15 ideal English books for learning the language

Knowing languages ​​is a basic requirement today. Both at work and training level as well as personal we are required to be able to express ourselves in and / or understand languages ​​other than our own, being recommended focus on those languages ​​that present the highest level of expansion throughout the world, one of the main languages ​​being taught since childhood English.

One of the ways in which we can learn and improve our level of English is through literature, since we allows you to acquire vocabulary and see different grammatical structures while allowing you to imagine and give meaning to the material learned. That is why in this article we focus on presenting fifteen books in English ideal for learning the language.

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Literature in English to improve in the language

Because the knowledge of English is today an essential factor, they stand out to continuation a series of books, stories and novels with which we can improve our ability with language.

Most of them are stories that the majority of the population already knows, but this is useful as it allows us link what is already known with what we want to learn or improve. In some cases it is even possible to find movies and audiobooks, which can complement learning and improve both written and oral comprehension.

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)

A classic often used in schools to help learn English. In this novel the life of Dorian Gray is explained to us, to whom an artist in love with his beauty makes a portrait. Young Dorian is seduced by the idea of ​​pleasure seeking from a man named Lord Henry.

Realizing that time will fade his beauty and health, Dorian comes to wish with all his soul to remain as in the portrait. Over time, he will realize that while he remains young, the portrait will undergo the changes of age. and the type of life he leads (solely dedicated to obtaining his own pleasure and committing various atrocities for the road).

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2. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Another great classic that has later been transformed into a film, and whose reading is recommended to reinforce the learning of English.

Jay Gatsby is a wealthy and well-known man who lives a luxurious life and continually celebrates parties. crowded and extravagant that he does not attend. These parties and his flashy lifestyle are an attempt by the billionaire to get the attention of a former love. Nick Carraway, protagonist of the story, will end up arranging a meeting between Jay Gatsby and the woman he is in love with, already married to a man who in turn has an affair with another woman.

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3. The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)

A suitable book for learning the language despite the fact that sometimes its vocabulary can be somewhat more complex. It is a short novel that has been used numerous times as school reading material.

The story tells us the life of an old fisherman named Santiago who seeks to catch the best fish of his life, together with a boy who tries to help him. Despite taking eighty-four days in a row without catching anything, finally a gigantic specimen bites the bait. The animal possesses so much strength that it is capable of dragging the boat through the ocean for days, causing the old man to continually struggle to achieve his goal.

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4. Moby Dick (Herman Melville)

One of the great classics of literature, in this novel a sailor named Ismael tells us about the pursuit carried out by the Pequod, the whaling ship in which he enlisted. The captain of this ship pretends to hunt down Moby Dick, a huge cetacean that he has managed to evade and destroy those who have tried to hunt him down and that he has caused the obsession and insanity of the captain after the loss of his previous ship, crew and leg due to an encounter previous.

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5. Animal Farm (George Orwell)

The plot of this well-known novel centers on the Manor farm, in which the different animals decide rise up against humans and live free according to their own rules, as one of them explains before die. Under the leadership of the pigs create a revolution that initially improves the farm's situation, but greed and corruption end up appearing in the leaders. Power struggles, hypocrisy and tyranny appear.

It is a short and easy-to-read novel in which the author, Orwell, makes us see aspects such as corruption, greed, power and manipulation. In addition, clear references can be observed both in history and in the characters themselves to the historical situation experienced during the Russian revolution and the emergence of the Stalinist regime.

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6. Four Past Midnight (Stephen King)

Stephen King is a widely known author throughout the world. His way of writing is clear and easy to follow, sometimes being able to even learn more colloquial expressions with his reader. In this particular novel four easy-to-read short stories are incorporated.

The first of them is The Langoliers, in which the history of the passenger of a flight that wakes up to realize that the crew and part of the passengers have disappeared in full flight. Being also a pilot, he lands in an uninhabited place where danger lurks

In Secret garden open window (which would later be turned into a film), a writer receives a visit from a stranger who claims that he has plagiarized his story, complicating the plot as the second is attacking the first and his environment and he tries to prove his innocence.

The third story is The Library Policeman, in which Sam Peebles tries to cope with a traumatic childhood event that a dead woman brings back in the form of a police librarian.

In The Sun Dog, a young man named Kevin receives a Polaroid as a birthday present, but with the peculiarity that he only takes pictures of a dog. Although at first it seems like a camera error, the story has paranormal overtones, because in said photographs little by little the dog approaches the camera, finally trying to pass into the world real.

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7. Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher)

Novel suitable for learning English due to its short sentences and good grammatical structuring of which he flaunts. His argument is sad: The story centers on the arrival at Clay Jensen's house of a package with several cassettes, sent by a high school classmate who committed suicide. These cassettes must be sent and listened to by different people, recounting part of the young woman's life and how these people contributed to the young woman ending her life.

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8. Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift)

This novel tells the story of Gulliver, a surgeon and later a ship captain who travels through various lands. Specifically, it happens in his travels through Liliput (whose inhabitants are so tiny that in comparison the protagonist is a giant), Brobdingnag (in the that unlike in the previous case, larger beings without locals), Laputa (a kingdom in which research and advances are carried out without seek a practical result), Glubbdubdrib (where he meets beings that although they get sick and old are immortal), Japan and the country of the Houyhnhnms (in which animals are thinking and free beings and humans are wild beings), living different adventures and misadventures in each of they.

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9. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)

Victor Frankenstein is a man obsessed with an idea: to create life from dead matter, using electrical energy to bring it back to life. One night he manages to carry out his work successfully, creating and giving life to a being that he ends up considering a monster.

However, horrified by his success and by the fact that he has not created an irrational being but that the product of his experiment is capable of reasoning and feeling, he decides to abandon the creature. This rejection, along with that of the rest of humanity, will make Frankenstein's monster turn vengeful towards his creator and destroy everything he loves.

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10. Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)

This play tells the life of Oliver Twist, a twelve-year-old orphan whose mother died during childbirth and who is raised in an auspice. Over time, the manager of the place takes him for a problem and sends him to work with an undertaker, of whom escapes to flee to london. There he will be caught by a small band of thieves, whose leader mistreats them and forces them to steal.

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11. The Outsiders (S. AND. Hinton)

This book is recommended due to the simplicity of vocabulary, the little need for context and the brevity of its sentences. The argument focuses on Ponyboy, a teenager who is part of a gang called the Greasers. After bonding with some members of rival gangs and after several fights, in which he ends up having a death, the young man is scared and runs away with one of his companions. Other events, such as the rescue of children in a burning church, will mark an interesting story centered on the world of gang warfare and survival.

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12. A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)

This short novel by Charles Dickens is entertaining and easy to read, being very useful for reviewing both vocabulary and syntax. The history focuses on Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy, selfish and even cruel old man who despises Christmas and whose main interest is the economic gain. On Christmas Eve he will be visited by the ghost of a former partner with similar characteristics who has been condemned after death to wander eternally, who will indicate the arrival of three spirits so that he can be saved from itself.

The spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future will show the old man both what he has lived and what has been lost, what happens in the world and to his loved ones and what could happen in the future to prolong the way he acts.

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13. Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)

One of the best known works by one of the most recognized playwrights, Romeo and Juliet has versions in novel form that can be useful for learning English. The history tells us about the passionate love born between two young people from two traditionally opposed families, the Capulets and the Montagues, with a tragic end for both young men.

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14. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)

Considered by some the first English novel, this work narrates the life of the sailor Robinson Crusoe. During a colonial expedition through Africa, Robinson is captured and enslaved by pirates, from which he after a time manages to escape. He later embarks again, but his ship ends up sinking. The protagonist arrives at the beach of a desert island, being the only survivor. There, Robinson will have to learn to survive in complete solitude, until he ends up realizing that he is not alone on the island.

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15. The Black Cat and Other Stories (Edgar Allan Poe)

The black cat, the tell-tale heart, the red death mask or the well and the pendulum are some of the most commonly known horror stories written by Edgar Allan Poe. Short stories that are easy to understand and read quickly that play with mystery and horror at the same time, are very useful to begin to acquire vocabulary and reading agility.

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Other interesting books

Apart from these there are many other equally valid books to start or improve in the English language. And not only individual books, but sagas like Harry Potter have also been widely used both in their written and film versions with this purpose, both by parents and even at the school level, in order to increase the interest of learners in learning while increasing their vocabulary and grammar.

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