search for a book

[Marlon]

Hello,
as you will recognize I am new at this forum. I am from Germany, 18 years old, male, and I want to improve my English. Due to this I am searching after a good book which is written in English. The book should be exciting ,but, above all, I want to understand it.
I have already read " Diabolus" by Dan Brown for example but it was difficult for me to understand because of the language. ( Besides, I find that it is written boringly although Dan Brown is one of my favourite authors^^)
A book which I understood rather easily from the language was Harry Potter, but this can be a result from the fact that I had read the book in German before^^

Categories can be mystery, thriller, fantasy, or whatever is exciting....

I hope you can help me.

Marlon

By the way: I would be very thankful if you could tell me when you find mistakes in my posts - even if they are not so bad - because I want to improve my English^^

 

[sparkchaser]

Since you read the first Harry potter, my first recommendation would be to read the rest of the series.

If you enjoy technobabble, Tom Clancy's early works would be another suggestion.

 

[Marlon]

Since you read the first Harry potter, my first recommendation would be to read the rest of the series.

If you enjoy technobabble, Tom Clancy's early works would be another suggestion.

Harry Potter would be a possiblity because I understand the language. But I am not the person who loves it to read books twice even if I enjoy them very much. And I have already read all Harry Potter books in German. So this is slighty exciting for me.

I have just taken a look at Tom Clancy's work. But I unfortunately do not like this kind of books:sad: I neither like books about war nor do I like technobabble...

Nevertheless, thank you for your advice.

Marlon

By the way: I would be very thankful if you could tell me when you find mistakes in my posts - even if they are not so bad - because I want to improve my English^^

 

[Sleepy]

As an advise from me, just read what might interest you just from the books description on the back of the book. I began reading english books about 4 years ago and the best I did was just to jump into it. You will learn faster as you might imagine.

The first book is always difficult but after the third or fourth book it will be a lot easier.

 

[sparkchaser]

^^^^^^
Listen to zee German woman.

Since you're an 18 year old male, you should read Fight Club. That is, if you haven't already.

 

[Marlon]

^^^^^^
Listen to zee German woman.

lol I have not been laughing so much for a long time^^
Since ten years, my father has been claiming that you have to pronounce the articel like this^^ ( But he was angry when I showed him your post right now and explained to him why I was laughing^^)

Since you're an 18 year old male, you should read Fight Club.

Thank you! I will maybe buy this book.

But I wonder why I receive just so little commendations. There have to be lots of other books which are exciting but not so difficult to read.

 

[sparkchaser]

Well, it would certainly help narrow things down if you could be more specific about what interests you. I know you want something "exciting" but not difficult to read but can you give us something more? Would you be interested in Westerns, SciFi, Non-fiction?

 

[Marlon]

Well, it would certainly help narrow things down if you could be more specific about what interests you. I know you want something "exciting" but not difficult to read but can you give us something more? Would you be interested in Westerns, SciFi, Non-fiction?

OK, I will try to give you more hints ( But do not mind; they could seem a bit strange^^)

Western and SciFi are not really the genres which I like. I really like mystery: My favourite story is " The Sixth Sence".

One of my favourite authors is Dan Brown. I read " The da Vinci Code", " Angels and Damons", " Meteor" and " Diabolus" ( I read the first three books in German).

Another kind of books which I like are books which have something to do with piano or maths ( I really like the film " The Ocean Pianist" and I love the series " Numbers") But I think this an alternative genre and I do not expect you to know such books.
Furthermore, I love stories about geniuses.

A film which I watched few years ago was " Deads Poets Society". I know that there is a book written about this story. But I expect that this book is not easily written. Maybe somebody knows something about it?
Besides, I would really love to read a book which plays in a British or American top-university like Oxbridge, Howard, Princeton and so on...

You sea, my favours are a bit strange, but maybe you can help me...

Besides, one question: Can I say: " Another kind of books I like are..." or do I have to say: " Another kind of books which I like are..."?

 

[Marlon]

addition

I have I further idee: I would really love it if somebody knows a good book which is written about the story of " Robin Hood" or " Ivanhoe".
Furthermore I would be thankful if somebody can tell me a good translation of the books " Twenty Years after" and maybe " The Vicomte de Bragelonne" by Alexandre Dumas.

 

[sparkchaser]

Ah, now I know what you're after. Unfortunately I can't think of any books at the moment. I have quite a few on math but they wold not be easy reads.

Besides, one question: Can I say: " Another kind of books I like are..." or do I have to say: " Another kind of books which I like are..."?

I'm probably the last person you should ask about grammar but I would say "other books that I like" but "which" is probably correct.

I have I further idee: I would really love it if somebody knows a good book which is written about the story of " Robin Hood" or " Ivanhoe".
Furthermore I would be thankful if somebody can tell me a good translation of the books " Twenty Years after" and maybe " The Vicomte de Bragelonne" by Alexandre Dumas.

We have a member here named HermioneWeasley who is the BAR expert on everything Dumas. She can help you I'm sure. I PM'd her about this thread so hopefully she will take a look at it and give you her advice.

 

[Marlon]

We have a member here named HermioneWeasley who is the BAR expert on everything Dumas. She can help you I'm sure. I PM'd her about this thread so hopefully she will take a look at it and give you her advice.

OK, thank you. That would be great!

And thanks for your native-speaker-tip, even if I asked the wrong person^^

 

[Leeny]

Besides, one question: Can I say: " Another kind of books I like are..." or do I have to say: " Another kind of books which I like are..."?

You could either say "other books I like are..." if you're going to list examples or "another type of books which I like are..." if you're going to give a genre.

 

[sparkchaser]

Marlon,

I mentioned this thread to my fiance and she immediately suggested The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier. Does that look like something you might want to read?

 

[Marlon]

Marlon,

I mentioned this thread to my fiance and she immediately suggested The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier[. Does that look like something you might want to read?

Well, when I read the description of the book I was not convinced at all. Obviously, the book cannot recognize any kind of a plot. But then I saw how good it has been rated, and I read how fascinated people are from this book. I think I will have to read it because I want to know what it is what makes the fascination

 

[sparkchaser]

You'll have to let us know how you like it.

 

[Ummm]

english is not my first language either, but my english has improved a lot after i start reading more english books - not the ones the school assigned, but the ones that interest me like murder/mystery and i love the tv show 'numb3rs'.

one book that came to mind is The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez. it was set in Oxford, involved math (and a bit of a puzzle), and a murder happened there it's not the best murder/mystery i'd read, but it covers several of your interests. i was too dumb to figure out an important part of the puzzle in the book, but after doing a search on the internet for spoiler, i figured it out.

some other authors i like are jeffrey deaver, dennis lehane and harlan coben. i particularly like jeffrey deaver's lincoln rhyme's series - lincoln is a forensic scientist, so reading these books are like trying to solve puzzles, trying to understand the clues. one of his books, the bone collector, was made into a movie. the bone collector is also the first in the series. i also like the Kathryn Dance series, but lincoln's series is better. don't like his other series as much.

another story with a good twist (like the sixth sense has a good twist) was Primal Fear by William Diehl - this was a movie as well but i like the book better (more details). it had a few sequels but i still prefer this first book the best.

hope this helps!

 

[Marlon]

hope this helps!

Hey, thank you!!, this really helps me a lot!!!

and i love the tv show 'numb3rs'.

Yes, so I do I am just crazy about this tv show!!

one book that came to mind is The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez. it was set in Oxford, involved math (and a bit of a puzzle), and a murder happened there it's not the best murder/mystery i'd read, but it covers several of your interests.

This book is great! I will at once order it.

i particularly like jeffrey deaver's lincoln rhyme's series - lincoln is a forensic scientist, so reading these books are like trying to solve puzzles, trying to understand the clues. one of his books, the bone collector, was made into a movie.

Hey, I watched this movie twice, and it is just great! I will order one of his books.
Dennis Lehane's work also seemed very exciting to me. But I cannot order the entire amazon^^ ( Due to this I did not look at the other books you proposed; that would be too much^^)

By the way: May I ask which your first language is?

 

[Ummm]

sorry i didn't have a chance to get back to this thread until now.

my first language is chinese.

some dennis lehane's books are made into movies (i haven't seen them tho) - Mystic River (have the DVD but haven't watched yet), Gone, Baby, Gone. A new one coming out is Shutter Island which i quite like (the language took a little while to get used to, since the main character "talked" funny) - but it has a good twist in the end so this books is memorable to me (after reading many murder/mystery/thriller books, you forget what the story was like). so you can always just watch the movies first, see if you like this type of stories, before buying books.

i don't buy a lot of books but i borrow from the library - save a lot of money this way