Need some ideas of books to read? In 2024 I kept track of all the books I read. So far, it’s three books in German and 18 in English. Perhaps I’ll manage to read Die Enkelin by Bernard Schlink before the year end to take my total up to 22.
Anyway, here’s the list of books I’ve read together with some tips about how suitable they are for English learners. The ones in bold are my favourites.
Enjoy the tips and happy reading.
1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – this was a book club choice but the old-fashioned language didn’t go down well.
2. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout – Elizabeht Strout is such a brilliant author but this book which was set in Covid times didn’t appeal to me as much as her earlier ones.
3. Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe – this tells the tale of people living in the Projects in Chicago in the final summer when the buildings were being torn down. Absolutely fantastic but gritty. The language was reasonably ok to understand.
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – I much preferred Remains of the Day
5. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf – totally brilliant and very popular with lots of my students as it is such an easy read about quite profound topics.
6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. More enjoyable than I imagined. Bits of it were rather far-fetched.
7. Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo – brilliant, I loved it.
8. Der Vorleser von Bernard Schlink (auf Deutsch) – this was the third time of reading it, same comment as Great Gatsby. I often tend to forget how books end but can now remember it.
9. Die Analphabetin von Agota Kristof (auf Deutsch) – quite a short, easy read, originally written in French.
10. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald - probably the third time I’ve read it and now I can finally remember what happens at the end.
11. You Are Here by David Nicholls – lots of laugh out loud moments in this book if you get the English humour
12. Wachmeister Studer von Friedrich Glauser (auf Deutsch) – easier to read than some of the other books by Glauser.
13. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - too difficult to read on a summer’s day at the lake.
14. Baumgartner by Paul Auster – brilliant, worth buying the book for the first chapter alone.
15. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin – present from my sister which I read whilst on holiday in Northumberland.
16. Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang – interesting idea, would you steal a manuscript if the author had just given you the only copy and then died?
17. Interpreter of Maladies by Jumpha Lahiri – I think I may have read it before but I liked it so much better this time!
18. How to build a boat by Elaine Feeney - very funny in parts and I learned how to pronounce Tadhg. Not sure about the ending - suddenly it wasn’t clear who the main character was.
19. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy – gritty drama set in Northern Ireland in the troubles. I really enjoyed it.
20. The Things that we Lost by Jyoti Patel – one of my birthday presents this year. Coming of age story as the protagonist tries to find out more about his father, who died before the son was born.
21. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney – slightly difficult to follow in parts but I really enjoyed reading about 23-year-old chess geek, Ivan and his somewhat older girlfriend, Margaret. His older brother, Peter has a 23-year-old girlfriend. Is it ok to have a relationship with such a big age gap?
Reading is a great way of maintaining and improving your English. I currently run two book clubs, which are full, and am hoping to start a new online book club. Send me a message if you want a simple and cost-effective way of retaining your English skills.
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