Hello, and welcome back to another episode of practicing English. And today I'm going to talk about books. And I am, at the moment, in front of my bookshelves in my house, which is one of my favourite places, as I love to go through the books that I have here. And that's what I'm going to do with you today, I'm going to talk to you about different books. I'm going to talk to you about the language that we use connected to the subject of books and reading. Obviously, these days many people prefer to read online or to read in a digital application. But the reading matter is the same. They're still books, whether they are in paper, or in digital format. But I quite like books themselves, you know, I mean, paper books, they're something that you can actually touch, and they even have a smell to them, don't they? If you open the book, you get that nice sort of paper smell, which comes off the book itself. I love books!
Anyway, I'm going to talk about the genres first of all, now genre. That's a lovely word, isn't it? It's a French word, which we use in English. And it means the different categories of books there are. And one of the genres is thrillers, thrillers, which are those exciting books. And on my shelf, well, I have several, but I'm just going to name one or two examples. For example, Dan Brown, I have here, Angels and Demons, which was a blockbuster, or a best-seller, because it sold millions of copies and also it was made into a blockbuster film, a film which did very well in the cinema. So that's Dan Brown.
And what else have I got here? Oh, here's one - The Tudor Conspiracy. Oh, ah, yes. By MA Bilbrough. Oh, that's me! Yes, that's my book, which I wrote. It is a thriller. But it's really a graded reader, as it's specially simplified for learners of English. But the genre is still [a] thriller. It's got some exciting bits in it. Available on all Amazon platforms!
Okay, I'll carry on. Right. Now I'm going to look at historical novels, which is another genre then. And on my bookshelf here I have The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, which again, was made into a film with Sean Connery, if you remember. That was also a best-seller as a book. And another one is a book by Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth, which was one of a series of books, written by Ken Follett. So this historical novel, then, usually they're based in a period of history in the past. And usually the author is quite faithful to the events that happened in those days. It's just the story itself, which is invented.
Right. Another genre, then, is spy stories. And I have one here, which is a classic, really, and goes back a long way, which was written by John le Carré and it's called Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy. And that was also one of a series of novels of spy novels that le Carré wrote, and it was about the Cold War - those years, just after the Second World War. So it's quite an old book, really, and perhaps not so much read these days, because it's perhaps a little bit... sort of out of context now with what's happening in the world. But a great read, a good read, we say.
And the next one I have here as a genre is classical literature. So I have here on my shelf, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, which is a sort of a historical novel as well, I suppose. It's just that they've become classical books because they have been read by readers for a long time. And we regard them as classics. And another one in that genre would be by Charlotte Bronte, which is Jane Eyre. She's an English writer, and well known and her books are considered to be classics.
Then another genre is the detective novels. And on my shelf, I have one by Agatha Christie. I don't have a lot by Agatha Christie, actually, but the one I have here is called The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. And another type of detective novel... Well, I have some actually as well by George Simenon, who was a French writer. And he wrote a lot of the Maigret novels. Maigret was a detective, and he wrote a lot of books - Simenon wrote a lot of detective novels featuring inspector Maigret. So those are other books, which I do read a lot of actually, I love those books by George Simenon.
Okay, another genre I've got here is poetry. I don't read a great deal of poetry, but I was reading one recently. It's a lovely book about the English poets. And it's called Six Poets Hardy to Larkin by Alan Bennett. Bennett is a playwright, a well known English playwright in the UK. And this is an anthology. So an anthology is a collection of plays, usually of different authors, or different writers, or different poets in this case. And also, he gives a little explanation as well to the poem. So I quite enjoyed that book. It was another good read.
Okay. Now other things I have then, are non-fiction, I have a lot of non-fiction books. So obviously, non-fiction are books about true subjects. For example, reference books, history books, and travel books. On the subject of history, I have a book on the Spanish Armada. And I also have a book on classical mythology. And there are other things here as well on the history of Spain, which I am very much interested in. And also on South America as well, history of South America.
And then there are lots of science books as well, especially astronomy. And I have one here by a writer called Patrick Moore. He was a lovely fellow, he was on the television, he had a series of astronomy programs on the BBC, many years ago. And he would come on, and he would tell you about the night sky. In fact, I think the program was called The Night Sky [it was actually called The Sky at Night]. And so I have a few books on astronomy, and also things like, you know, more practical things like an atlas as well, and maps of the world, though, who needs [those] these days with Google Earth, but still, it's nice to have them in book form as well.
And then I have travel books. And there's a lovely one here. And this is a book by Francesco de Moscow, on Venice. And he also did a documentary on the BBC as well and very interesting about the history of Venice.
And another genre of book or another type of non-fiction books that I enjoy reading or referring to are books on nature, for example, about birds and about flowers, about fungi, and fossils and all those wonderful things. And my daughter and I often go out to Doñana for example, which is a Nature Park near Seville where we go out bird-spotting. And we take a field guide along with us. And a field guide is a book, which has examples of the things that you can see when you go out, for example, flowers you can see or birds that you can see.
I'm going to go on now using language that we use with books, so different types of books, and what we do with books. So first of all, if you're in a bookshop... now we have to get that right, a bookshop is where you buy books. And a library is where you borrow books, or you take out books, and then you bring them back or you return those books. That is the language we use with libraries. In a bookshop, of course, it's different. In a bookshop, you buy the book, and often if you're looking at some books on the shelf, and the shop assistant comes up to you. And she says, Can I help you sir? And I would say, Oh, it's okay, I'm just browsing. Browse is to look through a book briefly. And just get a general idea of the book to see if you like it or not - to browse. Maybe you put it down and you pick up another one off the shelf. That that is to browse. And the verb we use, when we are looking through a book is to leaf through a book, or to flick through a book, which is just to turn the pages quickly and see the contents of the book.
So basically, there are two types of book, there are paperback books, and I've got this one here off the shelf. And a paperback book means that the cover, the front cover, and the back cover can be bent, because they're just made of thin card or paper or thick paper. And then the other type of book would be a hardback book. For example, here I have a book on Christopher Columbus. And it's got a hard cover, we call that a hardback. And then you have the pages of the book, obviously. And remember that in English, we say to turn the page, you turn the page in English.
You can buy books new, or you can buy them secondhand. And there are a lot of secondhand bookshops, usually in cities, you know, where you can buy the books which have been used before. I like buying secondhand books, because you can buy books which are out of print, and out of print means books, which are no longer published. And there is no longer any stock of those books. So they're out of print. And those can be bought, obviously, secondhand.
Now, when you're talking about a book, well, the adjectives we use, we can say it's an excellent book, or just a good book, a fascinating book, a fine book. And as I said earlier, a good read. An interesting book, and a terrific book. And terrific in English means a wonderful book. Don't get confused with terrifying, which is something different. And books can be influential. And books can be controversial, or just plain useful. For example, a cookbook and a cookbook or cookery book, are those books that you have in your kitchen. Well, you may have them in your kitchen, and they have recipes in them. In fact, sometimes they're also called recipe books. And you can look in there to find the recipe for a Spanish omelette, or something bit more exotic.
So then also when we're talking about books, we can talk about the latest book, for example, the latest Ken Follett novel, I mean, he's had quite a few hasn't he? The newest one, which has come out or the most recent book, and then we talk about a best selling book and a best-seller, which is obviously a book which has sold usually perhaps, you know, millions of copies.
And then finally, I would like to finish then with when you're talking about your hobbies in the speaking exam, and you like reading, well, you wouldn't be able to speak perhaps in so much detail as I am now. But you might just like to say something like: Yes, I really enjoy reading. It's one of my favourite hobbies. There's nothing like sitting down in my favourite armchair, curling up* with a good book.
Thank you very much. Until next time.
*To curl up is to lie or sit with your back curved and your arms and legs bent close to your body.
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