Reading Makes You a Better Writer (III) - Miscellanous Collection -

Dear students,


I have been asked to recommend some books this week. Lucky us! I am always glad to carry out such a task because I love talking about books. The only "inconvenience" is that there are thousands of titles we can share, and I do not want to bore you with my stuff. It all depends on your taste.  So, please, if you are looking for a specific theme or genre, just leave a comment below and I will try to find something. Besides, I know that some of you are very demanding readers and can help as well. Everybody is welcome to recommend a book - which uses proper English - below. Anyway, before starting, let me remind you of my previous posts on reading, because you might have missed them:

Reading Newspapers and Magazines 

Reading Raymond Carver

Reading Poetry

Reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac

Reading "The Flowers Look Like People at Last" by Charles Bukowski


Let's just proceed now:

Your generation is supposed to have enjoyed the magic of the Harry Potter book series, by J. K. Rowling. As you probably know, after gaining worldwide attention, J.K. Rowling was awarded many times and sold more than 400 millions copies. I am sure that you contributed to her success when you were kids, and that many of you have one or more Spanish translations at home. Therefore, I do not think it will be a big deal to click the link below and get a pdf of the first Harry Potter book. It is easy to read and contains many words and expressions that can enrich your vocabulary:

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone -Book 1

 

Apart from Harry Potter, I have been thinking about other fascinating (short) stories that you might like - something brief and light but sophisticated too - and a title has come to my mind: The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde. I have read this story many times in my life and its beauty has always touched my heart. Even though, in a sense, The Happy Prince is a sad story, I believe there is something blissful and marvellous about it. You might have read this story when you where kids, as I did. Now we have the chance to read it in English and "hear" Oscar Wilde's real voice. In order to do so, you just need to click:

"The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde

 

 

Do you also want to listen to the story? Just play the video below:

As I know there are many fantasy and sci-fi lovers among us, I would also like to recommend a short story by the great writer Ray Bradbury. You can listen to the famous actor Burgess Meredith while reading the Pdf file available HERE. If you feel curious, you can also have a look at this webpage full of resources and continue researching a bit on this short story and others. 

Together with novels and short stories, poems are excellent learning companions. They are short, musical and, sometimes, unforgettable. I am especially fond of British and American poetry so today I would like to introduce you to Mark Strand. He is a Canadian-born poet, essayist and translator. You can watch the video below and listen to Mark Strand reciting one of his poems, The Couple. If you feel like reading the poem at the same time or more slowly, click here.

I hope you enjoy this crazy list as much as I do. I will be back soon with new titles. Finally, as I said before, you are welcome to suggest books, graphic novels, comics, poems, academic essays (yeah!) or any written text you consider worth reading below.


Read you later, my dearest students!