Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. Ezra Pound
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Book recs
Can you recommend any good (or great) books that you have read in English? Don't hesitate to mention why you liked (or loved!) these books (without giving anything away, of course).
I recently read " The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas " from John Boyne. I would recommend this boook, because the main character is a boy aged 8 so it's really moving. It's a very easy book to read and a beautiful story. Enjoy !
I recommend " ABC murders" from Agatha Christie. It's a great polar and when you've started to read it, you can't just stop until Hercule Poirot finds the murderer. It's not too long and really easy to read.
I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with my english class two years ago, I found it great but a bit short! I also read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, I recommend it because it's interesting, easy to understand and it's about the Second World War seen by an eight yeared old boy.
Last year I have read two really interesting books: « Going solo » by Roald Dahl and « Hotel du lac » by Anita Brookner. I found “Going Solo” amazing because it’s the biography of the famous Roald Dahl (the writer of “Charly and the chocolate factory”) during his military service for the World War II. “Hotel du lac” is a quite strange novel but with a lot of suspense, peculiar characters and beautiful landscapes.
I read "Letters from Father Christmas" from Tolkien this summer. It's a collection of letters written by Tolkien to his children each Christmas, in which he told and drew the "Pole North tales". Of course, the kids believed it was the Father Christmas who wrote to them! I liked this book, because I found the idea so nice from a father (with a great imagination!) to his children.
Few years ago, I begun to read the Georgia Nicolson series, written by Louise Rennison. There is a lot of vocabulary and sometimes it is really hard to understand nevertheless it is hilarious and i found it amazing. I recommend it to you when you have free time.
This summer , I read "the perks of being a wallflower" by Stephen CHBOSKY.This book is really amazing , especially for teenagers , because it counts the story of a freshman discovering high school and how to "participate" , leaving books , studies for a while and just have fun .I found really fun to compare our experience with the main character's one. A film adaptation is releasing on december with a nice cast, so why not ....?
Hi everybody!! A few months ago I read "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by Tracey Chevalier. We all know about Johannes Vermeer's painting "Girl With a Pearl Earring". But who was this woman? Was she his wife? Was she a rich man's daughter? Or maybe just a beautiful girl Vermeer met in the street, who knows? Tracy Chevalier imagined a wonderful story about this so mysterious and beautiful girl. It mixes feelings, paintings and life in the Holland of XVII century. I recommend you this book because I really enjoyed reading it and I think you will be pleased too!! Enjoy!!!
I don't know if you all heard about the Millenium trilogy, written by Stieg Larsson. This summer I read the first two in french, and absolutely loved them. But right now I'm reading the third volume in English. It's more difficult because there's a lot of specific vocabulary, there'e like really long chapters about Swedish politics, but the story is just amazingly written. All along the books you begin to like the different characters, you're just fascinated by what's going on, you can't stop reading untill you know how the story ends. For thrillers and detective stories amateurs, I recommend this book.
P.S : And for the girls who are keen on amazingly written super- romantic love stories like I am, I recommend all of the Nicholas Sparks books. (My favourite ones are Dear John, A Walk To Remember, The Last Song, The Notebook.)
Hi ! During the Summer, I read "The London Eye Mystery". When my mother first gave it to me, I didn't want to read it because I thought it was a book for the youngest, but then one day I opended it and I realized it was not that bad (actually it was really cool). It's the story of a 12-year-old boy named Ted and his sister Kat who take their cousin Salim to the London Eye. He goes up alone, but never comes down. Ted and Kat, whose parents do not listen to them, decide to investigate alone. This book is very interesting because of its suspense. I also like the sentence writtten on the cover, which I'd like to quote: "What goes up must come down down...mustn't it ?"
Hello everyone ! I've actually never read a whole book in english… I studied some parts of David Cooperfield and Oliver Twist last year, at school. Charles Dickens's stories are full of coincidences and strange situations so it was really funny. Unfortunately, I won't be able to recommend anything else. I'd personnaly love to read some Nicholas Sparks's books, as it is exactly the kind of story that I like.
Hello! This summer I read The picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, it's one of my favourite books so I reccomend it to everyone. Sometimes it's a little bit hard to read because the vocabulary is very rich, but once you get use to it you just can't stop because it's so well written. It's the story of the rise and the fall of a young beautiful man named Dorian Gray who's so obsessed with the idea of staying forever young he's ready to sell his soul for it. In this book, the author portrays the Victorian society he lived in, following Dorian from his start as an innocent young man with a great beauty to a cruel monster. I think it's a very powerful story, and even though there's a lot of long decsriptions and not so much action, I never got bored.
Hi the OIB :) ! I have never read a whole book in english, just some magazins... :/ But I love reading, and, 4 months ago I read the first two volumes of a very exiting serie in french : "The forest of Hands and Theeth" and "The Dead-Tossed Waves" by Carrie Ryan. The story takes place in the future, in an apocalyptique world populated by "damned" a sort of undead person.. This love-story in a lost world mixed adventure, horror and romance and it's very thrilling !! Now I can't wait the third volume !!!!
Hi everyone ! A few months ago, I’ve read Animal Farm by Georges Orwell, a highly entertaining satirical book that presents the Russian Revolution and the Stalin era through the eyes of a democratic socialist. It highlights the corruption of the leaders of the Revolution, showing to the reader how vicious and greedy they were, and how their expectations were far from the former, genuine goal of the Revolution. They offered only ignorance and terror to their people, in addition to a number of unfulfilled promises and left behind them a country that will always have to bear their cross. I hope it piqued your curiosity enough to discover it by yourself, in case you haven’t read it yet. Enjoy ! Nicole Angélique Rychter.
Hi ! I've only read the Twilight books in English, which, by the way, are way better than the films, you understand what goes on on everyone's minds more than in the movies. Otherwise, I'm addicted to "Southern Vampires" and "Harper Connely's mysteries" by Charlaine Harris. I think you all know "Southern Vampires" because it's also called "True Blood". The other ones are about a woman who can feel dead bodies, so she finds them, and when she touches them she lives the dead's last moments, it's really interesting, so for those who are into fantastic books then you should read those they are really great ! Bye !! Winona Miroy
Hi! I have read "The Hound of the baskervilles" by Arthur Conan Doyle, one of the well-known stories of the awesome detective Sherlock Holmes.It's the first book I've ever read and I really liked it.The book is quite easy to understand, with a lot of suspense and shows the language at the end of the 17th century.
I've never read a whole book in English but only some extracts from Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight".. Which I liked because there were many details and descriptions. That's why I prefer books and not movies! I also studied "Oliver Twist" (which I dislike because of the ubiquitous sadness in the little boy's life) and "David Copperfield" in class, last year.
Otherwise, I'm now reading "Emerald city" by Jennifer Egan (Pulitzer prized) composed of eleven short-stories (and mostly love stories, I could see that there are some addicts here! ) and I'm very pleasantly surprised by the details and character's traits. Besides, it's very funny : one of the most important criterion when I choose a book.
I recently read a wonderful book called ''The Help'' by Kathryn Stockett about America, more precisely Mississipi, during the sixties. It describes life in America during this period, from Black's and White's point of view. We particularly follow three main characters : Aibilee and Minny, two maids, and Skeeter, from a white family. They will all be fighting to change things, in addition to their personal problems and the danger they incur. Each character is really touching and we understand what they feel and why they react in a certain way through the reading. I really really recomend you this book, it is one of the most beautiful book I've ever read, and the characters are really touching ! I hope you'll read it and enjoy it as much as I have!
Hey everybody! During the vacation I read the books from Raymon E. Feist "Magician: Apprentice" and "Magician: Master", but unfortunately, in french and I think I'm going to buy the next books from the saga in English. It's a fantasy book, the story happens in a world called "Mikdemia" with heroes, and so on. Hope you'll ask for it, Good evening.
Hi everyone. I read "No ones belongs here more than you" by Miranda July and I liked this book because it's a lot of short stories which are quite simple to understand and if you don't like one, you can read another that's why it's a book that can be liked by everybody. Enjoy!
Hi everybody !!! If you want to read an easy book, I recommend "Operation Blue Lagoon". It's the first book I ever read in english. The stoty is for children but it's funny.
Hi everyone. I don't really read so much... But the bes book I've read in english so fair is "Matilda" written by Roald Dahl ! I really liked this book, actually I liked all the books I've read from Roal Dahl, but this one is the one I prefered. Bye !
I didn't read any book in english during my holidays but last year, at school, I read "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas" by John Boyne. As Bryan said, it's a beautiful story which takes place in Germany, during the World War II. Thanks to History, everybody knows that a friendship between a Jew and a Nazi soldier's son must be hard. I watched the movie by Mark Herman too, I preferred the book. To my mind, in the book the two boys are described like best friends whereas in the film, they don't seem so close. Moreover, the last sentences in the book are gorgeous, unfortunately this moment isn't showed in the film.
Hi everyone, The last book I've read is called "Precious", by Saphirre. Unfortunately, I've read it in french, but I think I'll buy it in english and probably watch the film. Anyway, this story is about a teenage girl called Claireece Precious Jones. She lives in Harlem, she's an obese, she's illiterate and she's sexually abused by her father. She give's birth, aged 12 to a disabled child. This tragedy tells us her fight against her family, poverty, drugs,... It's probably my favorite book.
But the last book I've read in english is "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas", by John Boyne. I've noticed that others have already talked about it, so I won't talk about it longer. But it's a good one, even if I didn't like the film.
Hi everybody, My favourite book (you probably already know it) is "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. It's about a little girl called Alice who gets bored while her sister is reading a history lesson. Suddenly, a wild rabbit appears, and Alice decides to follow it; she falls down a rabbit-hole and lands on a strange world. She meets crazy people and everything there is nonsense. I love this book and I hope you'll read it someday. Bye ! :)
one of the greatest book I read lately was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. This novel is about Jane Eyre, an orphelan and how she evolues in the Victorian Age. First of all, Jane Eyre is taking in by an abusive and destructive aunt at her parent's death. Afterwards, she will be send to Lowckwood, a boarding school where half of the student by lack of treatment would die by the winter. The, she will quit that school, to meet her soul-mate, Mr.Rochester !
Hello OIBs ! :D The only book that I have read this summer is Animal Farm by George Orwell. It's a short story, easy to read and understand, where animals take over a farm and turn it into a place of corruption and lies. For my first book in english, I found it rather great because the author managed to combine wit and poignancy. So why not give it a go yourselves ? :) Eloïse.
I recently read " The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas " from John Boyne. I would recommend this boook, because the main character is a boy aged 8 so it's really moving. It's a very easy book to read and a beautiful story.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy !
I recommend " ABC murders" from Agatha Christie. It's a great polar and when you've started to read it, you can't just stop until Hercule Poirot finds the murderer. It's not too long and really easy to read.
ReplyDeleteI read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with my english class two years ago, I found it great but a bit short! I also read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, I recommend it because it's interesting, easy to understand and it's about the Second World War seen by an eight yeared old boy.
ReplyDeleteLast year I have read two really interesting books: « Going solo » by Roald Dahl and « Hotel du lac » by Anita Brookner. I found “Going Solo” amazing because it’s the biography of the famous Roald Dahl (the writer of “Charly and the chocolate factory”) during his military service for the World War II. “Hotel du lac” is a quite strange novel but with a lot of suspense, peculiar characters and beautiful landscapes.
ReplyDeleteI read "Letters from Father Christmas" from Tolkien this summer. It's a collection of letters written by Tolkien to his children each Christmas, in which he told and drew the "Pole North tales". Of course, the kids believed it was the Father Christmas who wrote to them! I liked this book, because I found the idea so nice from a father (with a great imagination!) to his children.
ReplyDeleteFew years ago, I begun to read the Georgia Nicolson series, written by Louise Rennison. There is a lot of vocabulary and sometimes it is really hard to understand nevertheless it is hilarious and i found it amazing. I recommend it to you when you have free time.
ReplyDeleteThis summer , I read "the perks of being a wallflower" by Stephen CHBOSKY.This book is really amazing , especially for teenagers , because it counts the story of a freshman discovering high school and how to "participate" , leaving books , studies for a while and just have fun .I found really fun to compare our experience with the main character's one. A film adaptation is releasing on december with a nice cast, so why not ....?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds fun, I will try to read it!! thanks!
DeleteI agree this is an amazing book ! Macha
DeleteHi everybody!!
ReplyDeleteA few months ago I read "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by Tracey Chevalier.
We all know about Johannes Vermeer's painting "Girl With a Pearl Earring". But who was this woman? Was she his wife? Was she a rich man's daughter? Or maybe just a beautiful girl Vermeer met in the street, who knows?
Tracy Chevalier imagined a wonderful story about this so mysterious and beautiful girl. It mixes feelings, paintings and life in the Holland of XVII century.
I recommend you this book because I really enjoyed reading it and I think you will be pleased too!!
Enjoy!!!
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you all heard about the Millenium trilogy, written by Stieg Larsson. This summer I read the first two in french, and absolutely loved them. But right now I'm reading the third volume in English. It's more difficult because there's a lot of specific vocabulary, there'e like really long chapters about Swedish politics, but the story is just amazingly written. All along the books you begin to like the different characters, you're just fascinated by what's going on, you can't stop reading untill you know how the story ends.
For thrillers and detective stories amateurs, I recommend this book.
P.S : And for the girls who are keen on amazingly written super- romantic love stories like I am, I recommend all of the Nicholas Sparks books. (My favourite ones are Dear John, A Walk To Remember, The Last Song, The Notebook.)
Hope you'll like them
Milla Martin-Price
Hi !
ReplyDeleteDuring the Summer, I read "The London Eye Mystery".
When my mother first gave it to me, I didn't want to read it because I thought it was a book for the youngest, but then one day I opended it and I realized it was not that bad (actually it was really cool).
It's the story of a 12-year-old boy named Ted and his sister Kat who take their cousin Salim to the London Eye. He goes up alone, but never comes down. Ted and Kat, whose parents do not listen to them, decide to investigate alone.
This book is very interesting because of its suspense.
I also like the sentence writtten on the cover, which I'd like to quote: "What goes up must come down down...mustn't it ?"
Well, I hope you'll read this book !
Gaspard Poulot
Oh, and I forgot to say this book was written by Siobhan Dowd.
DeleteEnjoy !
Gaspard Poulot
Hello everyone !
ReplyDeleteI've actually never read a whole book in english…
I studied some parts of David Cooperfield and Oliver Twist last year, at school. Charles Dickens's stories are full of coincidences and strange situations so it was really funny. Unfortunately, I won't be able to recommend anything else.
I'd personnaly love to read some Nicholas Sparks's books, as it is exactly the kind of story that I like.
Haha so I think you'll love the Nicholas Sparks books, and if you want I can lend you some I have a lot at home :)
DeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteThis summer I read The picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, it's one of my favourite books so I reccomend it to everyone. Sometimes it's a little bit hard to read because the vocabulary is very rich, but once you get use to it you just can't stop because it's so well written. It's the story of the rise and the fall of a young beautiful man named Dorian Gray who's so obsessed with the idea of staying forever young he's ready to sell his soul for it.
In this book, the author portrays the Victorian society he lived in, following Dorian from his start as an innocent young man with a great beauty to a cruel monster. I think it's a very powerful story, and even though there's a lot of long decsriptions and not so much action, I never got bored.
I hope you'll like it !
I've heard of this book and now that you recommended it, I will try to read it when I get free time!! thanks!!
DeleteHi the OIB :) !
ReplyDeleteI have never read a whole book in english, just some magazins... :/
But I love reading, and, 4 months ago I read the first two volumes of a very exiting serie in french : "The forest of Hands and Theeth" and "The Dead-Tossed Waves" by Carrie Ryan. The story takes place in the future, in an apocalyptique world populated by "damned" a sort of undead person..
This love-story in a lost world mixed adventure, horror and romance and it's very thrilling !!
Now I can't wait the third volume !!!!
Enjoy ;)
Anna Gabrielle Neira
Hi everyone !
ReplyDeleteA few months ago, I’ve read Animal Farm by Georges Orwell, a highly entertaining satirical book that presents the Russian Revolution and the Stalin era through the eyes of a democratic socialist. It highlights the corruption of the leaders of the Revolution, showing to the reader how vicious and greedy they were, and how their expectations were far from the former, genuine goal of the Revolution. They offered only ignorance and terror to their people, in addition to a number of unfulfilled promises and left behind them a country that will always have to bear their cross.
I hope it piqued your curiosity enough to discover it by yourself, in case you haven’t read it yet.
Enjoy !
Nicole Angélique Rychter.
Hi !
ReplyDeleteI've only read the Twilight books in English, which, by the way, are way better than the films, you understand what goes on on everyone's minds more than in the movies.
Otherwise, I'm addicted to "Southern Vampires" and "Harper Connely's mysteries" by Charlaine Harris. I think you all know "Southern Vampires" because it's also called "True Blood". The other ones are about a woman who can feel dead bodies, so she finds them, and when she touches them she lives the dead's last moments, it's really interesting, so for those who are into fantastic books then you should read those they are really great !
Bye !!
Winona Miroy
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI have read "The Hound of the baskervilles" by Arthur Conan Doyle, one of the well-known stories of the awesome detective Sherlock Holmes.It's the first book I've ever read and I really liked it.The book is quite easy to understand, with a lot of suspense and shows the language at the end of the 17th century.
I actually have this book but never opened it, so thank you I'll read it! :)
DeleteGood evening everyone !
ReplyDeleteI've never read a whole book in English but only some extracts from Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight".. Which I liked because there were many details and descriptions. That's why I prefer books and not movies!
I also studied "Oliver Twist" (which I dislike because of the ubiquitous sadness in the little boy's life) and "David Copperfield" in class, last year.
Otherwise, I'm now reading "Emerald city" by Jennifer Egan (Pulitzer prized) composed of eleven short-stories (and mostly love stories, I could see that there are some addicts here! ) and I'm very pleasantly surprised by the details and character's traits. Besides, it's very funny : one of the most important criterion when I choose a book.
Hope you'll enjoy too.
Hi everyone !
ReplyDeleteI recently read a wonderful book called ''The Help'' by Kathryn Stockett about America, more precisely Mississipi, during the sixties. It describes life in America during this period, from Black's and White's point of view. We particularly follow three main characters : Aibilee and Minny, two maids, and Skeeter, from a white family. They will all be fighting to change things, in addition to their personal problems and the danger they incur. Each character is really touching and we understand what they feel and why they react in a certain way through the reading. I really really recomend you this book, it is one of the most beautiful book I've ever read, and the characters are really touching ! I hope you'll read it and enjoy it as much as I have!
Hey everybody!
ReplyDeleteDuring the vacation I read the books from Raymon E. Feist "Magician: Apprentice" and "Magician: Master", but unfortunately, in french and I think I'm going to buy the next books from the saga in English. It's a fantasy book, the story happens in a world called "Mikdemia" with heroes, and so on.
Hope you'll ask for it,
Good evening.
Hi everyone.
ReplyDeleteI read "No ones belongs here more than you" by Miranda July and I liked this book because it's a lot of short stories which are quite simple to understand and if you don't like one, you can read another that's why it's a book that can be liked by everybody.
Enjoy!
Hi everybody !!!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to read an easy book, I recommend "Operation Blue Lagoon". It's the first book I ever read in english. The stoty is for children but it's funny.
Hi everyone.
ReplyDeleteI don't really read so much... But the bes book I've read in english so fair is "Matilda" written by Roald Dahl ! I really liked this book, actually I liked all the books I've read from Roal Dahl, but this one is the one I prefered.
Bye !
Hi everyone.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read any book in english during my holidays but last year, at school, I read "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas" by John Boyne. As Bryan said, it's a beautiful story which takes place in Germany, during the World War II. Thanks to History, everybody knows that a friendship between a Jew and a Nazi soldier's son must be hard. I watched the movie by Mark Herman too, I preferred the book. To my mind, in the book the two boys are described like best friends whereas in the film, they don't seem so close. Moreover, the last sentences in the book are gorgeous, unfortunately this moment isn't showed in the film.
Hope you'll like it as much as me if you read it.
Noémie Vabres
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteThe last book I've read is called "Precious", by Saphirre. Unfortunately, I've read it in french, but I think I'll buy it in english and probably watch the film.
Anyway, this story is about a teenage girl called Claireece Precious Jones. She lives in Harlem, she's an obese, she's illiterate and she's sexually abused by her father. She give's birth, aged 12 to a disabled child.
This tragedy tells us her fight against her family, poverty, drugs,...
It's probably my favorite book.
But the last book I've read in english is "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas", by John Boyne. I've noticed that others have already talked about it, so I won't talk about it longer. But it's a good one, even if I didn't like the film.
Bye, see you tomorrow! :)
Hi everybody,
ReplyDeleteMy favourite book (you probably already know it) is "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. It's about a little girl called Alice who gets bored while her sister is reading a history lesson. Suddenly, a wild rabbit appears, and Alice decides to follow it; she falls down a rabbit-hole and lands on a strange world. She meets crazy people and everything there is nonsense.
I love this book and I hope you'll read it someday.
Bye ! :)
Hi ! :).
ReplyDeleteone of the greatest book I read lately was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. This novel is about Jane Eyre, an orphelan and how she evolues in the Victorian Age. First of all, Jane Eyre is taking in by an abusive and destructive aunt at her parent's death. Afterwards, she will be send to Lowckwood, a boarding school where half of the student by lack of treatment would die by the winter. The, she will quit that school, to meet her soul-mate, Mr.Rochester !
Hello OIBs ! :D
ReplyDeleteThe only book that I have read this summer is Animal Farm by George Orwell. It's a short story, easy to read and understand, where animals take over a farm and turn it into a place of corruption and lies. For my first book in english, I found it rather great because the author managed to combine wit and poignancy. So why not give it a go yourselves ? :)
Eloïse.