jlei 001

[jiinyu]

Hello.

While I can speak the English language fairly competently, my reading skills are not as great as I'd like. My group wasn't able to source many books in English that were at the proper reading level while I was growing up, so while I can read English, I'd like to be better at it. That being said I'd like to request some of your favourites from the library. I'm afraid I haven't dedicated enough time to perusing our shelves so it will all most likely be new to me. Chang'e and I will read anything, even poetry.

Thank you for your time.

Comments

[dochenka]

I have been reading the Goosebumps books. They are not favorites, but they are easy to follow.

[jiinyu]

Thank you. I will look at these books.

[dochenka]

They are classified as horror, but not so scary.

My favorite is The Secret Garden. Do you know it?

[jiinyu]

Scarier than the book with the clown who eats children?

I have heard of it, but I have not read it. What is it about?

[dochenka]

No, though I am from Belarus and our cautionary tales are worse than any horror book I have heard of.

It is about a young orphan girl who is sent to live with family in England. She is neglected by them, but she discovers a locked garden on the property and begins to care for it. I feel the message is about nurturing nature and yourself to become something better and healthier than before, and that we all thrive with love or we will fall to decay.

[arasch]

English is so complicated.

[adequacies]

Have you read A Little Princess?

[dochenka]

No. It is good?

[adequacies]

Yes. It’s by the same author as The Secret Garden. There was a film made, too.

[dochenka]

Do we have a copy of the book?

[adequacies]

I’m sure I read it on board. It must be in the library somewhere.

[dochenka]

Thank you, Eva. I will look for it. The movie is better or worse?

[adequacies]

I think it’s one of the rare adaptations where it’s impossible to say. I love them both.

[adequacies]

The Giver by Lois Lowry or The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. The language isn’t very flowery in the latter, which I found helpful.

[jiinyu]

Yes. My ma taught me as best as she could, but everyone in our group mostly spoke Mandarin or Cantonese. So many words in English are the same but mean different things.

[jiinyu]

I do not know if our cautionary tales are too scary.

I will look for this book.

[jiinyu]

That is helpful. What are these books about?

[adequacies]

[…] on second thought, The Giver is a bit too on the nose so I would avoid it. But it’s about a community that is dedicated to the concept of Sameness and a young boy who becomes the receiver of memories of the world before.

And The Old Man and the Sea is about an unlucky fisherman and his trials as he catches a large marlin and tries to bring it back to shore.

[dochenka]

What is your favorite?

[humanityresource]

If you would like tutoring, from one non-native-English speaker to another, maybe we could meet over coffee.

[jiinyu]

Chang'e and Hou Yi are my favourite myth. What about you?

[jiinyu]

Yes, I can see how that would be considered on the nose.

I do like fisherman's tales, I will look for this book. Do you have a favorite book?

[jiinyu]

I would like that. What is your native language?

[humanityresource]

Hindi. But my parents are English teachers, so I've spoken both from a young age.

[adequacies]

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

And I have too many favorites, to be honest.

My favorite classic is Little Women. The one that stuck with me most as a child was called Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. I also liked The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown— that one is in the library.

[jiinyu]

My ma read Little Women to me when I was younger. I liked it but found it quite sad as well. We found a copy of the film once, but had no way to watch it.

Is it a book about the artist?