You’ve probably heard of the expression that books are our best friends.
Those who love to read understand this completely.
With books, we can go anywhere in the world, even travel through time. Books can help us be a better person, change our entire perspective, and make us smarter.
Yes, besides many other benefits, thanks to books, we can become smarter and better.
It’s pretty simple: by reading books, we have access to many different words and phrases, which involves expanding our vocabulary.
Every book we’ve read impacts us one way or the other. Maybe you aren’t aware of that, but with every book, you get to learn some new word, phrase, or expression.
Have you ever thought about using books as one of your learning resources?
And are there any proper books to improve English speaking skills?
With thousands of books available, you can surely choose some that, besides being useful, can be interesting to you.
Here’s our list of the 6 outstanding books that can help you with your English skills. Take a break, read our reviews, and pick your favorite book.
6 Oustanding Books to Improve Your English Vocabulary
Finding books that aren’t so challenging to read is pretty challenging. That’s why we’ve gathered some of the popular books that are easy to read and understand.
So, not only will you practice reading, improve your vocabulary, and eventually learn English fluently, but you will also enjoy and enter a new world full of surprises.
Danielle Steel - Until The End of Time
Danielle is a writer who believes in love. Is there anything better than that?
Through the book, there are two different stories, two different relationships.
In one part, Bill, a young lawyer, works in a family company. Suddenly, he decides to leave everything and become a minister in a rural area. His wife, Jenny, a stylist and fashionist, leaves her comfortable and financially safe life to join her husband.
The other story links two entirely different people. Lilibet, an Amish girl who works as if it’s the 17th century and takes care of her father and three younger brothers, wrote a novel that suddenly came to Robert, the publisher. He loves a book so much that not only does he want to publish it, but he insists on meeting that fantastic writer.
If you like easy-to-read and romantic novels, Danielle is a master of romance. The language and phrases she uses are simple, so the book is perfect for intermediate learners.
Agatha Christe - Evil Under The Sun
Like Danielle Steel is a master of romance and love, Agatha Christie is a true mystery and detective novel expert.
Anyone is familiar with her worldwide-known Murder in the Orient Express. But now we think that it’s worth mentioning her other fascinating book, Evil under the Sun.
Her famous main character, detective Hercule Poirot has one more mysterious murder to solve. In this book, Poirot is in Devon, where, among sunbathers, a dead woman’s body is found.
As always, Poirot’s genius mind, attention to detail, and many years of experience will help him solve this puzzle, too.
As for the reading, perhaps some of you may find it a bit challenging because it was written a long, long time ago, and some words aren’t used in today’s world. However, the book will help you enter another world and time, where everything was different, from the dialogues between people to landscapes and relationships.
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone
There’s no person in the entire world that hasn’t heard of Harry Potter, the boy who lived.
His parent died when he was a baby, leaving him with his aunt, uncle, and mean son, Harry’s cousin. Everything looked pretty dull when, on his 11th birthday, he received a letter from a strange place called Hogwarts.
It will turn out that Harry Potter is a wizard and quite famous in the wizard world. From the moment he received that letter, his entire life turns upside down.
If some haven’t read the books or watched the movie, we highly recommend meeting Harry Potter’s world.
If you want to master British English, Harry Potter is ideal. The writing style is simple but full of colors, life, and new words and phrases related to magic. No matter it is written for young adults, every generation enjoys it, from 7 to 77.
Andy Weir - The Martian
Learning English on your own with books is one of the most entertaining ways.
Sci-fi books are a particularly interesting genre. And Andy Weir’s book The Martian is ideal for sci-fi lovers.
As you can guess, the main character goes to Mars. He is an astronaut and is the first man who stepped on this planet. However, something goes wrong. Many think that he is dead and therefore cut off from the Earth. He is very much alive, and he has to use all his skills to find some way to go back home.
Many words and phrases about space, astronauts, and other space topics are something that you’ll notice in the first place. So, if you are particularly fond of space terms, the book is the right choice for you.
Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns
If you still haven’t read this book, then now it’s the right time to do it.
The story is so magnificent and yet too hard when you realize how people struggle in this world to live, stay positive, and to see the light at the end of a tunnel.
It is a story about Afganistan and events that took place from the Soviet invasion until the Taliban’s reign. Two generations struggle to find happiness and start a family in the middle of a war and feel that they might not even survive the following day or week.
There’s no point explaining the entire story of this book. Anyone should read it and see how breathtaking it is.
Words and expressions used in this book are so simple and straightforward, and yet, the writer uses them in a way that even the most simple sentence has a full meaning of what he wanted to put on paper. Any language learner will find this book pretty easy to read and understand, but the entire perspective after reading it won’t be the same ever again.
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
The book is a masterpiece of American literature.
It isn’t ideal only for those who want to practice American English and a book that can teach about the USA’s history.
When it was published during the 1960s, it became popular quickly, and very soon, it won the Pultizer’s Price.
Set in Alabama, a story covers the period of the Great Depression and is told by a six-year-old who lives with his widowed father, a lawyer, and an older brother. The main character’s best friend comes every summer to stay with his aunt, where the three kids spend the whole summer together listening to the rumors about one of their neighbors, imagining all sorts of terrifying things about a man.
Besides humor and positiveness in the book, you have to notice that the racism is at a very high level, especially when a black man is accused of raping a young white woman and the boy’s father has to defend him.
Even though the writing style is straightforward and sentences are easy-to-read, you have to be entirely concentrated if you want to read between the lines and see the story’s main point.
Final Thoughts
Those were some of the books worth reading and the books you can learn English with.
It is hard to choose only several of them, especially because there are still many fascinating books worth reading.
Even three lives aren’t enough to read all the good books in the world.
But look at this the positive way: the ones we’ve chosen are, undoubtedly, the most popular ones that deserve to be read.
As we already mentioned, with books, you can improve your vocabulary, but you can also improve your speaking skills too.
Here’s a suggestion on how you can reverse reading to speaking: talk about the books you’ve read. Besides explaining the books’ plot, try talking about your experience while reading them and your perspective. That way, the vocabulary you’ve built during reading will be fully used.
And, very soon, the result will be apparent.
If you’re looking for other ways to improve your English, try these leading online learning platforms: Start with Babbel, where you can engage in user-friendly, enjoyable lessons that easily fit into your daily routine, designed to make learning English fun and effective. For a deeper understanding of the language, check out Courseras comprehensive English course that cover everything from beginner basics to advanced nuances. For tailored guidance, Preply offers personalized sessions with native English speakers, significantly enhancing your conversational skills. Benefit from a 50% discount on your first session at Preply with this link.
Why are books considered great companions for readers?
Books are often regarded as our best friends because they offer a gateway to diverse experiences and knowledge.
Can reading books help improve English speaking skills?
Absolutely! By reading books, individuals can enhance their English vocabulary and language proficiency.
What are some recommended books for improving English skills, and why?
Several outstanding books can help individuals enhance their English skills. For instance, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling is ideal for mastering British English, offering a captivating storyline rich in vocabulary related to magic. Similarly, "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee provides insights into American literature and history while offering straightforward language that aids comprehension and language learning.
