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CultureWhich books to read to progress in English?
If you prefer books to mobile applications, TV series or traditional English lessons, know that reading in English is a great way to progress in learning the English language.
Discover below our selection of the best books to read in English: from novels adapted to the cinema (or in series) to classic works, through the essentials of English literature - the language of Shakespeare will soon have no more secrets for you!
To progress quickly in English:
- Choose a theme that corresponds to what you usually like to read in French.
- If you are a beginner, avoid starting with classical works.
- Read a little every day.
- If possible, read aloud.
Novels suitable for cinema or series
The good thing about these books is that you probably already know the storyline:
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- 50 Shades of Grey - by E L James (3 volumes)
- Charlie and the chocolate factory - by Roald Dahl
- Fantastic Beasts and where to find them - by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter - by J.K. Rowling (7 volumes)
- Me before you - by Jojo Moyes (3 volumes)
- Oliver Twist - by Charles Dickens
- Pride and prejudice - by Jane Austen
- The Da Vinci Code - by Dan Brown
- The fault in our stars - by John Green
- The Great Gatsby - by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - by M.A. Shaffer et A. Barrows
- The Handmaid's Tale - by Margaret Atwood
- The Hobbit - by J. R. R. Tolkien
Cinematographic adaptations sometimes allow themselves some freedom on the original story!
The essentials
- 40 Rules of loves - d'Elif Şafak
- A thousand splendid suns - de Khaled Hosseini
- Danny the champion of the world - de Roald Dahl
- Deal breaker - de Harlan Coben
- How to be a woman - de Caitlin Moran
- Matilda - de Roald Dahl
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - by Mark Haddon
- The Happy Prince - d'Oscar Wilde
- The perks of being a wallflower - by Stephen Chbosky
- To kill a mockingbird - by Harper Lee
- Two lives - by Helen Naylor
Classical works
To discover the classics of English-speaking literature:
- Animal Farm - by George Orwell
- Dracula - by Bram Stoker
- The Hound of the Baskervilles - by A. Conan Doyle
- The Old man and the Sea - by E. Hemingway
- The Picture of Dorian Gray - by Oscar Wilde
- Treasure Island - by Robert Louis Stevenson
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If you are a beginner, avoid starting with a classic piece.
Bilingual books
Many publishing houses have their own collection of bilingual books dedicated to learners:
Educational texts
- Cambridge English Readers Collection: various difficulty levels, free downloadable English texts and audio versions.
English press articles
- British Council Magazine: News articles (mainly cultural) - with questions at the end of the article to assess your general understanding of the text.
- Learn in English: Articles related to current affairs, history, culture, etc. - classified by level of difficulty and with audio versions, additional explanatory videos and indexes for the most difficult terms.
- News in levels: News related articles - systematically broken down into three articles of different levels and with audio supports.
These sites are dedicated to learning the English language and offer texts suitable for all levels.
Amateur stories
- Creepypasta: Short stories or short stories on the theme of the paranormal and horror.
- FanFiction: Stories written by fans to extend, amend or totally transform a novel, a manga, a television series, a film, a video game or even a celebrity they love.
The Gutenberg project
The Gutenberg project makes free available the fallen works in the public domain: more than 50,000 books - in all languages - in digital version.
Volunteers also recorded over 24,000 audio files of reading these books.
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