HeLpS NeEdEd AlL oF yOu! Especially U.K and U.S members

[spiritshaman14]

First thank you, just for answering my help request and coming to see the thread.
I am looking forward to study English in one of the universities of U.K or U.S, I've got a BA in translation studies in my country so I'm supposed to have a fair command of English I decided to have some background readings so I read HP books quite a few times enjoying Jim Dale fantastic audio book , the Hobbit and LOTR and some classics , but I am really confused about my future readings. I don't know what to read and what am I supposed to have read when I get there, so I need your help to know WHAT should I read, the ORDER of reading those books (since it's better to read more difficult books later when I get a better understanding of English literature by reading easier books) and a knowledge concerning the importance of those books. I can read continuously for a long time (16 hours on a go), so feel free to add more books if you think they may not be essential. One more point, if there is any audiobook available(esp in American accent)for those books please inform me since it has always been a great experience. Thank you in advance.
Any additional information will also be appreciated.

[owly]

Have you tried your local library? The librarians there could probably help you.

[Dr. Drib]

Since you seem to enjoy fantasy books (in addition to some classics that you mention), I would recommend - and I keep recommending these books to newer readers who wish to discover the best in fantasy - that you read Ursula K. Le Guin's first 3 books of her Earthsea Fantasy Series of novels that I've listed below:


1) A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968 (named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1979)

2) The Tombs of Atuan, 1971 (Newbery runner-up)

3) The Farthest Shore, 1972 (National Book Award)


Each novel in the series [as shown above] has received a literary award, including the 1969 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction & the 1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea, the 1972 Newbery Honor for The Tombs of Atuan, the 1973 National Book Award for Children's Books for The Farthest Shore, the 1990 Nebula Award for Best Novel for Tehanu, and the 2002 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for The Other Wind.

There are a few more in the series. If you like these, then I suggest you read them all.

[Glorfindel]

GA Henty has a LOT of good books... all of which are in the pubic domain

[spiritshaman14]

Originally Posted by owly

Have you tried your local library? The librarians there could probably help you.

well, here they would laugh at you on the very idea of asking them for English literature, let alone asking them some information which i'm 100 percent sure they have never came across. here, libraries have only Persian and Arabic books and some language learning elementary course books.anyway thank you.

[spiritshaman14]

.....

[spiritshaman14]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Since you seem to enjoy fantasy books (in addition to some classics that you mention), I would recommend - and I keep recommending these books to newer readers who wish to discover the best in fantasy - that you read Ursula K. Le Guin's first 3 books of her Earthsea Fantasy Series of novels that I've listed below:


1) A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968 (named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1979)

2) The Tombs of Atuan, 1971 (Newbery runner-up)

3) The Farthest Shore, 1972 (National Book Award)


Each novel in the series [as shown above] has received a literary award, including the 1969 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction & the 1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea, the 1972 Newbery Honor for The Tombs of Atuan, the 1973 National Book Award for Children's Books for The Farthest Shore, the 1990 Nebula Award for Best Novel for Tehanu, and the 2002 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for The Other Wind.

There are a few more in the series. If you like these, then I suggest you read them all.

thank you. you have a great eye for details, i will surely read them all. but isn't there any need to stick on the classics? I mean i dont want to make a fool of myself just for not reading a few books which could only take some more days...

[Dr. Drib]

Yes, I highly recommend you read the classics - read deeply and broadly (as much as you can).

You might try "The Old Man and the Sea," by Hemingway who, as you may know, won the Nobel Prize in Literature back in 1954 [?]. Unfortunately, I don't think this is in the public domain.

Also, you might try some Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). His works are in the public domain [almost everything].

There's a lot more that I'm sure our members can recommend


ADDED: We have a huge number of free public domain titles, in our Library, here at Mobileread. They're available in different formats, such as epub, mobi, etc.

[spiritshaman14]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Yes, I highly recommend you read the classics - read deeply and broadly (as much as you can).

You might try "The Old Man and the Sea," by Hemingway who, as you may know, won the Nobel Prize in Literature back in 1954 [?]. Unfortunately, I don't think this is in the public domain.

Also, you might try some Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). His works are in the public domain [almost everything].

There's a lot more that I'm sure our members can recommend


ADDED: We have a huge number of free public domain titles, in our Library, here at Mobileread. They're available in different formats, such as epub, mobi, etc.

"The Old Man and the Sea" is already in my list and some masterpieces of mark twain, too. so it seems that i was right about classics, just the order of reading is a little confusing. thank you again. and here in Iran, since there is not any kind of copy right policies, you can get your hands over almost every thing(including very expensive software and books) with no more than 3 dollars, and that's only when you can't download them! and for moral perspective, well... since there is no way to order them from the publisher and the necessity of broadening the knowledge, i think i can easily argue the case to myself...

[Bilbo1967]

If you're looking at American classic, I would suggest looking for some Steinbeck as well. Cannery Row is great, also a fairly short and funny read. For a beefier read, try The Grapes of Wrath (possibly the best novel ever IMHO).

[spiritshaman14]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

If you're looking at American classic, I would suggest looking for some Steinbeck as well. Cannery Row is great, also a fairly short and funny read. For a beefier read, try The Grapes of Wrath (possibly the best novel ever IMHO).

thank you, i only have The grapes of wrath, although i didn't have the chance to have a look upon it, but i will put it in top ten now that you've recommended it.

[owly]

Originally Posted by spiritshaman14

well, here they would laugh at you on the very idea of asking them for English literature, let alone asking them some information which i'm 100 percent sure they have never came across. here, libraries have only Persian and Arabic books and some language learning elementary course books.anyway thank you.

That's too bad, in which country are you?

[elemenoP]

For an easier classic, you may want to try To Kill a Mockingbird. This is an easier read than The Grapes of Wrath: the narrator is a child. But it is an excellent book. There is no legal ebook version, fyi.

[jscarbo]

Here's a list for advanced ESL/EFL students from the Toronto public library: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/b...Wc&sheetId=oe6

You can find several other lists with a Google search for "recommended reading list for esl students"

I also recommend that you explore some short story collections such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Greates...es+collections

[spiritshaman14]

Originally Posted by owly

That's too bad, in which country are you?

in Iran, well... you know I'm not saying that everything the press say about here is correct but at least in this regard, the educational system and performance is unimaginably weak, you have no idea how difficult it is to try to be a fluent English learner and how more difficult it is to try to go to some country where you are more exposed to standard English.