English.
Jay Gatsby is a rich and well-known man who leads a luxurious life and continually celebrates parties multitudinous and extravagant events that he does not attend. These parties and his flashy lifestyle are an attempt by the billionaire to attract the attention of an old flame. Nick Carraway, the protagonist of the story, will end up arranging a meeting between Jay Gatsby and the woman he is in love with, already married to a man who in turn has an affair with another woman.
A suitable book for learning the language despite the fact that sometimes its vocabulary can be somewhat more complex. It is a short novel that has been used numerous times as school reading material.
The story tells us the life of an old fisherman named Santiago who seeks to catch the best fish of his life, along with a boy who tries to help him. Despite going eighty-four days in a row without being able to catch anything, finally a gigantic specimen takes the bait The animal has so much strength that it is capable of dragging the boat across the ocean for days, making the old man have to continually fight to achieve his goal.
4. Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
One of the great classics of literature, in this novel a sailor named Ismael tells us about the chase carried out by the Pequod, the whaling ship on which he joined. The captain of this ship intends to hunt Moby Dick, a huge cetacean that he has managed to evade and destroy those who have tried to hunt him down and that has caused the captain’s obsession and madness after the loss of his previous ship, crew and leg due to a previous encounter.
5. Animal Farm (George Orwell)
The plot of this well-known novel focuses on the Manor farm, where the different animals decide to rise up against humans and live freely according to their own rules, as one of them explains before dying. Under the leadership of the pigs they create a revolution that initially improves the situation of the farm, but greed and corruption end up appearing in the leaders. Power struggles, hypocrisy and tyranny appear.
It is a short and easy-to-read novel in which the author, Orwell, makes us see aspects such as corruption, greed, power and manipulation. Furthermore, clear references can be observed both in the story and in the characters themselves to the historical situation experienced during the Russian revolution and the emergence of the Stalinist regime.
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6. Four Past Midnight (Stephen King)
Stephen King is an author widely known throughout the world. His way of writing is clear and easily followed, sometimes it is even possible to learn more colloquial expressions with his reader. In this particular novel Four easy-to-read short stories are included
The first of them is The Langoliers, in which we are told the story of a passenger on a flight who wakes up to realize that the crew and part of the passengers have disappeared in the middle of the flight. Being also a pilot, he lands in an uninhabited place where danger lurks.
In Secret Garden Open Window (which would later be transformed into a film), a writer receives a visit from a stranger who claims that he has plagiarized his story, the plot complicating as the second attacks the first and his surroundings and the latter tries to prove his innocence. .
The third story is The Library Policeman, in which Sam Peebles tries to cope with a traumatic childhood event that a dead woman brings back in the form of a library policeman.
In The Sun Dog, a young man named Kevin receives a Polaroid as a birthday gift, but with the peculiarity that he only takes photographs of a dog. Although at first it seems like a camera error, the story has paranormal overtones, since in these photographs little by little the dog gets closer to the camera, finally trying to move into the real world.
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7. Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher)
Suitable novel for learning English due to its short sentences and good grammatical structure which he boasts. Its plot is sad: The story focuses on the arrival at Clay Jensen’s house of a package with several cassettes, sent by a high school classmate who committed suicide. These cassettes must be sent and listened to by different people, telling part of the young woman’s life and how these people contributed to the young woman ending her life.
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8. Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift)
This novel tells us the story of Gulliver, a surgeon and later ship captain who travels through various lands Specifically, on his travels he passes through Liliput (whose inhabitants are so tiny that in comparison the protagonist is a giant), Brobdingnag (in which, unlike in the previous case, the largest beings without the locals), Laputa (a kingdom in which research and advances are carried out without seeking a practical result), Glubbdubdrib (where he meets beings that, although they get sick and age, are immortal), Japan and the country of the Houyhnhnms (in which animals are thinking and free beings and humans wild beings), living different adventures and misadventures in each of them.
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9. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Victor Frankenstein is a man obsessed with an idea: creating life from already dead matter, using electrical energy to bring it back to life One night he manages to carry out his work successfully, creating and giving life to a being that he ends up considering a monster.
However, horrified by his success and by the fact that he has not created an irrational being but rather that the product of his experiment is capable of reasoning and feeling, he decides to abandon the creature. This rejection, along with that of the rest of humanity, will cause Frankenstein’s monster to become vengeful towards his creator and destroy everything he loves.
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10. Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)
This work tells the life of Oliver Twist, a twelve-year-old orphan whose mother died during childbirth and who is raised in a foster home. Over time, the person in charge of the place considers him problematic and sends him to work with an undertaker, of whom escapes to flee to London There he will be captured by a small gang of thieves, whose leader mistreats them and forces them to steal.
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11. The Outsiders (SE Hinton)
This book is recommended due to the simplicity of the vocabulary, the little need for context and the brevity of its sentences. The argument focuses on Ponyboy, a teenager who is part of a gang called the Greasers. After becoming emotionally involved with some members of rival gangs and after several fights, in which one person ends up dead, the young man gets scared and flees with one of his companions. Other events, such as the rescue of some children in a burning church, will mark an interesting story focused on the world of gang wars and survival.
This short novel by Charles Dickens is enjoyable and easy to read, being very useful for reviewing both vocabulary and syntax. The history centers on Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly, selfish, and even cruel old man who despises Christmas and whose greatest interest is economic gain. On Christmas Eve he will be visited by the ghost of a former partner with characteristics similar to him who has been condemned after death to wander eternally, who will tell him the arrival of three spirits so that he can save himself from himself.
The spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future will show the old man both what he has experienced and what he has lost, what is happening in the world and his loved ones and what could happen in the future of prolong his way of acting.
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13. Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)
One of the best-known works by one of the most renowned playwrights, Romeo and Juliet has versions in novel form that can be useful for learning English. The history It tells us about the passionate love born between two young people from two traditionally opposing families the Capulets and the Montagues, with a tragic end for both young people.
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14. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
Considered by some the first English novel, this work tells the life of the sailor Robinson Crusoe. During a colonial expedition through Africa, Robinson is captured and enslaved by pirates, from whom he manages to escape after a time. Some time later he re-embarks, but his ship ends up sinking. The protagonist arrives at the beach of a desert island, being the only survivor There, Robinson will have to learn to survive in complete solitude, until he ends up realizing that he is not alone on the island.
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15. The Black Cat and Other Stories (Edgar Allan Poe)
The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, or The Pit and the Pendulum are some of the most commonly known horror stories written by Edgar Allan Poe. Short stories that are easy to understand and read quickly that play with mystery and horror at the same time, are very useful to begin to acquire vocabulary and reading agility.
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Other interesting books
Apart from these There are many other equally valid books to start or improve in the English language And not only individual books, but sagas such as Harry Potter have also been widely used in both their written and cinematic versions for this purpose, both by parents and even at the school level, in order to increase the interest of learners in learning through while increasing your vocabulary and grammar.
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