Question: What is the best book you’ve ever read in English?

Posted on October 27, 2006
Filed under Admin | 17 Comments

I have a quick question for all B@E readers and listeners out there:

What is the best book you’ve ever read in English, and why did you like it?

Note: Original books only, not simplified books or abridged “easy readers.”

It can be fiction or non-fiction. I’m mainly interested in books that are so fantastic that you hope everyone will have the chance to read them someday. But if that’s a tall order for you, then just tell me about any book that you really liked. You can write as much or as little as you like.

I’d be grateful if you could post your answers in comments, or email me. Or why not record your answer?

I’ll summarize all of the responses I get in a later post so that everyone will benefit from all your suggestions!

Thanks in advance,
Lori

Here is the background to my question:

Some of my students are reluctant readers, even in their own language. I’ve made it my personal mission to help them discover the wonderful experiences that reading has to offer. But even though I’m a trained teacher and a voracious reader, it’s still difficult for me to accurately judge how difficult a book will be for non-native speakers of English. And it’s even harder to judge how enjoyable a book will be for them (even if they can handle the “level” of the language).

As I see it, there are four main factors that interact to make a book more or less readable and enjoyable (your own list may differ):

1) The complexity of the language (sentence structure, overall readability)
2) The vocabulary
3) The cultural knowledge that the reader needs to know to “get” the content of the book
4) The reader’s interest in the overall topic or story itself

I’m pretty good at guessing about points 1 and 2, but 3 and 4 are much harder!
So your input will be a big help!

17 Comments

Comments

17 Responses to “Question: What is the best book you’ve ever read in English?”

Marek says:

October 27, 2006 at 11:08

My favourite book is ‘One for the Money’ written by ‘Janet Evanovich’. I haven’t the opportunity to speak much english because I’m from Germany and I’ve already left school. But in my freetime I often read Englisch literature.
The book ‘One for the Money’ is extremely funny and also exciting. And I like the writing style, too. Just the matter of fact that the author is using a lot of slang words is pretty difficult. But with a dictionary next to you it’ll work
What’s the book about? There is this woman Stephanie Plum, who losts her job and now searching a new filling job. Accidentally she gets an job as bounty hunter. But she hasn’t expected that this job will be as difficult…

I hope my english isn’t that worse
Juanmi says:

October 27, 2006 at 11:11

Hi lori, I only have read 3 original english books – I have read more but the other ones are adapted books – In my opinion, the best is “The importance of being Earnest” by Oscar Wild (New mermaids, edited by Russell Jackson).
I think that the language is simple, the vocabulary is very small because they talk about ordinary things and book is funny and interesting.

The only problem is that there are many people that don’t like reading plays, I love going to the theater and reading plays, but somebody think that plays are not good readings due to there are no descriptions neither narrations. However, from my point of view, plays are dynamic and if you imagine the piece while you are reading you can enloy yoursefl a lot.
Lori says:

October 27, 2006 at 11:24

Marek – thanks so much for your book advice! And don’t worry, this isn’t a grammar test. Your English was just fine — I understood what you were trying to say with no strain or irritation on my part).

Juanmi – Thanks! BTW, it’s good you mentioned “adapted” books. I’m interested in original versions, not simplified books or readers. I’ll edit the post to reflect that.

Just like you, I enjoy reading plays but know a lot of people who don’t. I’ve not read that play myself, but will have to give it a go based on your recommendation.
Thomas says:

October 28, 2006 at 17:11

I love reading the “FIGHTING FANTASY” series from steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. I’m not 100% sure if they’re ORIGINAL. But they’re very likely. The books are targeted mainly at kids but manu adults I know around the world just love them! It’s potentially addictive and once you’re hooked up on the series you just wanna read all of them! They’re unique in that the reader PARTICIPATES in the story and adventure as the reader IS the hero or heroine in the book. their official site is http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com

Sorry, but I’m not a fan of classical books (perhaps I shouldn’t be writing a comment at all for that matter) but what I want to point out, from what language-learning experts have been saying, is that if books (or any other materials) were INTERESTING or FAMILIAR enough to the reader then the reader will be motivated enough to read them, and actually learn something without being forced to.

Although I’m still learning english, i read that series not for this reason but just to enjoy that gamebook. And, interestingly, the books are the only British books that I enjoy reading.Generally I prefer American authors because British books tend to be too formal in their writing.
Lori says:

October 28, 2006 at 17:22

Thanks for your comment, Thomas. Don’t worry about the classics thing. I’m interested in any book, classic or not, that B @ E readers/listeners loved and would recommend to others. And by “original” I mean that it should be the original text, not a simplified-for-language-learning-purposes version.

I *completely* agree with you (and the “experts”) about letting your interests be your guide. If you do loads of reading for enjoyment or to learn about things you are interested in, you will absorb a lot of “free” knowledge about vocab and grammar, all while you’re having fun!

I’m not a big fan of classical books either (with some notable exceptions). Sometimes I think books are considered classics just because a bunch of 8th-grade English teachers have said they are, not because they’re particularly great. Emperor’s new clothes, and all that…
alberto says:

October 29, 2006 at 21:11

Hi Lori,
I’m still learning english and I have read a few books in language till now.
I really suggest two of them; far different but both gave a good time.
The one I liked more is Animal Farm by G.Orwell. Language is clear and not to much complex. Moreover where there are specific words unknow for me, the context helps a lot to understand the meaning. I mean: the story set is a farm, so many words are connencted to rural life.
Another book I read was Harry potter and the philosoper’s stone. On my opinion is a little harder than Animal farm becasuse of language ( I needed to open the dictionary quite often, this got me bored sometimes) but it is fancy and imaginative. I don’t know what your students age is, but if they are keen on HP…
I’m new at Better at english and I like your podcast. Good work!
Alberto, Italy
Lori says:

October 29, 2006 at 21:28

Thanks for your comment, Alberto!
I loved Animal Farm as a child, even though the ending gave me the creeps. I’ve always wanted to re-read it as adult because as a kid I didn’t understand much of the subtext (all the political stuff). It was just an interesting (but rather depressing) story about talking animals to me.
I only teach adult students, so I’m mainly interested in books that an adult would enjoy. I know a lot of adults who enjoy the Harry Potter series, but I’ve not delved into it myself. Thanks so much for the tips!
Changusa says:

October 31, 2006 at 23:11

Dear Lori,
Frankly to you, I don’t remember I have completed any original english novel (other than some college text book) even though I have tried many, many times with different novels. Recently I have tried the following books with my iPod:
1. The adventure of Huckleberry Finn – too much dialect, I’m not ready for that
2. The adventure of Tom Sawyer – too much dialect, I’m not ready for that
3. The wizard of Oz – unrealistic, I’m too old for enjoy that fairy tale
4. Senor Payroll – a short story, I enjoyed it and searching for the next one

Hope someone can read the book with short explanation of the “idiom and slang”
used in the book, also the culture background usage.
Lori says:

November 1, 2006 at 07:18

Thanks for your suggestions, Changusa! It looks as if you’ve been trying to read some fairly difficult books — Mark Twain’s books feature a lot of dialect (if I remember correctly). They are wonderful books (I loved them as a child), but I can imagine they’d be really challenging for non-native speakers. I didn’t realize that there were books available on iTunes; thanks for the tip!
Kristof says:

November 1, 2006 at 11:45

Hey there,

I’ve read a lot of “obligatory” English literature in school, ranging from “Lord of the Flies” to Shakespeare.

A book I like an enormous lot but that are, in my opinion, very advanced reading would be the Sylmarillion by Tolkien. It actually took me four years to get up to reading past the first chapter. I kept reading the first Chapter again because I didn’t understand what was written. But now that I do, I like it a lot.

An easier book would be the Amber series, by Roger Zelazny. It’s a thrilling storyline (10 volumes!) but always interesting. The language is fairly easy-going. One of the more easy-to-read books by Roger Zelazny.

Imajica by Clive Barker is fun to read. It’s not very difficult and it has a lot of interesting stuff: horror, magic, fantasy and a bit of carnal pleasure. Always good to keep you reading.

Terry Pratchett’s always a lot of fun to read, not very difficult and especially the earlier versions are thin enough to encourage one to read it (ie, not the 300+ page paperbacks that one looks at and goes “TOO MUCH WORDS!”). It does require some knowledge of British English but it’s also good to expand vocabulary and it’s hilarious to boot.
Udo says:

November 1, 2006 at 12:43

Hi all!

I have read the book Brave New World. This book is Aldos Huxley most famous novel.
It was published in 1932 and it seemed do be pure fiction.
But a lot of the fantastic topics are realistic, now.

A. Huxley was a British author.

I enjoyed the easy language and with a dictionary by your side, it is good to understand.
And funny reading. My respect to A. Huxley to his farsightedness book

On http://www.huxley.net/bnw/index.html you can find the text of brave new world.

To Lori: Thank you for that great stuff, I enjoy every episode.

Udo from Germany
claudia says:

November 3, 2006 at 00:44

Someone called “Deception point”, as well as the others Dan Brown’s books, a non-book. May be. But I really enjoyed it. It’s action from start to the end, and it’s written in clear, simple english. A perfetct book to read almost without dictionary, even for a beginner as I am. I recommend it very much.
Christiane says:

November 3, 2006 at 18:39

Dear Lori,

I have read a lot of books in English already, but I have to admit: it was the whole Harry Potter series I liked best! The witch-and-wizard-vocabulary is quite easy to learn from the context, even without a dictionnary. Apart from that the language ist easy to understand and the story is thrilling and enjoyable.
I like detective stories as well, such as from Elisabeth George, Colin Dexter, or Ian Rankin, but the language used there is more complicated. And I loved Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, which is so funny and entertaining that you forget to look up the words you didn’t understand altogether. At the moment, I am reading one of Terry Pratchett’s novels as recommende by Kristof and it seems to be promising.
Hope that my comment is useful!
Lori says:

November 3, 2006 at 23:30

Kristof: Thanks for the tips! I actually liked Lord of the Flies; the scene where Simon’s body is pulled out into the sea is one of the most beautiful passages I’ve ever read. Never made it through the Silmarillion, though. Tried several times and it just didn’t do it for me. But I love LoTR (waaaaaaay before the darn movie that makes me feel like a bandwagon hopper every time I mention liking Tolkien). The Pratchett book sounds interesting!

Udo: Thanks for the nice comment and the tip about Huxley’s book. I’d love to re-read that one myself sometime — it’s been ages. It’s interesting that you mention reading with a dictionary by your side. That’s a great way to make sure you look up unfamiliar or interesting words!

Claudia: Thanks for the tip! Several others have written to recommend Dan Brown’s book. I’m not sure what you mean by it being a “non-book,” maybe it’s not considered worthy literature by some teachers? I think learners should read anything that they can get their hands on that interests them. Reading for pleasure is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.

Christiane: Thanks for all your recommendations. I know *so* many people who really like the Harry Potter books that I’m going to have to sit down and read them myself one day. I don’t know if it was Kristof’s tip that got you to read the Pratchett book, but I hope you enjoy it regardless!
Matteo says:

November 13, 2006 at 13:44

My Dear Lori,

I recomend Dracula by Bram Stoker. I guess it’s the best book I’ve read in English. It displays different styles of writings in a very unique narrative structure, built by assembling diary entries, paper articles, letters and more. Everithing is written in an old but most fascinating manner and the story is, by the way, awsome.

If your students are “frightened” of reading a whole book in English I think you could also suggest some “faster stuff”, like good magazines. My favourite one is National Geographic Magazine.

I hope it isn’t late to comment this topic…

Keep up with the good work,
Matteo, Italy
Felix says:

December 15, 2006 at 21:42

Hi Lori,
I just wanted to add that the book “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” written by Mark Haddon was both brilliant and easy to read. Another good read is Harry Potter. Most of you know the story and the characters already. So it should be easy to get into it quickly.

Thanks for your great work,
Felix
Vincent says:

January 23, 2007 at 00:15

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
I got to know the novel a couple of years after watched the namesake movie directed by David Fincher. Fight Club is cult as hell. It’s smart, refreshing, and most importantly, i see Buddhist wisdom in it. My thesis paper is to analyze Fight Club as a Buddhist movie.