If your goal for the new year 2022 is to improve your language skills, reading in English is something you should definitely do. In this article, we’ll tell you all the benefits of undertaking this method of improving your knowledge, as well as which are the best books for doing so.
Benefits of reading in English
Reading is one of the most important actions to achieve any kind of learning. Through reading, you can strengthen your knowledge and expand your vocabulary. That’s why reading in English will allow you to gain a better command of the language, as you can learn more and more new words.
Reading a book in English will allow you to get to know the language a little better in an informal way. The fact is that when you learn a new language, you usually learn it theoretically and with rigid contents and examples, which are not at all close to how you speak the language in everyday life.
That’s why the best way to learn a language well is to immerse yourself directly in it and get used to speaking it as naturally as possible. By reading in English, you will learn traditional expressions and casual conversation topics. These will allow you to become more fluent and informal in conversation.
Of course, other advantages of reading in English include the fact that this activity is a learning challenge which, once you have overcome it, will make you feel satisfied and pleased with yourself.
What are the best books to read in English?
Nowadays, there are many books to read in English that you can use to improve your knowledge of the English language. Choosing one is a personal decision that suits your taste in literature. However, we will recommend you some of the best books to start learning English:
The Outsiders
The Outsiders is a novel by S.E Hinton. The length of the book is relatively short and easy to digest, as it is mainly aimed at teenagers. Its plot focuses on the social differences between various groups of young people.
The Outsiders is therefore a must read for learning English. In fact, it is recommended in most American educational programmes, as it is written in very colloquial English, which will allow you to expand your vocabulary and learn more casual expressions.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
This little book called Fantastic Mr. Fox was written by Roald Dahl and is aimed at children. You should know that children’s books are excellent tools for reading in English, as their vocabulary is very entertaining and easy to understand.
For this reason, Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of the easiest to understand books recommended for reading in English. The plot revolves around a wolf who steals to feed his family. In a simple way and with easy-to-understand vocabulary, you can get into this short storyline and learn English on the way.
Animal Farm
Animal Farm by George Orwell is an essential reading in more than one language course. However, its vocabulary is a little more complex, so it is recommended for more advanced language levels.
However, reading Animal Farm in English will give you another, more intellectual view of the infamous communist Russia. Also, the writing style is simple and straightforward, so it’s not too long.
Tuesdays with Morrie
This is an autobiographical piece of writing in which the author, Mitch Albom, recounts some of the lessons and teachings he gleaned from meeting weekly with one of his university professors, who was about to die.
These lessons are collected and published in this book, which will not only give you conversational tools for reading in English, but will also leave you with useful life lessons.
How to start reading in English?
Basically, reading in English is something that will help you improve your language. Therefore, it is very important to start reading about topics that really interest you, especially related to those genres you read in your native language.
For example, if history is your passion, you can start reading in English with books about historical events such as Who’s Counting the Stars? If fantasy is your passion, you can start with books such as Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia.
