Awesome English Book Recommendations to Boost Fluency

Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast, the listening

resource for intermediate to advanced-level English learners.

My name is Anna and today we are talking about World Book Day.

Thursday the 7th of March is World Book Day.

Are you going to celebrate?

If so, how?

Perhaps every day is a 'book day' for you!

Chance would be a fine thing; it's not easy to find time to get

into a novel these days, I know.

Nevertheless, we at ELAN wanted to take the opportunity to recommend some

books that we think are well worth the effort of finding the time to read

every day, or every other day at least.

Our first book, "A Week in December" by Sebastian Faulks (2007).

I think that the best way for me to introduce this book is by

mentioning something that the author said in a magazine interview.

He said that one day he had found his teenage son watching a

football match on TV while playing fantasy football on his laptop.

Fantasy football is a game where participants create their own imaginary

teams online; the teams score points according to the performance of

the real players in the real games.

When Faulks saw that the fantasy game was more important to his son than the real

game, he realised that in contemporary life, many of us desire to live our lives

one step away from traditional reality.

You'll find examples of this throughout the novel: the financial market

manipulator, who has lost all emotional connection with his family; the tube train

driver, who escapes into literary novels and parallel life games on the internet;

the son of a successful Asian businessman, who has been radicalised and plans to

commit a terrorist attack on a hospital.

No less important to the story is an idealistic lawyer, an Eastern European

football player getting to grips with a new culture and language, and a failed

novelist turned embittered literary critic who attacks every novel that he reviews,

preferring to champion 19th-century works.

These figures are all interconnected in this compelling exploration

of London in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

The characters seem so vivid that, although I first read the

book more than ten years ago, I still see them clearly in my mind.

Sebastian Faulks skilfully weaves their stories together with a convincing

narrative and memorable observations.

You can see the book as being a reflection on the challenges and contradictions

of the contemporary world, or just as an engrossing series of windows

into the very different lives that people not so far away from us lead.

As you can guess, the story takes place during the seven days before Christmas.

The wife of a conservative MP is organising a dinner party which she hopes

will help him to further his career.

The characters that we follow during the week have either been invited to

the dinner party, or have an important connection with those that go.

Finally, some of them come together and we can listen in on the dinner

party conversations and see how they get along, or not, together.

I think that if you've ever looked at a group of people at an airport

or in an audience at an event and wondered about their lives, their

real lives, you will enjoy this novel.

A measure of how strongly I recommend this book is that now, having told you

a little bit about what I remember, I want to go back and read it to find all

the good bits that I have forgotten!

Read it with curiosity and I'm sure it will reward you.

Book number two, "A Spot of Bother" by Mark Haddon" (2006).

In Britain, if you say you are in a spot of bother, then you are

really understating the fact that you have a considerable problem.

You might be aware that we Brits like to downplay serious or significant

things; when looking out of the window in the morning to see the garden

flooded, we might say something like,

"I think it rained last night."

Or perhaps you've seen the sketch in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail

where the white knight cuts off the black knight's arm with his sword; the black

knight keeps fighting until both his arms and legs have been cut off, saying,

"It's just a scratch, a flesh wound!"

In the novel, A Spot of Bother, retired civil servant George Hall

is certain that a lesion on his thigh is a form of skin cancer.

Rather than accept the diagnosis of eczema from his doctor, George becomes paranoid.

He is heavily preoccupied and attempts to cut out the

lesion with a pair of scissors.

Perhaps the lesion is the central 'spot' of bother, but in this case, instead of

underplaying the significance of something serious, in George's mind, a simple

skin condition is transformed into a life-threatening and life-changing event.

For some reason, it's not something that he is able to talk about with

his wife or grown-up children.

I'll quote a paragraph from the book to give you a flavour of the style of

the writing and George's state of mind.

Talking was, in George's opinion, overrated.

You could not turn the television on these days without seeing someone

discussing their adoption or explaining why they had stabbed their husband.

Not that he was averse to talking.

Talking was one of life's pleasures.

And everyone needed to sound off, now and then, over a pint of 'red ale'

about colleagues who did not shower frequently enough, or teenage sons who

had returned home drunk in the small hours and thrown up in the dog's basket.

But it did not change anything.

While George is going through his private agonies, the rest of his family and

those connected with them are just trying to get on with their lives, lurching

from crisis to crisis as they do so.

One critic wrote that when reading this book you don't

know whether to laugh or cry.

The observations are very close to the bone at times, full of humour

but also tremendous compassion.

You get the internal thoughts of each character as they try to make

sense of what one another is doing.

They think, and they make what they believe to be the best,

and we get to laugh and frown with them at the consequences.

"A Spot of Bother" is a poignant and bittersweet tale.

Some of the behaviour of the characters might frustrate you,

or you might wonder why they are behaving the way that they do.

I think that this is a sign of the way that Haddon makes us care about

them; they seem relatable, either in the form that we find them in the

book, or by reminding us of people that we know who have similar traits.

I instantly had the feeling that the characters could easily be

my neighbours, people from my workplace, or even my friends.

In addition, I would say that if you're interested in how British people

really speak to one another then this book comes highly recommended to you.

I enjoyed reading it just as much as I would enjoy going on holiday.

Book number three, "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom (1997).

This book tells us the story of the transformative and heartwarming real-life

journey that the author takes through his reunion with a former college

sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz.

The story begins when Mitch, the author himself, stumbles upon a television

interview that reveals Morrie's battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Also known as motor neuron disease, a terminal illness which Stephen Hawking

suffered from for most of his life.

Filled with remorse for losing touch with his mentor, Mitch

attempts to reconnect with Morrie.

The narrative beautifully retells the conversations that they have

during their Tuesday meetings.

Through their dialogue, Morrie's philosophy on living a meaningful and

fulfilling life unfolds, and Mitch finds himself not only absorbing

these insights but also undergoing a profound personal transformation.

One of the central themes explored in the book is the impact that

societal expectations and the pursuit of material success have on us.

Morrie challenges Mitch to question conventional notions of success

and happiness, advocating for a life filled with meaningful

connections, love, and self-awareness.

The narrative also expresses the concept of death as being a natural part of life.

Morrie's acceptance of his impending mortality becomes a source of inspiration

for Mitch, prompting him to confront his own fears and reevaluate his priorities.

Albom's writings not only captures the intellectual richness of Morrie's

teachings but also paints a vivid picture of the evolving relationship

between the two characters.

The emotional depth of their connection, coupled with Morrie's wit and humour in

the face of adversity, adds layers of authenticity and warmth to the narrative.

Mitch Albom's journey with Morrie serves as a reminder to us that we should

cherish meaningful connections, embrace life's uncertainties, and prioritise the

things that truly make life worthwhile.

The Tuesday meetings become a ritual and a commitment between the two providing

a structured framework for them to share and discuss various aspects of life.

These regular encounters allow Mitch Albom to not only absorb the invaluable

insights Morrie imparts about love, life, work, and the human experience but also to

offer support to Morrie in his final days.

By sharing the conversations with us in this book, Albom preserves and passes

on the wisdom and encouragement of his former mentor to a much greater audience

than would otherwise have been possible.

In the shadow of mortality, this book shines with spirit.

Book number four, "The Thursday Murder Club", by Richard Osman (2020).

Another book with a day of the week in the title and another book rich in characters

and authentic everyday language.

This time though, we have a murder to investigate.

Or rather, the elderly residents of the fictional Cooper's

Chase Retirement Village do.

Joyce is new to the retirement village and she is quickly charmed by the energy

and life of residents such as Elizabeth, a former intelligence agent; Ibrahim, a

former psychiatrist, and Ron, a former union leader with a chequered past.

To quote Joyce, Cooper's chase is full of "people who have done

something or other with their lives.

There's someone who helped design the Channel Tunnel, someone who has a disease

named after them, and someone who was the ambassador to Paraguay and Uruguay."

When they discover a shared interest in solving crimes, Joyce, Elizabeth,

Ibrahim and Ron form the titular "Thursday Murder Club" and discuss

unsolved cases that Elizabeth brings in from her past experiences.

The peaceful routine takes an unexpected turn when a real

murder occurs in their community.

One of the business partners of Ian Ventham, a very dodgy property developer

and the owner of the retirement home, is found dead, and the Thursday

Murder Club decides to put their investigative skills to the test.

They collaborate with the local police to unravel the

mysteries surrounding the murder.

The further into the case they get, the more the members of the Thursday

Murder Club find themselves caught up in a complex web of secrets,

motives, and unexpected twists.

Joyce notices that her life has changed when she records in her diary that,

"I have become someone who has to keep their mobile on."

The novel combines elements of a cosy mystery with humour and wit, offering

a fresh perspective on crime solving through the eyes of a group of retirees.

The characters' unique backgrounds and personalities contribute to

the charm of the story, and their interactions add depth to the narrative.

The plot is engaging and the action presents the characters as being

full of desire for purpose and excitement in the later stages of life.

In the spirit of criminal investigations, I have a confession to make!

I haven't even finished the book yet!

It's one of those where I don't really need to find out who committed the crime

or 'whodunnit', as we sometimes say.

I just want to keep spending time with the characters and reading their points

of view based on their life experiences.

That's a really clever thing about having older characters in

the book: they've lived through a lot and have plenty to say!

Well, I've recently discovered that there are three sequels to the 2020

original, so I can go ahead and finish it in the knowledge that it won't be

the end of my time at Cooper's Chase.

Before I go back to the first novel in this shortlist, One Week in

December by Sebastian Fawkes, I'll get back into the Thursday Murder Club.

I hope these descriptions have whetted your appetite for World Book Day.

Whatever you choose to read, don't forget that reading in English is a

great way to improve your language skills and to have a good time.

Whether you want a murder mystery, a philosophical work, a look at

contemporary life or just a damn good laugh, there's something for everyone,

every day, in the world of books.

And if you have any suggestions, then feel free to share with us.

Until next time, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

Take care and goodbye.