Reading is a good way how to enlarge your vocabulary. You can use your imagination while reading. However, lots of people prefer watching films nowadays. It is a pity because a reader can take part in the plot, while a spectator only receives a complete picture.
We can divide book into: short stories, novels, thrillers, romantic novels, science-fiction, phantasy books, nonfiction books (biographies, historical books, travelogues, scientific books).
Books are sold in bookshops, but it is possible to lend them in libraries. Some books are also available on the internet as free online versions.
1) British literature
Literature in the Middle Ages
GEOFFREY CHAUCER (+ 1400)
- often called the father of English poetry
- Canterbury Tales – a group of pilgrims travels to Canterbury; each of them tells a story
English Renaissance
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (+1616)
- the greatest English playwright
- he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in England
- in London he wrote plays and acted in the Globe Theatre
- tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth
- comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As you like it, The Taming of the Shrew
- historical plays: Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra
- romances: The Winter’s Tale
Literature of the 18th century
DANIEL DEFOE – a journalist who became famous for his novel
Robinson Crusoe – the story about a castaway on a deserted island
JONATHAN SWIFT
- he was born in Dublin, Ireland; later he moved to England
- satirical prose; unfortunately he burned most of his writings
- Gulliver Travels – Gulliver is a young man who travels to the Land of Lilliput inhabited
by people six inches high, and to another country where there are giants; then
he travels to a country where horses dominated and people behaved as animals
WALTER SCOTT
- wrote a romantic prose; he was the founder of the historical novel
Ivanhoe – about the medieval age of knights under the rule of the King Richard the ¨
Lion-heart
The 19th century – Victorian literature
CHARLES DICKENS
- he was a representative of critical realism; but he is special because of his humour
- he had a very hard childhood; his family was very poor, he had to work in a factory when
he was only 10 years old
- his books are about the life of the poor in the 19th century
- Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield
OSCAR WILDE
- became famous through his fairy tales – The Happy Prince
- comedies
- his only novel is The Picture of Dorian Gray
LEWIS CARROL
- a matematician and writer
- a tale: Alice in Wonderland
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
20th century literature
VIRGINIA WOOLF (+1941)
- in her works she described emotions and feelings of her characters
- she commited suicide
- Mrs Dalloway
- To The Lighthouse
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
- a playwright (dramatist)
- the romantic comedy Pygmalion – was adapted as the musical My Fair Lady
AGATHA CHRISTIE (+1976)
- known as the Queen of Detective Fiction
- she wrote about 100 detective stories
- some of her detectives are Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot
J.R.R. TOLKIEN (+1973)
- he was a university professor
- The Hobbit
- The Lord of the Rings – a high fantasy novel about elves, hobbits; there is a fight between
good forces and the dark lord Sauron
2) American literature
19th century in the USA:
- Walt Whitman – wrote poems: Leaves of Grass
- Mark Twain – books about river life and adventures of small boys (inspired by his childhood): „The Adventures of Tom Sawyer“; „Life on the Mississippi“
- Edgar Allan Poe – poems („The Raven“), psychological thrillers („The Black Cat“)
20th century in the USA:
- Jack London – was probably the greatest „nature writer“ in American literature; his stories are connected to Alaska. „The Call of the Wild“
- Francis Scott Fitzgerald – a friend of E. Hemingway: „The Great Gatsby“ – about gangsters
- John Steinbeck – „Travels with Charley“ – in this book, Steinbeck travels across the United States with his poodle Charley; he describes various aspects of American life
- Ernest Hemingway – he was fascinated by war; he became a war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. His most successful book is „For Whom the Bell Tolls“ – is about the Spanish Civil War; another work is „A Farewell to Arms“
- Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov – sci-fi literature
3) Your own reading experience
a) What kind of books do you like reading?
b) What kind of books don't you like?
c) Talk about your favourite book.