Best Short Starter Novels for Intermediate-Advanced English Learners

Reading novels is a non-stop way to improve English grammar, vocabulary knowledge and to pass from intermediate levels to advance level. But to do it, a person needs to be careful while choosing a book to read. In this post I am going to share the best novels (according to my opinion) to start reading for English learners.

Choosing an English novel is a really important step for an English learner which and it should be done carefully. Personally I advise English learners to start from books which are shorter and which are less complex. Well, you should note that you are going to check a lot of words while reading. As long as the book is not full of specific words and terms, this is something positive. Don't be afraid of seeing lots of words. If you want to read my post which is about dealing with problems while reading English novels you can click here. If you follow these steps you will minimize your problems related to reading novels. Now lets talk about my personal recommendations for English learners. to start reading English novels.

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell; First and foremost, this book is one of the best books to start reading English novels. Its simplistic yet symbolic written style both makes reading easier and more enjoyable. Animal farm is about the rising and falling of socialism in a society and what happens during this period. George Orwell uses the animal farm, farmer, animals and other people as symbols to convey his messages. A wonderful book and by many people it is accepted as a classic. It is easily accesible, you can find it anywhere and you can also find and order it online. It is only 102 pages and its language its quite understandable when compared to others. 
2. Lord of the Flies by William Golding; Lord of the Flies is another alternative to start reading an English novel. Being a bit longer (180 pages) and a bit more complex than Animal Farm, this book is still a good alternative to start reading English novels due to its intersting plot. The book is about a group of children which survive a plane crash and start living in an Island and what happens afterwards. Maybe you will check some words again and again but this book will make you enjoy reading.

How to deal with reading problems while reading English novels?

Starting to read English novels is one of the best parts about learning English because it means that an authentic and real interaction with the language is starting for a learner. The time to start reading English novels changes from person to person. Some people start reading novels at intermediate level while some others still have problems at advanced level. One way or another a person should start reading English novels while reaching intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced levels. This process is painful but it is full of benefits for an English learner. Here are some benefits of reading novels and some ideas to consider in order to reduce the difficulties while reading them:

1. The main benefit of reading a novel is learning lots of unknown words while the main problem while reading a novel is also unknown words. Reading, especially reading novels, is one of the best activities to learn new words. However the number of unknown words discourage readers from English novels. You can avoid this problem by using a quite easy strategy. While reading, just check the meanings of words only when you can't understand the general meaning. You don't have to check all the unknown words while reading. Skip the meanings of some words if they don't create problems about understanding the concept. 
2. Try to guess the meanings of unknown words from the context. This is a really useful strategy both to practice vocabulary and to avoid unknown words problem. By checking the other words in a sentence, it is often possible to guess the meanings of unknown words. Even if you can't guess the exact meaning, you can have an idea about what it is similar to. 

The Best Sources for English Reading

For many people, reading is the first step to learn English. Through reading, one can learn new words and new grammar structures which are key to build English skills. Reading has some advantages over other language skills such as listening, speaking and writing. First, it is not simultaneous. You don't have to read and understand at the same time. If you don't understand you can read the same thing many times. Secondly reading is a receptive skill, it isn't productive. That means you don't have to create something while reading, you just need to understand. Due to these two reasons reading is accepted as an easier skill when it is compared to other skills. That's why, according to me, it is one of the best way to acquire English. Well then, what are the best sources to do reading activities? Here are some:

1. Graded Readers. For me, the best way to do reading in order to learn something is to read graded reader story books. These books are adjusted according to certain levels and they are compromised of the most common words English. That's why they are perfect sources for learning. There are many different types of books to choose from. Find one and get one according to your level. They provide the best experience to learn English. One disadvantage can be that students may find graded readers boring. Well, if you are one of them and even if you won't read them a lot, I still advise you to get one. It is worth spending time on them.

5 Reasons Why You Should Buy an E-book Reader to Learn English

E-book readers are used by a lot of people these days thanks to the advantages they provide to people such as portability, easy access to materials and other technological benefits. They are also really important materials in terms of learning English due to many reasons. Here are five reasons why you should buy an e-book reader to get better at English.

1. E-book readers are cheap. E-book readers are quite cheap when you compare them to other technological devices such as tablets. An avarage E-book reader is around 100$ nowadays while an avarage tablet or an avarage smart phone is around 500$. When you compare the advantages they will provide you (in terms of personal development of course) an e-book reader is much more effective then tablets or smart phones. 
2. E-book readers don't tire your eyes. You may think that you can also read books on your tablet. Well, you are right but there is one important point. Thanks to their e-ink or paper-like qualities, e-book readers don't tire your eyes while you can get a lot of damage by trying to read a book from your tablet. With an E-book reader you can enjoy reading a book while also saving you eyes.