Shadowing Practice: 10 books EVERYONE should read at least once in their life (fiction book recommendations) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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If you came to me and said,

Leah, I'm only ever going to read 10 books in my entire life.

What should I read?

Here are the 10 books that I would recommend to you.

I did a very similar book recommendations video about a month

ago for the 10 books I think you must read this year.

However, as much as there are so many books out there that I feel like everyone should read in their lifetime,

I really tried to narrow these down to 10 where I truly believe

that everybody reading them could get something out of them,

even if it's not their predominant genre,

even if they've never tried that genre before.

In this stack we do definitely have fiction,

literary fiction, modern classics, non-fiction and poetry.

Also a little bit of fantasy

and I am just in love with all of these books

and I think if you're going to only read 10 books in your life,

babe it has to be these.

Just before I go through these books,

if you yourself have any recommendations that you think I should read in my lifetime,

if anyone else should read in their lifetimes,

please comment them down below.

So we'll tell you see I suppose if you've read any of these and you also agree,

please let me know.

I'm always happy to discuss all of these books,

they are some of my favourites ever but we are just going to get straight into the recommendations.

Kicking it off with a book that it took me a long time to finally get to.

I was intimidated by this book for a really really long time

And I had absolutely no reason to be

That is the goldfinch by donna tart the secret history by

donna tart is one of my favorite books of all time And I really wanted to love this.

However, I knew it was long I didn't really know what to expect

But oh my god when I say

that this is one of the best reading experiences i've ever

had for a literary fiction book in my entire life I mean it

if you do not know what the goldfinch is about we essentially follow our protagonist theo the book begins

when he is 14 years old.

One day him and his mum decide to go to a museum

and as they are wandering around this museum a catastrophe happens and his mum dies.

The Goldfinch is a story so steeped in grief following Theo essentially throughout his entire life.

We've really become accustomed to him and all of his decisions in life,

the way he navigates his life.

Very much talking about the lengths that we go to in order to carry on especially in the face of adversity.

It is such a moving, poignant, really heartbreaking read.

One that is so beautiful.

Donna Tarr as a writer is just so masterful.

I mean, everyone knows that by now with The Secret History,

but this is just truly beautiful.

When I read this, I really soaked it all up in.

I took my time with it.

That's definitely the best thing to do with this book.

Obviously, it's quite long, but you will probably fly through it.

The audiobook is also great.

However, the last,

I would say 100 pages of this book are some of

the best 100 pages I've ever read in any book in my entire life.

It was astonishing you cannot help but resonate with them

and for that it has to be a book that everybody reads in their lifetime.

Up next at the time of me filming this this is the most recent book

that I finished so for it instantly to be in a 10 books

that I think everyone should read in their lifetimes video it was insane it is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burr.

This book has just been published so I think

if you just want to be ahead of the curve in the literary fiction genre you should read it anyway

but this is definitely the literary fiction book of 2026.

I did not know exactly what to expect going into this book

and I really recommend going into it knowing as little as possible.

So all I'm going to say is in Yesteryear we are following our protagonist Natalie who is an influencer

but she is also a tradwife.

Think the Nara Smithification of TikTok.

She is a character that at once feels incredibly morally grey but also very human and very raw.

She talks about her inauthenticity towards her job and being an influencer.

Also very much in being a mother and being a partner and being a woman in this world.

It is so full of nuance.

But one day she wakes up in the 1800s and she has to live the life that she has been profiting from.

There is so much to unravel with this book.

I feel like there are gonna be an abundance of conversations surrounding it just because of how rich in discussion it is.

I found myself so compelled by her story and by her character,

even when I really, for the most part,

did not agree with her at all.

It does talk at length about religion and conservatism and how politics really goes into the act of influencing and social media.

Kind of, I suppose, the discussion surrounding the surveillance and also the scrutiny of living a life online.

And can you be entirely authentic if you do that?

I feel like this book is incredibly current,

incredibly relevant, and it's perfect for the weird girl fiction lovers.

I'm so intrigued to see if the weird girl fiction,

if this is going to pave the way for influencing and the dark side of being an influencer in that sphere.

It was just such a fascinating and really compelling read

and I am honestly just expecting it to pop up in so many videos for the rest of the year,

so many posts, everyone's favourite books of the year.

I'm very excited to engage in a lot of conversations surrounding this

and I feel like because it's really current and a one that everyone should read.

Up next we have a poetry book that I'm actually currently reading

but the reason that I feel like I can confidently recommend this is because it's from one of my favourite poets.

This book in particular is a collection from so many of her other smaller collections.

So I've read a lot of these poems already and that is Devotions by Mary Oliver.

I am a massive believer that even if you do not read poetry,

you need to be reading a Mary Oliver.

She creates this grand love for the natural world, for nature.

She devoted her entire life to writing about nature and she does it in a way that is so beautiful.

And beautiful doesn't even cut it.

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I feel like they're just so transcendent.

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There really aren't enough words to be able to describe the way

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that her poetry makes me and hundreds and thousands of other people feel.

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They are endlessly so eloquent and they really do make you feel so at home and so at ease with nature.

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Reading this in say the spring or the summer in a patch of grass,

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the best experience, the best reading experience you can probably ever have.

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I also deeply believe that these are really accessible.

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So like I said, if you do not read poetry,

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if you're maybe a little bit intimidated by the poetry genre,

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this is such a great one to start with.

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I have fallen in love with every single poem from her

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that I've ever read but this collection is also like the best of the best

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so I would highly recommend picking this up.

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It is beautiful, the perfect time of the year to do

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so and I really just truly think if everybody read Mary Oliver's poetry and the way she talks about nature,

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the world would honestly just be a happier place.

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Love her.

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Next we have my favourite book of all time

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and being a reader

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and somebody asking you what is your number one favourite book of all time can sometimes feel a little bit complicated.

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There are an abundance of books and I feel like it's going to be like

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that in my entire life where I read a book and I'm like this is my favourite.

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No this is my favourite.

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No this is my favourite

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but this book truly to my core is my favourite number one book of all time

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and if you're not new here you'll know exactly what that is.

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It is Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector.

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I'm a little bit more dubious recommending this to everybody because I feel like Clarice Lispector is very unique in her prose.

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It is very stream of consciousness and I know not everybody loves that.

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However I would absolutely urge you one to try Clarice Lispector just

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because in my opinion she's the greatest writer that has ever existed.

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Also this book is so beautiful.

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If you are a young girl in your 20s,

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I believe that she wrote this when she was 23,

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Near to the Wild Heart talks at length about what it is like to be a young woman in this world,

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navigating your 20s, navigating your partnerships and your romance,

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what you want to do with your life.

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Clarice Inspector's books are quite philosophical but again in a way

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that I do feel like are quite accessible if you are intimidated or new to that scope.

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She does consider at length in all of her books the afterlife,

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how you can live a life that is completely moral.

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Is it possible to be completely moral?

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Morality versus mortality.

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All of her books are so singular and so unique and so eloquent,

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but this one has to be my favourite.

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Every quote in this left my jaw on the floor.

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I really read this at such a pivotal time in my life

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and I truly would recommend it to everybody no matter what age you are.

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But I do think if you're a young woman in your early 20s specifically,

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there is just something in this book that will resonate with you

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so deeply and she's just the best writer that I have ever encountered in my entire life.

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She resonates with me on a level that no one else ever truly has.

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To my core this is undoubtedly the best book that I've ever read in my entire life.

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My favourite.

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So obviously

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if I'm doing a book recommendations video of what 10 books

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I really feel like everyone should read at least once in their life this has to be one of them.

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Whilst we're talking about favourite books this book was my top favourite book of 2024

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and that was It Last Forever and Then It Is Over by Anne DeMarcon.

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Absolutely another one where I really do recommend going into knowing as little as possible

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but I do feel like all you should know is that we are essentially following a girl in the afterlife.

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She doesn't know how she got there,

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she cannot remember her name or her life previous,

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all she can remember is that she loved this one thing.

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As the reader, as we're reading it initially we have no idea what this one thing

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that she is infatuated with is and it makes the whole book so enamouring,

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it is so compelling, it is so bittersweet,

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there are real moments in this full of so much joy but equally full of so much heartache.

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At once, it is a post-apocalyptic read,

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but on the flip side,

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mirroring that, it is a read so steeped in humanity

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and what it is like to be human

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and how our memories really carry us and what happens when we can no longer remember.

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The second that I finished reading this in 2024,

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I was like, yeah, not only is this the best book that I've read this year,

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but it is also one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life.

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All of these doggies, too,

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are quotes that I just fell in love with.

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There is truly not really any other book like this that I've ever read.

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It's so singular, it's so haunting and it is just truly a book that everyone should read.

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It's also just under or just over 100 pages just over.

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Please read it.

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One that I do feel like is so deeply popular but for such an apparent reason is Beartown by Frederick Buckman.

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First and foremost if you have not read any Frederick Buckman,

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babe you need to.

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If you don't start with Beartown I would recommend starting with my friends.

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That was on my past book recommendations video.

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If it wasn't in there,

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it would have been on this list.

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But Beartown is the first book in a trilogy that is

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so astounding that it is quite literally one of the highest rated books on Goodreads I've ever seen

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and it's everyone's favourite book ever.

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When you really strip back to its bones what this book is about,

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it's actually quite simple.

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We are set in a town called Beartown.

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It is a tiny town at the edge of a forest

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and ice hockey is the primary love of everyone in this town.

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When it comes to the characters,

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there is such an ensembled cast.

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We follow some of the people on the ice hockey team,

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we follow their parents, we follow the teachers,

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we follow everybody in this town.

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It would be rather difficult to pinpoint one sole protagonist in this book series

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because we follow everybody and Frederick Buckman does it in a way that is superb.

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I really feel like there is something so masterful

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when crafting a book that even your secondary characters feel like real primary characters bringing the book forward.

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In this book without a doubt we do discuss heavier topics.

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I would definitely recommend trigger warnings however it is dealt with so much care and so much nuance.

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The core of this book is human,

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it is so incredibly raw,

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again the way that Frederick Buckman writes characters,

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he's another author where all of his characters feel like real people in my brain.

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In spite of these books having so much packed into them they are quite accessible

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if literary fiction is not your predominant genre but just loving the character arcs,

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this book series honestly wrecks me.

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Also is one of the most astounding beautiful things I've ever read,

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one of my favourite book series ever and you need to read it.

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Next we have two non-fiction books.

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Now I am not a massive non-fiction reader however there are a handful of ones I have read

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that I truly believe everyone would get something out of if they were to read them.

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Firstly we have one that is definitely a little bit more niche however I am

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so deeply fascinated by this topic and it is something

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that everyone can resonate with and that is Philosophy of the Home by Emmanuel Coquia.

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I read this I want to say again 2024,

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a five-star non-fiction book for

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which is unheard of there is something about the conversations the discussions

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and as the title suggests the philosophy of a home

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that really really captivates me evidently it is such a privilege to have a home

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but experiencing having a home and moving

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and all of the tiny minute details of a home

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that oftentimes we wouldn't even consider is something

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that I love exploring this I did read as research for my own fictional novel

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that I'm writing however even outside of that I was just

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so completely enamoured

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and again the dog is I was completely completely astounded by

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this book to give you a brief idea of the contents

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of this book what we are exploring in this book we

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have moving love bathrooms household articles wardrobes twins white powder social media bedrooms

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and corridors pets forests and gardens kitchens and the new home

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or the philosopher's stone it was just honestly breathtaking I feel like it's a book

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that I'm going to return to multiple times in my life

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and it just makes you look at your home in such a different way.

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Also with somebody who doesn't read predominantly non-fiction,

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this at times read like fiction,

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which is why I think I enjoyed it a lot more than I would have

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if it read like an actual hardcore text.

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It was so good, everyone needs to read it.

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And the second non-fiction book that we have on this list

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that again I feel like everyone needs to read at least once in their life,

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I've spoken about this book an ungodly number of times.

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That of course is The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Joan Didion.

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Joan Didion.

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I am so in love with this woman and everything she writes.

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I'm in love with what her mind was.

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But if you do not know anything about the year of magical thinking,

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it is a memoir on grief when she lost her husband.

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And it is so poignant.

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It is so raw and it is so difficult to read.

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As somebody who did experience grief quite young,

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reading this in my early twenties,

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it really shaped the way that I carried my grief,

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the way that I navigated grief.

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And I feel like it is a book,

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again, I'm going to be returning to my entire life.

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If you are somebody who has experienced grief, I cannot recommend enough.

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You need to read this book.

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I will never ever stop shouting it from the rooftops because it's so important grief often feels like such an isolating Experience,

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but unfortunately and also slightly magnificently It is something

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that every single person every single living thing on earth

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that has ever experienced at any time ever Has experienced it can

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and it often does feel so isolating and everyone's journey with grief is so individual and so singular However,

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it is so important for the community aspect and reading this when you're going through grief is life-changing

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literally life-changing we only have two more books to recommend

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but this next book is the shortest book on this entire list

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and also is one that i feel like i've spoken about a lot more

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so in the sense that i cannot believe more people aren't reading this

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and more people are not talking about it

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and it is hex by jenny fagan another one i suppose of my niche interest is witchcraft

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and reading about witchcraft whether it is a non-fiction or historical fiction

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and this is a fictionalized account of gilis duncan who was the youngest girl ever prosecuted for being a

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which as you can imagine,

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based on that prospect, it is so heartbreaking and it's just so confronting and it is unfortunately still so relevant.

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It is quite shocking how relevant a book like this is to our current day and age,

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but even separating it from that,

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we follow her one night,

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her last night, and it is breathtaking.

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It is so eloquent.

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The writing is absolutely astonishing.

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This is a book that I believe is like 80 pages.

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You can read it in one sitting.

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I really don't know why more people don't read this.

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It is heartbreaking, like grab the tissues,

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don't get me wrong, but it is such a beautiful read that again I feel like everyone should read.

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And last but certainly not least we have one of my favourite fiction books from recent years

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and that is Marta by Kavir Akbar.

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This book is so clever,

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it feels like it's one of those literary fiction reads that really transcends time.

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At times it also does lean slightly historical fiction.

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In Marta we are essentially following a protagonist who has recently lost both his mum and his dad,

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so as you can imagine grief is again a topic of discussion.

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Parting losing his family and all of his grief and really trying to navigate where he is in his life now,

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what he wants to be,

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what he wants to do,

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he becomes deeply infatuated with the idea of becoming a martyr.

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Because of the premise

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that we are following of course at times it does feel slightly hard to read

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because it's so confronting and he really just goes through the lengths of wanting to be a martyr,

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wanting his life and wanting his death more so to mean something.

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He is such a compelling character to follow.

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He is a character that I personally really resonated with

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and then as the book proceeds he one day unexpectedly meets this person.

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I really truly feel like that is all you should know before going into this.

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Of course again because of the subject matter if you need to read trigger warnings I would definitely recommend doing that.

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At times it is heavy however more so than anything it is beautiful.

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It is so eloquently written.

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It is incredibly heart-wrenching.

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At times it even feels slightly miraculous and it is such a feat in storytelling that I think everyone should experience.

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So those were the 10 books that I truly believe everyone should read at least once in their lifetimes.

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As always if you've read any of these,

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if you love them, if you even didn't like them please let me know.

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As I also said at the beginning if you have a book recommendation

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that you are a firm believer everyone should read at least

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once in their life please also feel free to comment it down below.

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I absolutely always take your guys's recommendations but

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if there is definitely a book that you feel like I need to read in my lifetime,

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I'm probably going to prioritise it above everything else.

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As always too, if you did enjoy this video and you are new here,

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it would mean the absolute world if you would consider subscribing and sticking around.

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And yeah guys, that is it from me.

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Thank you so much for being here and for spending some time with me today.

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I really, really hope you enjoyed and I will see you again very,

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very soon with another video.

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you

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “10 books EVERYONE should read at least once in their life”. Este vídeo tiene 332 frases y 3770 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 16:46. El hablante habla rápido, unas 225 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. El 83 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
grief sustantivo	/ɡɹiːf/	pesar, pesadumbre
recommendation sustantivo	/ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/	recomendación
genre sustantivo	/ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/	género
compel verbo	/kəmˈpɛl/	compeler
protagonist sustantivo	/pɹəˈtæɡ.ə.nɪst/	protagonista
navigate verbo	/ˈnæv.ɪ.ɡeɪt/	navegar, singlar
astound verbo	/əˈstaʊnd/	asombrar, pasmar
eloquent adjetivo	/ˈɛl.əˌkwənt/	elocuente
goldfinch sustantivo	/ˈɡoʊldˌfɪnt͡ʃ/	jilguero, cardelino
influencer sustantivo	/ˈɪnflu.ənsə(ɹ)/	influidor, influidora
intimidate verbo	/ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/	intimidar, amedrentar
resonate verbo	/ˈɹɛz.əˌneɪt/	resonar, retiñir
heartbreaking adjetivo		desgarrador, desolador
singular adjetivo	/ˈsɪŋ.ɡjə.lɚ/	singular
surround verbo	/səˈɹaʊnd/	envolver, cercar

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Significado
go through verbo	atravesar

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

What should I read?
I feel like they're just so transcendent.
I'm in love with what her mind was.
I'm probably going to prioritise it above everything else.

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Oraciones condicionales if + oración, will/would + verbo — una condición y su resultado	if you're not new here you'll know
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	they've never tried · you've read · We've really become
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	was intimidated · been published · are intimidated
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	somebody who doesn · somebody who did · somebody who has

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 54 contracciones y formas reducidas, como I'm, I've, you're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “th”: breathtaking /ˈbɹɛθˌteɪ.kɪŋ/, inauthenticity /ɪnɑθɛnˈtɪsɪti/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/, astonish /əˈstɑnɪʃ/, fictionalize /ˈfɪk.ʃən.əl.aɪz/, fictional /ˈfɪkʃənəl/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, protagonist /pɹəˈtæɡ.ə.nɪst/, influencer /ˈɪnflu.ənsə(ɹ)/, intimidate /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/, accessible /əkˈsɛs.ɪ.bəl/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: steep /stiːp/, scrutiny /ˈskɹuː.tɪ.ni/, sphere /sfɪɚ/, spite /spaɪt/, stack /stæk/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: navigate /ˈnæv.ɪ.ɡeɪt/, believer /bɪˈlivɚ/, adversity /ædˈvɜː.sɪ.ti/, captivate /ˈkæptəˌveɪt/, conservatism /kənˈsɜːvətɪzəm/
/z/ — sonora, no /s/: resonate /ˈɹɛz.əˌneɪt/, conservatism /kənˈsɜːvətɪzəm/, fictionalize /ˈfɪk.ʃən.əl.aɪz/, prose /ˈpɹoʊz/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como grief, recommendation, genre.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: 10 books EVERYONE should read at least once in their life (fiction book recommendations) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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