Books to improve English

Reading is the best way to improve your English vocabulary, grammar, and overall fluency. Books to read to become more fluent in English can be textbooks, comic books, novels, notification texts and more. Nonfiction texts are filled with educational material. They have information on how to improve your English as well as step-by-step guides to follow. Fictional storybooks like comic books and novels are also helpful. 

The following is a hand-picked list of all the best books to read to advance your English.

Fiction Books

Comic books.

Comic books are a great place to start when beginning to read in English for many different reasons. These books are accompanied by pictures and followed by short descriptive sentences. They are the least boring type of book to read as it is almost like a movie. If you don’t like reading because it is boring, you will enjoy this type of text. You can understand the story from the pictures. You can read the descriptions for clarification. This is great because if you have a hard time understanding English, the images will make it easier for you. Comic books are also a gateway for you to begin reading more complicated texts.

Archie Comics are quite an excellent series of comics to read. In addition to improving your vocabulary, it will also help you learn more about the American lifestyle.

Mystery novels.

The next step before reaching full-length novels is to read mystery novels. You cannot jump straight from comic books to long, 400-page books. For this reason, you should take small steps to reach the goal of reading full-length novels. You should have small tasks to complete like reading a short 150-page mystery book. It is much easier to manage the short mystery books than a full-length novel. These kinds of books usually have a basic vocabulary which will help you understand them easily. Like comic books, you will enjoy reading them.

Goosebumps by R.L. Stine are a great series of short mystery novels. They are a favourite choice of kids as they are easy to understand and are a great stepping stone to reaching adult mystery novels.

Penguin Readers.

Penguin Readers are books published by the Penguin Books publishing company. They are famous novels rewritten more with less advanced vocabulary and shorter passages. It ensures understandability for readers with English as their second language.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a great book to read with Penguin readers. It has an essential message about overcoming the fear of being different. It is a favourite among American young adults.

Textbooks and Nonfiction Books

For grammar.

Essential English Grammar by Raymond Murphy is a guide on improving your grammar when writing and speaking in English. Grammar is the most challenging part to perfect when learning English. There are a large number of rules to follow. You must pay attention to small details. This book will teach you most of the rules and details to follow in order to advance your level of English.

For punctuation.

The Penguin Guide To Punctuation by R.L. Trask is a guide on improving your punctuation when writing in English. There are many grammar rules when it comes to punctuation. In this book, you will learn about the different kinds of punctuations and master putting them correctly.

For writing.

The Penguin Writer’s Manual by Martin Manser and Stephen Curtis is a guide for improving your writing. Of course, you cannot improve your writing by reading a book. You have to practice by writing essays, articles, letters and more.

If you follow this list of books to read, you will improve all aspects of your English. Reading is the best way to perfect your comprehension of a language.


ALISTAIR BROWN: As a writing and speaking examiner for more than 10 years, I bring a lot of experience. I have seen the frustrations that students have with IELTS from a career where I have actively guided and corrected students’ studies. I am looking for the most effective ways to teach IELTS as I understand students’ needs.