What are you reading? A group discussion about books.

Hello everyone, I'm Gill at engVid and today we have I think a rather interesting different

kind of session for you and you may have seen some of my interviews one to one or one to

two but this time there are one, two, three, four, five of us and we're all going to have

a nice chat about books and reading so and to encourage you our viewers if you don't

already do any reading particularly in English to encourage you to do that because it can

help with your language learning and also I hope you read in your own native language

too.

So okay so I'd like to start by introducing everyone so I'm going to go on my screen the

order people are on my screen we have Anna who is in Mexico and so Anna's first language

of course is Spanish and Anna also has her own YouTube channel which is called Butterfly

Spanish so anyone who is learning Spanish or would like to learn Spanish do have a look

at Anna's channel called Butterfly Spanish so welcome Anna okay thank you thank you and

then so then Alex from Canada who also has his own YouTube channel because he is another

EngVid tutor like me so you've probably seen him already through EngVid so Alex also has

his own YouTube channel and some of his videos are on the subject of books and reading so

if you haven't already watched some of those do have a look over on EngVid Alex okay so

welcome Alex thank you happy to be here thank you okay and then we have Alexandros who is

hi there and who is from Greece originally but I gather you're based in the UK up in

the northwest of the UK so welcome Alexandros okay and then also finally but last but not

least Felipe hi Felipe welcome and so Felipe from Brazil originally but also based in the

UK in London I think so hi Felipe hello hello thanks thanks for being here so thanks all

of you for being here that's great so maybe if would somebody like to start by offering

volunteering to hold up any books you happen to have handy and just briefly tell us maybe

what you're reading at the moment or what you've read recently and just to show a little

selection so maybe Ana would you like to start and show us some of the books you've got with

you today yes of course I will I have them ready here and I have well I'm going to show

this one because this was one of the first books I read when I started speaking English

in a more normal or when I became more confident speaking English and for me this book is very

important because it was like when I reached that threshold when I felt confident to read

in English more with more with more confidence with understanding more so this is I, Claudius

by a British author Robert Graves so this was probably one of the first books I read

in English and I still love it and go to it often to enjoy it I in in Spanish I just recently

I was reading this that's how Maya Mayans live just because I'm in the region where

the Mayan culture is the most important so I was just trying to understand the way they

lived and the way they ate and their traditions and everything like that's this is how the

Mayans lived and it is a very let's say an easy book because it's just an introduction

so it doesn't get into a lot of detail but that's what I wanted I just wanted to know

and well I'm learning French so I have my two French books one my textbook and I'm reading

this but obviously I don't speak French so I am just going by page you know and by sentence

like paragraph so this is these are what these are the books that I am currently having my

hands on that's great so has anyone read maybe I, Claudius or seen any sort of television

adaptation of the book I remember watching that when it was first on television in the

1970s it was a very popular series about the the Roman emperors and Claudius in particular

and the emperors just before Claudius and the lead up to him becoming emperor I think

he was the most unlikely person to be a Roman emperor wasn't he because he had a terrible

stutter, he couldn't speak very well so he wasn't a very impressive sort of person was

he but he for some strange reason he became emperor maybe nobody else was available at

the time so he stepped into the job I don't know so he was the only one left in his family

who survived all the poisoning that were very normal yes yes relatively normal yes

by being quiet you know yes yes so it's a very interesting book so okay that's lovely

so perhaps Alex Alex would you like to just briefly tell us what what books you have available

there where you are sure so first of all I do have kids so when we were planning this

video one of the things that you know you discussed is what is the most recent book

you have finished and for me the most recent book I read was last night the pigeon has

to go to school by Mo Willems so honestly like if you have children and you want them

to learn English Mo Willems is a fantastic writer he does like kind of comic book style

like you can see here and his his two most famous kind of characters or series are these

pigeon books so Mo Willems right here and the other most famous stories and characters

that he has are Piggy and Gerald so there's Piggy the pig of course and Gerald the elephant

and they have like you know long adventures the vocabulary is relatively simple so even

if you are a beginning English student don't be ashamed to pick up like a children's book

for example okay so yeah Mo Willems Piggy and Gerald as well as the pigeon books he

has a whole series of them and as you can see here he writes a ton he draws a ton he's

a great artist and yeah so that's the most recent thing I've been reading personally

when I don't want to read children's books I'm also really into Star Wars as those of

you who have watched my videos have probably figured out by now so lately I have been reading

a lot of Star Wars novels one of the ones I finished most recently is Ahsoka by E.K.

Johnston so right now at the time of recording the Mandalorian is pretty big on Disney plus

for example and Ahsoka shows up in season two this book I would recommend it to like

upper intermediate English students it is a young adult fantasy novel or space fantasy

if you want to call it that and yeah if you enjoy Star Wars if you enjoy the Mandalorian

or if you enjoy the Ahsoka character this is a really strong novel by a Canadian author

E.K. Johnston she is also an excellent follow on Twitter so I recommend that and I finished

that one and currently I am reading Star Wars Catalyst a Rogue One novel by James Luceno

it's probably backwards in the video that's okay and if you enjoyed the Rogue One movie

this is a prequel to the movie and this one I really recommend only for advanced learners

of English and you have to be a Star Wars fan kind of to enjoy this one because it goes

into you know history background details so if you are if you do enjoy Star Wars or if

you enjoyed the Rogue One movie Catalyst by James Luceno is an excellent prequel well

so far you can see how far I am so it's yeah that's what I've been reading lately a lot

of Star Wars books it's not the only thing I read but with the Mandalorian getting me

excited lately that's what I have been reading.

Great that's lovely thanks Alex so I guess you're a keen sci-fi science fiction which

gets abbreviated to sci-fi you're a fan of the sci-fi type of book and I guess so I mean

do people watch the films is everyone are you all Star Wars fans of the films?

You won't hurt my feelings if you're not it's okay.

But I don't read I'm a fan of the movies and the Mandalorian but I don't I haven't read

anything.

Alexandros and Felipe are you are you Star Wars fans or sci-fi fans at all?

Not the first preference but I would like to start read some of them maybe.

And Felipe are you a sci-fi fan at all or do you watch the films?

It's the same for me it's not my first preference but I'm starting to explore it a bit now but

I didn't start with the Star Wars I'm starting with some other stuff.

Okay okay okay that's great so right so Alexandros then would you like to just show us your selection

of books?

Yeah I don't know from where to start but okay so the first one it's Rumi he's he was

a Persian poet he was a mystic philosopher I like I don't know I like a lot his poetry

I fear he gave me some enlightenment I don't know it's difficult to express I think poetry

is something personal so sorry it's my first video so it's difficult.

Oh no it's fine no I'm just thinking poetry we're very keen on poetry I have a few videos

on engVid about poems so I'm very glad that you've brought a poetry book there so do you

like poetry generally as a type of literature?

For me poetry I think it's it's hard to explain but I think I'm not mature enough yet so I

read sometimes but I think I need more maturity to get into so it's hard it's hard to explain

but I think I'm not ready sometimes I read because I used to live more I used to read

more philosophical books so for me it was easier to transit from the poetry.

So yeah that's good because poetry can be quite difficult to understand as well because

of the way it's written the style of it can be you know you have to work at it sometimes

to understand what the poet is saying so there's that it's quite a challenge isn't it sometimes

this is the reason I'm not yet to poetry it's very challenging because something very personal

what you have inside you so it's difficult to understand so anyway that's good and something

else you have yeah the second because I'm Greek in a way like Aristotle this is the

Nicomachean Ethics and this book is about happiness in a way in a philosophy sorry in

a philosophical way and it helps you it explains you in a way how to be happy through the way

for virtues sorry I feel a bit stressed so it's difficult to express myself usually I

can talk more but I feel that my mind is stuck so I will not say a lot about a books because

it's my first video that's fine again philosophy you you've chosen the really difficult subjects

poetry philosophy they are very hard to talk about I think for space fantasy in your life

it's easier to talk about just like swords and fights that's what you yeah I have one

book that is fiction so it is the next one Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy before this book

I was lost in relationships and I think through all these 1000 pages I think I think it helped

me to know what I know I mean I definitely recommend it and the others of course but

it helped me to know what I'm looking for in a way sorry so I was going to say I like

the way you said it helped you to know what you know yeah because I think that's reading

novels it often sort of confirms things in in your own mind about what you know about

life and human beings and how people behave I think that's a very sort of deep thing that

you said just then it helped you to know what you know I think that's a very interesting

way of putting it so sorry carry on I just wanted to comment and the end even surprised

me because it finished with a sense of good I was surprised but I it was very again philosophical

in a way because it's Tolstoy so the last book I would like to talk is from a Chinese

philosopher sorry about that but I have sorry about that so this is Chuang Chung it's called

Inner Chapters and it's about Taoism and I like the way of the construction of the book

what I mean it has it has the Chinese letters I don't know how to read Chinese it has also

nice picture and small text so it's humorous I mean it's very deep and at the same very

humorous I mean he give very humorous examples to understand about personal growth about

what is very important in our lives and I like that I like the humorous way to say to

speak about great ideas and and that the design is lovely because usually if you get a book

of philosophy it's like Aristotle playing chess to have some pictures it's always nice

to have some pictures in a book I think it breaks up the text it helps a lot for the

understanding I mean everything is carefully chosen I mean either the picture I mean so

it has some titles like Happy Wandering, The Quality of All Things, The Secret of Growth,

Human Affairs, Signs of Full Virtue, The Great Master, The Seeking, the first one is Happy

Wandering with this guy so I mean it helps a lot to the pictures. It's nice and even

having the Chinese lettering as well it sort of puts you in touch with the the culture

doesn't it to see the different style of writing so that's great lovely many thanks Alexandros

very interesting selection thank you so Felipe would you like to show us your choice of books

for today? Yeah I will show you first I'll show you the book I am currently reading as

you will know I like English literature so I'm reading now Pride and Prejudice. Wow yeah

and this is the one I am reading now another one that is English and it's one of my favorite

books is it's not exactly science fiction but it's a dystopian fiction and I think that's

the genre I prefer maybe and this one is Clockwork Orange one of my favorites ever. Usually I

prefer fiction but I read this one that is a non-fiction book called In Cold Blood by

Truman Capote and it's really good I really recommend this one it's really good and one

in my own language by Jose Saramago the Portuguese writer called I don't know the name of this

book in English I'm so sorry it's I think it's the it's the version of Jesus Christ

about his own about the Old Testament no not the Old Testament that the New Testament it's

his own perspective about it. Ah so that would be perhaps the Gospel According to? Yes that's

the one yeah this one is also really good yeah really really good book and even in Portuguese

is quite difficult to read you know because Saramago has a very particular style but if

you have a chance to read it in English I recommend it. Wow that's a really interesting

selection of course the Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen English novelist that's quite

hard hard to read it's very humorous I think it is very subtle humor isn't it so has anyone

else read any Jane Austen novels at all? Only in university I have Northanger Abbey on my

bookshelf downstairs I find the writing style is still very readable you know even in in

today's century and yeah I you know I enjoyed the book I haven't read Pride and Prejudice

I've of course heard all the praise that it has gotten I'm sure there's a reason it's

a classic but yeah I remember reading Northanger Abbey in university and I bought the book

again because I remember enjoying it in university so it's sitting on my ever-expanding bookshelf

downstairs and and also of course Pride and Prejudice has been made into a film well several

film versions have hasn't it and TV series I think as well and Clockwork Orange is another

one which was made into a film I think in the 1960s Felipe can you remind me 1960s or

70s there was a film made of a Clockwork Orange yeah I don't I can't remember exactly when

but yeah it was somewhere in the 60s or 70s and I watched the film first and then I went

to the novel yeah because when the film was first made I think it was banned you know

it wasn't allowed to be shown it wasn't just an ex film it's very violent film in this

country for adults only but it was so violent that they they wouldn't show it at all at

any cinema in in the UK anyway so I don't know if the violence comes across a lot in

the book itself does it seem quite violent reading it does it's very it's very humorous

as well you know and even when he is describing the because it's it's the main character this

he is narrating the story and even when he's describing the violent scenes it comes across

very humorous in a way so it's like a contradiction yeah yes and then In Cold Blood which you

said is a true story I've read that one myself and it's it's so detailed isn't it it's about

a crime that's committed by two men and the detail it's very sort of like a journalist

telling the story in a way isn't it because he goes into all the detail I don't know if

anyone else has read it In Cold Blood by Truman Capote it's it's so well written but it's

also horrible because of the crime you know just an unnecessary crime that you can't even

understand why why did they commit that crime what what was the reason it was just so random

you know and it's also a very it's a very gripping book because once you start reading

you can't put it aside you just have to finish it yes yes so so that's great thank you that's

a great selection there very interesting okay so I think perhaps if we could then have a

chat between ourselves about your preferred type of book maybe you've already said but

whether you like a history book or fiction or travel biography science fiction perhaps

for Alex but would anyone like to say anything about that your particular preferred type

of book well I say something I think one of the things that Alexandro said is that he

likes the enlightenment that's on the philosophy books gives him and I think that is a that

is something I I really enjoy from philosophy books and and also poetry that it's so personal

for me though one of the things I like the most reading the most is historical fiction

that's how I started reading I, Claudius because I like historical fiction in Spanish and English

too and and one of the things I would like to say is that I like historical fiction because

well I like history but also because historical fiction teaches me from a different period

so for me reading it's kind of escaping my time and and just move to a different time

and period and and to know more about the traditions and and customs and all that and

and maybe less about learning about my own world my the world I live in that that's what

I like historical fiction and yes basically that's that's that's what I wanted to say

that that's one of the books or what I talk about thank you yes I think it's fascinating

because you you see people in a different period in history maybe in a different country

as well from the country you're in but you can see how people have to I always think

people have to live within whatever situation they're in you know and things were different

in the past so if people say for example why didn't women stand up for themselves more

you know 200 years ago I think it must have been really difficult whereas now you know

say in the UK or North America or wherever you know women it's sort of more there is

more equality although there's still I think there are difficulties still but you know

to look at someone in a really a different culture altogether and an earlier period in

history and you start to understand what the difficulties were how to survive and how to

exist within that the structure that you find yourself in you know it sort of gives you

more of an insight I think so and does anyone want to add to that or comment on you know

reading about people in a different country or a different period in history

I can follow up a little bit so you know I know Alexandros was talking about reading

books on philosophy and you mentioned Aristotle I don't want to say I only read science fiction

like I think there's a slight image of me maybe from my own fault that I only push like

Star Wars science fiction fantasy I actually really love philosophy and one of this book

is always in my bathroom to be quite honest with you so my camera doesn't show it very

well it's The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and it looks at Stoic philosophy what are

the best ways to live it also talks about you know the virtues that we should try to

be good and do good not because of the praise that we get for it but because good for good

sake basically and I think Aristotle repeats some of this as well so you know I very much

enjoy you know introspective books such as you know Meditations by Marcus Aurelius or

philosophy books some poetry but really I like Escaping into Fiction because number

one science fiction it's about what is possible right so I look at science fiction as the

fiction of the possible Star Wars doesn't fit into that so much is Star Wars is more

so about escapism and it does look at morality in a very kind of binary way right there is

the good side and there's the bad side it gets more complex than that in the middle

and I think it lines up quite well actually with philosophical books which look at you

know how do you judge an action to be correct how do you know that something is right is

it the consequence of the action is it the intention of the action you know does your

intention matter at all so I think there is some of that in Star Wars as well so that

I think that's why those two things mesh well for me because you can see philosophy in fiction

once you have a framework to work from like when you have like a Marcus Aurelius or an

Aristotle you can start seeing that in other stories whether fictional stories or non-fiction

stories so when it comes to you know historical fiction I can't think off the top of my head

the last historical fiction novel I've read I'm sure I've read them but yes books have

definitely helped to expand my worldview have taken me to other places a lot of stuff like

even fantasy novels like one of my favorite fantasy authors is Neil Gaiman one of the

books I finished last year The Ocean at the End of the Lane it's a very short novel it's

only like a less than yeah just over 200 pages and it is a fantasy novel it's about a middle-aged

man who goes back to the town where he grew up for a funeral but it has fantastic elements

to it but it talks about like you know how we remember the nature of memory the horrible

things that happen to you in childhood and trauma and how you process them as an adult

or in some cases don't process them and then it becomes an issue for you so like fantasy

there is an optimism to it and it also it's a it's a vehicle for exploring very real human

concerns very real human issues and problems so for that reason I mean I love Escaping

into Fantasy because you get like magical worlds and fairies and weird stuff while also

exploring very real very human issues I think some people are maybe a bit prejudiced against

reading books or prejudiced against reading fiction because they say well it's not real

they're not real people but the thing is that they're kind of representative types of people

characters who you know do things and say things they make decisions whether to do a

good thing or a bad thing and you then think about their motivation why did they do that

what were the consequences and then you see a whole story unfolding and you might think

then about yourself would I oh I wouldn't do that you know I can see what the consequences

would be of doing that bad thing so I would never do that you know but then someone in

a book does a good thing and good things come from it and you and you sort of admire them

for it and you know there's a lot of sort of learning of how to behave and you know

the best way to live your life through fiction as well as philosophy and poetry which has

a lot of usually a lot of feeling emotion in it going very deeply into the person's

psychology perhaps and you know how they feel about something that's happened to them and

so on so I think books are you know amazing really how you can learn so much from them

perhaps unexpectedly sometimes so okay so maybe now we could sort of go back to like

your book that you just mentioned Alex where the man goes back to where he came from if

we go back to sort of childhood days and whether anyone do you remember learning to read as

a child the books you had at home books you read at school any particular teacher who

perhaps inspired you whether you joined your if you had a local library would anyone like

to talk about what memories Alexandros do you want to say something about your early days

yeah it was difficult for me to read books it was really difficult I couldn't read either

two sentences and then I but I used to like I like science to read science book about

biology I was very in a way into that but when I was 16 years old for a reason I had

I started reading I mean some are talking about Plato another so Plato make me

I mean not this not exactly this one but because I read it in in Greek but this is a good

translation left is from Harvard so and I start looking in I mean non-fiction make me read all

the other things and give me a meaning in my life and I don't know it gave me a purpose

it helped me to be a better person and to and I haven't resolved all the conflicts but it helped

when I'm reading about a reason I like philosophy because it creates me a stability a mental

stability so it protects me it's like a shield so and also it makes me open-minded to accept

other ideas I mean either some philosophers that don't like poetry they don't like about

fiction I don't know when I'm reading philosophy give me a lot of inspiration to write poems

to to to create art I mean it's I don't know it opened my mind it opened my horizons

I don't know so this is Plato this is this is where I disagree with Marcus Aurelius because

he he says don't waste your time reading like beautiful letters or writing wonderful poems

focus on what you need to do like it's a very practical philosophy for life but that's the one

but that's the one area where I say no no no I'm also going to enjoy reading beautiful poetry

and reading beautiful letters as well I agree but some Marcus Aurelius was one of my favorite

philosophers and this edition is the best I think this is the best English translation of

Marcus Aurelius but I think somewhere it says that you can find beauty even in ugly things so

I don't sometimes we paraphrase things and I think stoic philosophy can guide you to be

you know to be more strict to be like a rock but I don't think they want something like that I mean

stoicism is about accepting what you have and of course I know what you mean but there are some

passages in Marcus Aurelius that they discover beauty they rediscover rediscover beauty I mean

in ugly things or it says somewhere about you know what we like about bread it that in some

points you remember that passage I think it's of course in the fourth book of him in it may be in

the five I don't remember exactly but it says we like bread because in some points it become you

know this it you know what I mean it breaks open in the oven and he talks about like the

the spit of the lion or like he's like yeah yeah so he's not about he doesn't like poetry

of course it's difficult to explain but yeah there are I think there is a contradiction there

because I remember I take notes in this book like with pencil and I say doesn't this contradict what

he said before a little bit but you know everybody does contradictions sometimes but I also you know

I do think like you said it's about accepting reality the way it is and giving you the mental

tools the mental skills to deal with it and deal with it in a good way and to not become a slave

to your passions or to your immediate reaction right to anger and to lust and to greed and to

kind of control those be aware of them but sorry before I interrupted you you were talking about

Plato and number one very brave 16 years old reading Plato good job something else the book

really sorry the book that you suggested I think is one of the best to start reading philosophy

he has you know he has philosophy he goes a diary actually and he goes you have one sentence one

paragraph it's easy to digest it's the way he writes is very simple so if someone asks me to

recommend one of this book I recommend I will recommend yours because I think in in the world

they say that buddhism and the way that Marcus Aurelius expressed his philosophical thoughts

are the most practical I mean if you are looking for something practical very practical and you

are you just starting reading philosophy I will recommend the the book you show definitely

definitely only that word I mean yeah no like the the passages like you said are very short

so if someone is interested you know in reading a philosophical book I mean you can see the passages

are incredibly short in some cases it's like one sentence two sentences but it gives you something

you can think about for a long time yeah even basic stuff you know he says you could be good

today but instead you choose tomorrow and he's saying don't wait right like start now don't

waste your time like you you're one of the things about stoicism is it talks about the acceptance

of death like everyone dies stop wasting your time you are here for you know the life of a candle

basically that's that's all you're here for so don't waste your time start living today

so it gives you very practical advice you're right

I just want to yeah I just wanted to comment on something that it must be a real pleasure

and Alexandros I feel you're so fortunate to be reading the Greek philosophers in Greek because

most of us read translations and you know we get what we can get some good translations maybe but

something maybe some other translations that are not so accurate so it must be a real pleasure

to read the Greeks in Greek so that's that's all I wanted to say Alexandros to you

Paradoxically if you want to read Aristotle I think this edition left I don't know if you can

see it's are the best I mean either from some Greek I mean we don't have good translations

from ancient Greek to Greek so sometimes I think it's better to I mean some I mean some people they

do better job I think especially this library not for every author but for Aristotle I understand

I understood more when I read metaphysics I mean he wrote a book about metaphysics

you know from this edition done from the Greek so it's not always like that I mean depends who

translate but I think you're learning it if you're reading it in Greek even if it's a newer

Greek and the other you know I think the connection is more direct than when when I'm

reading it in Spanish for example or for example like for me philosophy for me it's still very hard

to read it in English like I have to read it in Spanish that's for yeah yeah start with that one

I think it's the best to start I mean in my personal opinion of course I think it's very

easy and practical and very short so you want Aristotle he's very good in discovering

happiness I prefer it from Marcus Aurelius it gave me more insight what you know but it's better

I mean the other one but you know this is long can be 10 pages five I don't know five

paragraphs conclude Marcus Aurelius just in a sentence just in a paragraph

there is no complex logic in Aurelius I mean like not to say that ideas are not complex because

they can be but like you said like Aristotle or following Plato like you have to be very focused

because you're following sentence after sentence and saying if we accept this then we accept this

if we accept these two things then we must accept that so there is like more of a logical flow I

think based on what I remember I haven't read Plato in a couple of years but that's what I

remember from it anyway okay oh well that's fascinating that's really interesting about

whether to read a writer in in the language that they originally wrote in or whether it's

you know interpreted it differently in a different language so especially the difference between

ancient Greek and modern Greek I guess there's enough of a difference perhaps to make it

difficult to read in ancient Greek is that right Alexandros it's very difficult to understand from

the ancient Greek because the grammar is more difficult I think I can't read

in the ancient Greek so I have the books are you know you have the ancient text and after that you

have the modern it's I mean I know words because we use a lot of words but you know

it's language is not about words about the grammar it's about other stuff it needs to have a flow

it needs to have a flow not to be like you know it's about how the words are put together

isn't it and why why why why he choose to have this word so it's become very complicated

it got very complicated yeah I mean going back in English you know old English Anglo-Saxon

is almost impossible for a modern English person to read unless they've studied it as a

as a foreign language basically so okay so maybe we could move on now to another question and

we've all been looking at physical books but what about the other ways of reading a book such as

you know an e-book kindle an audio book where you you just listen to the book somebody's recorded

it an actor or someone has done an audio book recording or you can get the free e-books from

there's gutenberg.org on the internet and there's bartleby.com is another one where you can download

free e-books so what what are people's maybe Felipe do you want to say what's your preferred

way of reading a book yeah I prefer physical books yeah I used to have a kindle before

but it broke and then I decided not to buy a new one anymore well it was a present so

I decided not to get a new one anymore one thing I liked about kindle is that when you were reading

you could check the meaning of the word if you didn't know the word no automatically with these

ones sometimes it's more difficult you just have to keep reading and then at some point you even

forgot about what was the word that I didn't understand and then you go back some pages and

you can't find the word anymore and that thing keeps bugging you but still I prefer a physical

book sometimes I'm reading and I'm with my mobile and then I see the word I don't know and then I

check and sometimes I try not to do that because also I think that that that stops the natural

natural flow of the reading too so sometimes I accept that I don't know that word it's fine

so if that word shows up again in the text maybe I'll check it or maybe I'll keep reading and see

if I can get the meaning myself but I decided not to interrupt my reading so much because of that

but yeah definitely physical books yes what about other other people do you have a preference or

a good alternative to reading a physical book

Anna maybe Anna do you want to say well I prefer physical books certainly I like the book

on my hands and move the pages and go back as as Felipe was saying but one of the things that I

think is very helpful for learning a new language is to use I have the idea that to use everything

you can in order to to learn the language so something I find fascinating with these audiobooks

and the books that you can actually hear it and read it and start making sense of some of the

words and understanding so though even though I prefer the physical book I do recommend sometimes

my students to to download some free audiobooks and sometimes to even see the pdf and follow the

text because I feel that that that targets both reading comprehension read the the words in in a

sentence in a context but also to to understand and for me one of the challenges in English was

understanding like I could read I could spell words but understanding was a huge challenge so

audiobooks were a huge help like hearing yes yeah yes I guess for anyone learning a language you

know that they've got the double thing going on they might be reading a book for the pleasure

of reading it but if it's in the language that they're currently learning anyone reading a book

in English who's learning English as a foreign language the sound of the language is very

important too of isn't it to know how the words are pronounced and to get the sort of sense of

the intonation the flow the phrasing of how a sentence is spoken so you're right that anyone

that anyone learning a language and reading a book to help them to get to know the language better

the the audio side of it is of course very important and I think Alex you were talking

to me a while back about audiobooks yourself as well and different ways of getting hold of

audiobooks do you want to sort of say something about that

I really enjoy the experience especially when I am doing house chores honestly like washing the

dishes I put on a fiction book or a non-fiction book and just listen to something interesting

so that you're not just you know focusing on washing dishes or folding laundry or vacuuming

the house or cutting the grass or whatever you're doing so I think it depends on like

what kind of mood I'm in in terms of preference or what I'm doing I mean I can't read a physical

book while I am washing the dishes so at least I can listen to one at the same time I've even

you know one of the the audiobooks that I love is the Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring

audiobook read by Robert Inglis obviously this is the physical book of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord

of the Rings but that one I remember going to work and I think it took me about three weeks

I would listen and sometimes I would listen and read at the same time I don't know why

but I enjoyed the process of like seeing the words but having someone else read it to me at

the same time so yeah I think audiobooks are an excellent way you know to of course listen to

pronunciation to help you with comprehension like listening comprehension and because of those two

reasons those two of many other reasons I think they can be a good way to help you learn another

language or to practice or at least become more familiar with another language yeah my preferred

method is still physical books I love going to used bookstores in particular anytime I go on

vacation the first thing or one of the first things I look for is okay where is a used bookstore

just I love the the smell I love seeing what I can discover sometimes you find stuff that's like 40

years old or 50 years old and there's something special about that I mean when you think about it

like reading it's a type of time travel it can be like a type of time travel these words that

someone wrote like 40 years ago are now sitting in your hands that's pretty amazing you know we

talk about development and technology but writing like writing is just an amazing amazing invention

so it allows us to do that but yes I love both I love audiobooks my preferred method is still

the physical book if I can sit down and read it in my bed or on the couch ebooks I have read two

books on my phone on an iphone actually on a pretty small phone so I have a kindle I haven't

used it yet though but I think in the future once my bookshelf cannot take any more books

I will need to probably buy a kindle as well and you know make the next step yeah that's one thing

that the electronic version of a book doesn't take up so much space does it the physical books take

up a lot of space and also if you're traveling anywhere or just going somewhere on the train for

the day or whatever it's sometimes more convenient to have the the ebook on your tablet or whatever

or an audiobook to listen to if you're traveling you don't want to be carrying lots of books with

you but I guess if you if you're going off for the day if you're traveling to work or something I

think Felipe you've told me you know often when you're traveling to work you tend to read a book

on the bus on the way to work is that right did I remember that right Felipe

yeah that's right I go to work well when I was going to work now I'm working from home

when I was going to work yeah I was getting the bus and with the bus I take about

40 minutes to one hour depending on the traffic door to door and yeah I was always reading my

book on the way to work and then on the way back home yeah and and you could usually get a seat

on the bus hopefully so you could sit comfortably and read you wouldn't have to be standing up and

holding on to something and your book in the other hand so you're always sitting on the upper deck

okay so with a nice view out of the window as well yeah

yeah I didn't even see outside I was with my eyes on the book

great lovely and so and would you say Felipe that you know reading books in English

has that helped you to expand your vocabulary and get to know the English language better and better

yeah a lot because when I came to London 16 years ago and I never read books in English

when I was in Brazil I started reading books in English here you know and not from the start

after a while because I didn't feel confident to to read in English so after a while I decided to

face reading a book in a foreign language and with time it became easier yeah now it's it's

much easier of course but if you if you if you break this first barrier you know it goes easier

and definitely it helps you a lot to improve your vocabulary yeah yes yes it's just making a start

isn't it thinking oh I couldn't read that book in in French or Portuguese for me I think I've read

one whole book no probably more a few books in French which is my second language I think one

book in Portuguese which is my third language but it was a very thin book so it didn't have that

many pages but I feel like you know I ought to do a bit more of that more you also forget that when

you read books in your own language like when I read books in Portuguese many times you're gonna

read some sentences or paragraphs that you're gonna have to reread it again because you didn't

understand quite well you're gonna have to go back some pages to make sense of the story and

when you are reading in a foreign language you think that is difficult because you're reading

in a foreign language but sometimes reading in your own language it's also challenging in a way

so people they shouldn't feel put off because of that no no and that's why it's nice to have

the physical book because you can go back a few pages quickly can't you and you can mark things

you know on the page put a little question mark in the margin or something and then go back to it

so that's the other advantage of a physical book so what about you Alexandros have you found that

reading books in English has helped you expand your knowledge of English and how words and

phrases are put together and the actual vocabulary yeah it's I mean I I saw I found that I had the

real progress when I started reading books and especially when I'm hearing audiobooks although

I'm not an acoustic type as a person it helps me a lot when I'm hearing I mean I don't know BBC

4 or I'm hearing a book it helps me a lot to speak more naturally and I definitely saw an

improvement previously I left because I was looking for the kindle I think yeah for this

reason I was looking everywhere so it's I think it's a great invention because especially when

you go for vacations you don't need to have with you all I mean 100 books I want to read that I

want to read that I want to read that finally you don't read maybe but you have them all in this

you know amazing technology I mean it fits thousands of books and so it's easy I think

if someone wants to buy a kindle I think the best is to buy the simple one you see there is no light

it's like it's like a book if you see it's it's it's like a book so because if you have light I

mean it has light or it's if it's a you know an iPhone or whatever a phone it's not good for the

eye because after a long time you you feel that you are tired so I think depends what you want to

read maybe you enjoy more as an audiobook like a poetry poetry you need to hear it you need to see

the flow or if you want I mean I read recently I read the book I mean I heard the book about

mythology but the type of the author was a bit humorous it has a humor so you can feel it when

you read a book or I heard the Iliad do you know Iliad of Homer Odyssey and Iliad so it's better

when you hear it not when you read it if you want to catch the meaning if you want to be there all

these forces all these fights all this you know action you need to hear it because in the past

people were singing and playing instruments and say the story of all these heroes personally

I prefer to to read the physical book on the top because I like when I'm reading I like to be active

I want to be there I want to keep notes I want to make the book you know to write to do the pages

to smell the book and of course I love what you referred in the beginning I have a lot of

second-hand books a lot a lot most of my books are second-hand and I love it I mean

and I think if someone wants to improve his English of course it's good to read books but

I think when you you read the book I think it's something more than phrases more than you know

more than words what it's it because it it's it's lively it it expands your horizons like

the philosophy I referred earlier it has part of the consciousness of an author so if you want to

meet someone when you read you he is still alive he's here with you I mean Plato is here with us I

mean if you read a lot in the beginning it will be difficult it's like when you meet a friend

in the beginning you don't know what he is talking about but when he he will be your friend

then you know what he's talking about I mean I mean when you read a lot of books from him

I think for this is I found books are are great for this reason of the consciousness

yes part of their soul so yes so you're you're sort of meeting new people aren't you really

when you're reading so and making friends with some of them at least depending on what

maybe they are dead but it's okay

yes so oh well that's great that's lovely so well I hope that for our viewers I hope

anyone who wasn't already convinced that that reading books is a great pleasure and also

a great sort of educational has an educational element as well I hope we've helped to convince

you all and do encourage you to to read read books read newspapers read things on the internet

just read really it's very important to read a language as well as to speak it so and so I'd

like to thank my guests very much indeed for all for being here today and for all your fascinating

input into into our discussion thank you very much so and also just to remind people again

if if you'd like to see a few more videos about book book reading reading books have a look at

Alex's engVid channel with several Lord of the Rings I think is one of them Alice in Wonderland

is another so Alex's videos on various books there we are there's Alice in Wonderland good

and then if you're if you're learning Spanish or if you're interested in learning Spanish have a

look at Ana's Butterfly Spanish channel as well and also I have a few other videos in this kind

of interview type series where I've been interviewing other people previously some of my

students and more recently someone who works for a charity so there are various interviews on my

channel that you might be interested in watching thanks again to everyone for taking part lovely

to be in touch with people from from Canada and Mexico and Manchester UK and London UK

we've all come together today to do this it's been fun to do thank you so that's the end of

today's session then so I hope you've all enjoyed watching thank you for for coming and I hope to

see you all again soon so let's all wave to the viewers and all the best with your reading thank

you bye for now see you soon bye