Books – My Friends

Books – My Friends

1 Tell me what you read and I´ll tell you what you are like. Do you agree with this saying?

There is something for everybody in books. You can find the answers to many questions. The genre depends on our character. If somebody likes reading comics – it might be a signal, that he or she is rather trivial because of poor artwork and too silly stories in comics. But many people like reading comics because they can be educational and just funny. Women who are romantic prefer reading romances to horrors and those who like thinking during reading, prefer psychological novels to adventure stories and thrillers.

Reading is a great hobby, which gives people the opportunity to learn something new and improve their communication skills. It also challenges their imagination and brings pleasure to their lives.

2 What genres of literature do you like / don´t you like reading?

Literature is divided into 2 categories: non-fiction and fiction. Non-fiction books are usually for information (textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, biographies, autobiographies, memoirs,travel books, history books, cookery books). Fiction is about imaginary people or events. There are 2 types: poetry (poems) and prose (tales, short stories, novellas, romances, crime novels, mysteries, science fiction, westerns, thrillers, historical novels).

I like reading fiction such as..................Such reading develops my imagination, entertains me.........The book I´m reading now is................It has got a very interesting plot. The main character is.................But the best book I have ever read is............because.........

I prefer non-fiction reading, e.g.books about history, travelling, biographies.......I find this kind of reading inspiring, educational, motivational.......The book I´m reading now is.......It is about...........

My favourite Slovak writer is......because..........My favourite foreign writer is.........because......I like English/German/American literature because..........

I enjoy older literature, e.g.from the.....century. This is because.....

I like reading books from different periods - I don´t prefer any particular time in history.

I prefer modern literature, because.................

I don´t like reading sad or tragic stories,because.........

I really like poetry. Poems help me relax. My favourite poet is............

3 Do you prefer reading books or watching their film versions?

I think reading is better because you can imagine things which cannot be portrayed in a film. I can compare e.g...................I read the book several years ago and saw the film this year and I must say the book is much better. The film was too long and boring and many scenes from the book were missing.

I don´t like reading very much so I prefer watching films. I started reading, e.g.the book.........but I had to give it up. But later I went to the cinema with my friends and I enjoyed the film version very much.

4 What books written by English writing authors would you recommend your friend to read? Why?

I like reading detective stories so my favourite writer is Agatha Christie, also known as ´The Queen of the detective stories´or ´First lady of crime´. She developed the classical English detective story. She created 2 unique detective characters- Hercule Poirot(a Belgian detective living in Britain and speaking broken English) and Miss Jane Marple (an elderly spinster with intuition and good knowledge of people and conditions in her town). I can name some stories: ´Murder on the Orient Express´,´Death on the Nile´, ´Five Little Pigs´, etc.

5 What do you think are some of the reasons of dropping interest in reading?

I think that the first of all it is cinema and TV boom that have caused dropping interest in reading. People are not able to appreciate the benefits of reading. In my opinion books help us to learn about foreign countries as well as exotic lands with their wonderful plants and animals . We also gain knowledge about people- their habits and character.

Through reading we learn what is good, intelligent and valuable, as well as what is bad, foolish and worthless. E.g.Fairy tales are important for small children (they begin to learn about good and evil). When people read, they can appreciate good language expression and the beauty of language. Reading increases our vocabulary. I am sure that a book can be one of our best friends.

6 Does a textbook influence your attitude towards reading?

I find English textbooks very motivating for reading. They are divided into interesting parts as Reading, Listening and Language in use which can motivate students to read at least simplified versions of English novels or short stories.

I have read.................from Oxford/Penguin Library, which is published in .......level.