Books to read

[pepe00]

Hello teachers
A friend of mine has advised me to read the best-selling books, because, according to him, those kind of novels are very easy to understand and writers try to use a simple vocabulary.
Would you mind to recommend some authors.
Thanks.

[Anglika]

Depends a bit on what you like to read. Avoid Dan Brown. His writing is amongst the worst there is.

Try Stephen King, James Patterson, Ian Rankin, Michael Crichton, John Grisham.

[Abstract Idea]

Hello teachers
A friend of mine has advised me to read the best-selling books, because, according to him, those kind of novels are very easy to understand and writers try to use a simple vocabulary.
Would you mind to recommend some authors.
Thanks.

The best-selling books are not necessarily the easier ones to understand.
There are many specialized ESL publishers, with simplified/graded texts designed for the English learner at various levels.

But the greatest behoof regarding best-sellers in my opinion is that they are widely translated to several languages and many people know their stories. So I think that it is very useful for an English student to read a best-seller translation to his own native language and, some time after, reread it in the original English version.

I advise the student to rely only on original genuine English written books, preferably written by native speakers.

And finally of course one's personal taste plays a central role here. For example I personally like Dan Brown's books.

[Raymott]

The best-selling books are not necessarily the easier ones to understand.
There are many specialized ESL publishers, with simplified/graded texts designed for the English learner at various levels.

But the greatest behoof regarding best-sellers in my opinion is that they are widely translated to several languages and many people know their stories. So I think that it is very useful for an English student to read a best-seller translation to his own native language and, some time after, reread it in the original English version.

I advise the student to rely only on original genuine English written books, preferably written by native speakers.

And finally of course one's personal taste plays a central role here. For example I personally like Dan Brown's books.

I think this is a good idea for some people. I sent away for Italian versions of some Stephen King and Patricia Cornwell novels, read the English versions first, and I find that a good way of learning. You know the basic story, so you don't have to keep looking up the dictionary. You can let most of the words go that you don't understand.
But it might not suit everyone.

[Abstract Idea]

I think this is a good idea for some people. I sent away for Italian versions of some Stephen King and Patricia Cornwell novels, read the English versions first, and I find that a good way of learning. You know the basic story, so you don't have to keep looking up the dictionary. You can let most of the words go that you don't understand.
But it might not suit everyone.

Yes, Raymott, that is precisely the idea. Since you already know the basic story you can continue reading on even if there are some important facts you don't understand quite well. The idea is not to learn by direct comparison or translation of the two languages. Although I cannot see clearly the cons of this "method", I agree it might not suit everyone.

But if one wants to learn Italian, I woud recommend reading Italian authors.

[Raymott]

But if one wants to learn Italian, I would recommend reading Italian authors.

Yes, I can't fault that as a generic piece of advice.

[pepe00]

Thanks a lot for yours answers, i have already read some novels of John Grisham and Danielle Steel, and i found both writers interesting and easy to follow. However most of bestseller's writers are americans, are there others from britain or irland that you could recommend me?
Thank you very much.

[Abstract Idea]

Thanks a lot for yours answers, i have already read some novels of John Grisham and Danielle Steel, and i found both writers interesting and easy to follow. However most of bestseller's writers are americans, are there others from britain or irland that you could recommend me?
Thank you very much.

You may find something interesting here:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/li...tralia-nz.html

[bhaisahab]

Thanks a lot for yours answers, i have already read some novels of John Grisham and Danielle Steel, and i found both writers interesting and easy to follow. However most of bestseller's writers are americans, are there others from britain or irland that you could recommend me?
Thank you very much.

For Irish writers, you could try Roddy Doyle, Maeve Binchy (very easy), Liam O'Flaherty and Walter Macken. From the link that you were given, I can recommend Tim Winton's "Cloudstreet" it's great.

[pepe00]

Thanks a lot for your Help
Cheers.