📖 Book Recommendations (for High-Intermediate and Advanced Learners)

This list is a combination of books that I’ve personally read and enjoyed, recommendations from my family and friends, and many well-known titles that are considered “classics” in the world of literature.

📜 US Historical Fiction / Social Realism

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee → A sister and a brother learn about racism and injustice in their town when their dad helps a black man in court.

• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger → A teenager feels lost and confused in the big city, trying to figure out life.

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald → A man throws big parties to impress a girl he loves, but he ultimately faces tragedy due to the illusions of “the American Dream.”

• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck → a rural family of farmers are forced to leave their land during the Great Depression and migrate to California in search of a better life, facing hardship and prejudice along the way.

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker → A poor black girl in the Southern US tries to overcome abuse. She finds strength and independence through the relationships she forms with other women in her life.

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck → a story of two brothers who dream of owning their own land but face challenges and tragedies as they try to make their dream a reality during the Great Depression.

👽 Science Fiction / Dystopian Society

• 1984 by George Orwell → A scary vision of the future. Winston Smith lives in a society where the government controls people's lives every second of the day. This book invented the term “Big Brother.”

• The Giver by Lois Lowry → In a “perfect” world with no war, poverty, crime, suffering, etc., a young boy learns about emotions and discovers the importance of choices and feelings.

• Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks → This book contains humorous instructions on how to survive a zombie attack in a world overrun by the undead!

🕵️‍♂️ Detective / Mystery Novels

• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie → A famous detective solves a murder mystery on a train, using his sharp mind to uncover the truth among the passengers.

• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler → In Los Angeles, a private detective investigates a wealthy family's secrets, uncovering scandals and danger along the way.

🏞️ Adventure Fiction

• A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata → A boy and his elephant escape into the jungle when the Viet Cong attack his village immediately after the Vietnam war.

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho → A boy embarks on a journey seeking treasure in the Egyptian pyramids after having a recurring dream about it. During his journey, he meets mentors, falls in love, and most importantly, learns the true importance of who he is and how to focus on what really matters in life.

📚 Biographies

• Martin Luther King Jr. by David Colbert → This book is about the life of one of the most influential figures in American history. Find out about the challenges he faced and the sacrifices he made on his quest for a more equal and fair society for everyone.

• Agatha Christie, Woman of Mystery by Oxford University Press → Agatha Christie was an English crime novelist and short story writer, but what was she like? Was her life quiet and unexciting, or was it full of mystery and adventure like her stories?

🔊 ‘BE’ Passive vs. ‘GET’ Passive - What’s the Difference? (Advanced)

In English, both the passive voice constructions using the verb 'BE' and 'GET' can be used to convey a similar idea. Both constructions can be used interchangeably in some cases. However, the choice between them often depends on the level of formality, the type of verb, and the emphasis that you want to convey.

The ‘BE’ passive is often considered more formal and is commonly used in written and academic English. It places emphasis on the action or the result of the action rather than the doer of the action. The ‘GET’ passive is generally more informal and colloquial. It's commonly used in spoken English or less formal writing.

An important grammatical difference between the passive voice with BE and GET is that we only use GET with action verbs, not stative verbs. Stative verbs like ‘believe’ and ‘wanted’ do not express action or change, so it typically doesn’t make sense to say “I got believed.” or “She gets known.”

Next, if you use the ‘BE’ passive, there are some situations where it’s not clear if you’re talking about the action or the state. This confusion usually occurs when the past participle form of a verb can also be used as an adjective to indicate a state or a status.

Take, for example, “the house was damaged” versus “the house got damaged.” 

• In the first sentence, this could be a general state or a specific action. The only way we could know is to add more context:

• A few years ago the house was damaged, but now the house is not damaged. It looks great! (This refers to the general state of the house.)

• The house was damaged by a terrible storm in 2019. (This refers to a specific action or event.)

We can see another example of this when we compare sentences that use the verb ‘to marry.’ 

• “Lisa is married.” “Lisa is a married woman.” Here, ‘married’ is a participial adjective.

• “Lisa was married last year.”
  For native speakers, there are two possible interpretations of this sentence:

• The first interpretation, and the most common one, is that it sounds like Lisa is no longer married and she got divorced. It’s much more common for people to say “get married” and “get divorced.” This way, we clearly know that you’re talking about an action, not a state.

• Another interpretation is that perhaps, the wedding was last year and Lisa is still married today. For most Americans, this is possible, but this is a less common interpretation because, again, the ‘BE’ passive sounds extremely formal.

• As I mentioned earlier, you could add more context to make it clear:

• Lisa was married last year, and now she and her husband have a beautiful daughter.

We often use the GET passive to emphasize actions that are unexpected. This can be something that’s very positive and surprising, or something that’s very negative and unwanted. Note that this is usually more conversational and less formal.

• For example, “my bike got stolen.” (This was very shocking. I didn’t expect this to happen, and I definitely did not want this to happen.)  

• However, if you’re presenting facts or information before a judge in a court of law, you may choose to say “My bike was stolen.” This is a more formal situation and you are just stating a fact.

• So, I can get promoted at work (This is great news, and I really wanted this!). On the other hand, I can get fired (I definitely did not want or expect this to happen). 

• You can get chosen to be on a tv show, or you can get arrested. Actually, no. Please don’t get arrested!

GET is one of the most essential verbs to master in English because it has multiple meanings, and native speakers use this verb in many different situations. If you want to learn more, watch this lesson about 15 common ways to use GET.