5 Books to improve your ENGLISH
It does not matter what stage of life you are in. It does not matter if you are a school student and want to comprehend questions in a better manner, or a college student worrying to sit in placement interviews, or a working professional who wants to actively speak in meetings, but is nervous because of language hesitancy, you need to be fluent in the English language to acquire those goals.
First of all, don’t worry, and understand that English is just a language, and not knowing it does not make you any less. It is just a universally accepted language, that connects people throughout the world. It is merely a connecting medium and not your test of intelligence.
However, it is imperative that effective language and communication skills can take you places. There is not a profession in the world, where you won’t be benefitted from effective English and phenomenal communication skills. Our schools and colleges teach us many things, and I won’t say they are unnecessary, but we cannot deny most of them do not focus on communication skills in the English language. Don’t worry, excellent English Communication is a skill and like any other skill, it is also learnable.
One way to improve your English is to make your environment “English-oriented.” It simply means read books in English, watch English movies, listen to English songs and find someone with whom you can communicate in English regularly.
I am sure you spoke in your mother tongue, way before you went to school to learn that language. Do you know why is that so? Because your environment was oriented to that particular language. Your parents spoke that language, you watched cartoons and TV shows in that language, and you learnt your mother tongue subconsciously. So, in order to improve English, we’ll need to make our environment “English-oriented”, and what better way to do that than reading amazing, simple and enchanting books.
Here are five books, that will help you improve your English impeccably.
1. The Geography Of Lost Things by Jessica Brody:
This is my all-time favourite book and whenever someone asks me to recommend a book, I recommend this one all the time. The reason being, this book is written in such a simple, elegant and contemporary way, you can finish it in no time. It is a love story, but not a cliched one.
This book is about a girl named Ali, who has lost her father and she needs to sell one of his old cars. She is caught in a scenario, where she has to take a ride with her ex-boyfriend Nico. The journey somehow leads to an unknown truth about her father. She also finds out things about Nico, which she otherwise would never have found, had she not taken the journey.
This book feels like going on a long drive along with the characters. The characters of Ali and Nico are wonderfully intricated, they feel like a part of your life.
This book has elements of family, loss, love and relationships, and feels like a cool embrace on a humid day. This book has many beautiful sentences and will help in improving your sentence formation skills profusely. The best part is, the writing is so wonderfully done, your reading becomes effortless.
2. The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune:
The House in the Cerulean Sea is another book, which is written in such an adorable way, you can devour it in a day. This book is one of those feel-good books that brings you comfort amidst this chaotic life. To top it all, the language in the book is elementary and elegant, and any beginner who’s looking for some good books must read this one.
This book has characters who are mostly children, and they all live in an orphanage. Though not bonded by blood, all these six magical children, along with the orphanage owner, Arthur Parnassus are connected with a bond that is out of the world. This book reinstates the faith in found families and humanity.
Linus Baker is assigned a duty to travel to the orphanage and determine whether those six children are so dangerous, that the orphanage should be closed.
This book is actually, thought-provoking, in a way it gives a message, that it’s okay to be different. It also states how when people are different from the norms set by society, it starts demonizing them, even though they are just children. It can be taken as a form of satire as well, considering how minorities, people of colour, or members of the LGBTQIA community go through. The romance between Linus Baker and Arthur is simply endearing to read. The queer representation is top-notch.
This book is an enchanting love story, has magic inside it and will hook you so bad, you won’t be able to get this story out even after you are done with the book (which won’t take long even if you are a beginner, trust me)
3. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling:
This comes as an obvious recommendation, right. You probably have already watched the movie and if you haven’t, go watch it right now. But in case you loved the movies, which I am sure you did, let me tell you, the books are even better.
The best part about these books is that they were initially written as children books, specifically for middle-grade children, so the language can be easily understood, even if you are a beginner.
I can vouch for one thing, that even if you read, just the first part of this book which is, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you will learn umpteen number of new words and your vocabulary will increase massively. It’s not like the book has so many new words, that the reading becomes abstruse, but the words are so cohesively arranged that you understand the meaning of the words contextually, even if you are reading them for the first time.
I highly highly highly recommend reading the first book, and I am sure you’ll love it so much, you’ll most certainly want to continue with the series.
4. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo:
The Poet X is a novel in verse, which means it is written in the form of poetry. All the poems together, form a story. And don’t worry, these are not heavy poems that will give you a headache, they are simple to read and comprehend. So, if you don’t want to commit to reading a full-fledged novel, this book is just for you.
This book is about a girl called Xiomara who often feels unheard, till she joins her school’s slam poetry club. However, she must find a way to do things her way, by concealing it from her conservative family, who force their daughter to obey the rules of the church.
This book deals with so many important elements and is a conversation starter. The protagonist is a Dominican and the representation is phenomenal. The author of this book, Elizabeth Acevedo is an award-winning slam poet, and she has done great justice with this book. This book has an immensely powerful message about being you, no matter the consequences, and not be silent, even if the world may not want to hear.
5. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green:
Chances are, you must have heard about John Green, from one of the most popular books of all time, The Fault in our Stars. While that book is undoubtedly amazing, I believe Turtles All The Way Down deserves much more attention and it is certainly as astounding as The Fault in our Stars if not better.
John Green is one of those authors, you should start your reading. His books feel like home and are written in a language that is simplistic and comforting. This book tells the story of Aza, who often finds herself within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. Aza, along with her friend is also involved in pursuing the mystery of a fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, even though she does not wants to.
This book again deals with many important elements like mental health, anxiety, love and amazing friendship. The characters are so brilliantly woven, you’ll feel like everything is happening in front of your own eyes.
Here is a bonus tip, if you read till here. Whenever you read a book, and you find a particular sentence particularly amazing, or a word you have never heard before, note them down in a separate notebook. Make sure to revisit those paragraphs and sentences. That will subconsciously frame sentence formation skills in your mind, and the learning will feel effortless.
Go on now, conquer the world with your amazing communication skills.
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