Extensive Reading Recommendations

As I have shown in a previous blog post, doing extensive reading with graded readers is one of the most useful things you can do to improve your English. However, sometimes it can be difficult to know what book to choose that will be interesting. Since I mostly read non-fiction books for pleasure, I am not sure that I am very good at recommending what books to read, especially as each person will have different interests. Despite that, I have managed to produce a list of books that might be a useful starting point for learners who have difficulty in choosing what to read. By using a list of the finalists and winners (winners have a * next to their title) from the Extensive Reading Language Learner Literature Award, I have created a list of recommendations.

Please note, that I have only included books that are available to read online from the English e-Reader website. You can access an online text of the book by clicking the name of the book title. If you want more information, you can click the name of the publisher, which will take you to their page. I am not sure about the accuracy of the information on the English e-Reader website, so the information about pages and level has been taken from the publisher, rather than the website English e-Reader website. For some classic books, there has been more than one book written by different publishers, so I am not always 100% sure which version has been used. I have indicated this with a question mark (?) next to the publisher name.

For the final two columns of the table below, CEFR level = Common European Framework of Reference for Languages level, where B1 = intermediate, B2 = upper-intermediate and C1 = advanced. ERF level = Extensive Reading Foundation level. You can find your level by going to the Extensive Reading Central website and following the instructions after clicking ‘Check my Level’.