Books and movies in English

Reading a book or watching a movie in English could be a good way to improve your English.

What was your last movie or book in English?
Would you like to name the title and give a short description, please?

Last Book: Jim Thompson - Nothing more than Murder

Description in my blog (in German):
https://www.allmystery.de/blogs/narrenschiffer/jim_thompson__nothing_more_than_murder

My last book was:

Ruth Ware - 'In a dark dark wood'

The book is about the young writer Nora, who got an invitation to her former best friend's hen party.
She spent the weekend with the other guests in a remote cottage, where the past caught up with her.

http://www.ruthware.com/?page_id=31 (Archiv-Version vom 19.02.2017)

I only watch movies in english since i really dislike the german dubs. The last one was a very deep and intense one. Called "Arrival" with Amy Adams. Its basically about aliens coming to earth and they have to learn each others language. Yet if you watch it, pay close attention since the actual story is very subtle and really emotional. Dont wanna spoil too much. Its not only about the aliens. Amazing writing and acting.

Because I could't wait...
two Books from J. R. Ward :Y:

Devil's Cut: A Bourbon Kings Novel

Spoilerhttps://www.amazon.de/dp/B01MRGOYE7/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Original anzeigen (1,9 MB)

The Chosen: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood

Spoilerhttps://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/0451475208/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85Z%C3%95%C3%91&qid=1520369336&sr=8-1π=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=the+chosen+black+dagger&dpPl=1&dpID=51VAgabubmL&ref=plSrch
Original anzeigen (1,5 MB)

The last book I read in English was "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli. She's a friend of mine and her YA books are amazing!
The book is the follow up to Becky's fisrt book "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" which got its own movie this spring! Love, Simon comes out at the end of June in Germany!
I'm not sure what the last book I read in German was... after starting to read English books it always feels weird/cringe-y to go back to German translations. And there aren't really a lot of good German books.

I don't remember the last movie I watched in English...I'm more of a tv series kind of person.

I would recommend Fantastic Mr. Fox. This book is about a boy fox who goes out every night searching for dinner and brings back lots of feasts for his family.This is actually a children book, but at least I started the Children book to improve my English as well, it is so easy to understand and help me a lot to improve my vocabulary ^^

Whoever hasn't read Hemingsway's "The Old Man And The Sea" yet - do it! Do it now! This novel is super simple, but also fantastic. I am serious. Go read that. ^^

sure book and movies work well in lerning english would be best to take someting you are very interessted in

and buy it in the language you want to lern that way you will keep focus on that

i´ve learned english cause i was a kid and had fallout 1 in the english version

worked pretty well for me i would say :)

Uh, I try to describe the last books I've read... erm...

Its difficult. When you never have to write or speak in english, but you watches movies in read books in that language.

Okay...
Years ago, I start reading in english an then I start getting bored of reading... erm... is that the correct term? I don't know ^^

So, four weeks ago, I restarted with 'Charlie and the choclate factory' by Roald Dahl.
I think everyone knows the story, .... (how to say here 'oder nicht?'... isn't? Didn't? Don't?)

Then, I read 'The curious incident of the dog in the night-time' by Mark Haddon.
It's a story about a boy with autism disorder, who intend to solve the murder of the neighbours dog.

And now I try to read 'Murder on the orient express' by Agatha Christie.
Thats more difficult, because the... erm... the style of writing is old.


So... what kind of movies?
I watch lots of series in english. The last ones were "The boys", "Preacher", "Carnival row" and actually "the dark crystal" (whats correct actual or actually?)


I hope you are able to read and understand my gibberish

GalleyBeggar schrieb am 12.09.2019:I think everyone knows the story, .... (how to say here 'oder nicht?'... isn't? Didn't? Don't?)

I'd say, "you all know the story, dont you?"

GalleyBeggar schrieb am 12.09.2019:actually "the dark crystal" (whats correct actual or actually?)

Both words dont make sense in the context you want use them.

Cantaloupe schrieb:Both words dont make sense in the context you want use them.

Okay, and what is the correct word?

Zur Zeit schaue ich "The dark crystal".... just in time? :D

GalleyBeggar schrieb:Zur Zeit schaue ich "The dark crystal".... just in time? :D

You could say...

I'm watching the serialization of the Dark Crystal these days.

Or maybe...

Recently i follow The Dark Crystal series.


Maybe not 100% correct, but the meaning should be clear.

Do you use subtitles when watching series, I find it much harder to understand when I´m watching television than when I´m having an actual conversation with a person

Dreisteine schrieb:Do you use subtitles when watching series, I find it much harder to understand when I´m watching television than when I´m having an actual conversation with a person

No, usually not, I am fine without subtitles. They annoy me. But sometimes I use them if I watch documentarys with a difficult vocabulary or if people have strong accents. But only for a short period of time.

You must be practically fluent then! I really struggle understanding TV shows

Dreisteine schrieb:You must be practically fluent then! I really struggle understanding TV shows

It gets better over time. You just need practice! Consider this, I have been learning and using the english language for 13 years now - that's a long time. And I just use it all the time in my daily life - I don't even know how I am supposed to get through my hobbies or my life without this language.
I struggled with TV shows at the beginning, too, I remember that. But I never used subtitles at the start, I just lived with the fact that I did not understand everything or I had to guess from context. Maybe that helped, but I can't tell.

Do you think that watching TV shows without completely understanding them helped you learn?

@Dreisteine
(Btw, you can talk directly to people by putting an @, like I did here so they know when you talk to them and don‘t have to assume)

Dreisteine schrieb:Do you think that watching TV shows without completely understanding them helped you learn?

Yes, most definitely. You start to understand by taking the context of the situation into consideration. I looked up some words once in a while (I remember that I learned „nuisance“ from a movie and I loved this word), but I didn‘t really need it. You don‘t have to understand every word to know whats going on in a movie.

@Luminita
I think i´ll give watching a TV show I know well again in English I´ve heard of this working very well for people. I always give up after the first episode because I get frustrated not knowing exactly what they are talking about but I´ll stick to it this time and hopefully see results!