So I'm sure you're actually reading something right now, it could be any book, right? Well

even those who are native English speakers read because it's one of their hobbies or

their interests. So when you read a book and you have to talk about the book that you've

read, what do you say? Do you say, it was good? It was bad. It was rubbish or do you

just say was so-so. Well there are many other phrases you can actually use when you are

talking about a book that you have just read, okay? So today I'm going to talk to, talk

about how you can use phrases in relation to the books that you are reading or that

you have just read, okay? Let's look at a few of them and try to apply it whenever we

are talking.

The first one says, ‘I couldn't put it down’. Now the act of putting something down refers

to taking it out of your hands and placing it away from you, but if I say that I could

not take it away from my hand and put it away from me, I am actually saying that the book

was very interesting. So you know there are certain books which, umm which are thrillers

or, or books relating to suspense, in these books you kind of don't know what's going

to happen until the very end, right? So you are obviously very curious, you want to know

what's going to happen, right? So in order to do that you've got to keep on reading and

in order to keep on reading you can't take the book away from you. So in other words

you found the book very interesting, it has captivated you. So therefore you can't put

it down. So if you are reading a book like that which is a really good thriller or a

suspense you will say I couldn't put it down it was so amazing, it was so interesting,

okay?

And the next expression you are going to use when talking about a book is, ‘I can't wait

until the next book comes out’. Now this is a sentence that you are going to use when

you finished reading a book, okay? You finished reading it, okay? So you finished reading

it, you're done with it. But we all know that you know nowadays authors they kind of add

new books to their list so they have a series of books which are part of the same story

but there is a sequel, right? So you have one story and then you have the second and

the third and the fourth you know books like ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘The Chronicles

of Narnia’ you don't just have one book, right? So when you have finished reading a

book and you've really loved it, okay now you actually trust the author, so this expression

shows that you trust the author to write the following book okay in the same series of

books because you know that just because you finished reading one book which was very interesting

the remainder of the books in that series are going to be as good that's when you will

say I can't wait until the next book comes out because you've loved the one book and

you are sure that the other books are going to be as good as the first one, okay?

And the next expression is, ‘I highly recommend it’. Now whether we go to a movie or a restaurant

okay or whether we just go you know and book a flight, if we love a certain product or

services, what do we do? It's very normal for all of us to spread the good word, right?

So we spread good word about the book. So every friend you meet any family member who

reads, you are sure to tell that person that look I've just read this book which was really

interesting and I highly recommend that you read it. So what are you doing? You are spreading

good word about a book that you know is absolutely amazing and you feel that anybody else out

there who reads it is going to love it as much as you do, okay?

And the next expression is, ‘it was a real page-turner’. Okay, when you have a book

you turn pages, right? So any book that is a real page-turner again is very interesting,

okay? Now you could use this in place of this okay so both these phrases really have the

same meaning okay, but there are different ways of using it when talking about a book

and because even this book is supposed to be very interesting and because it's a page-turner

we could again talk about books which involve you know crime, crime fiction or again suspense

or maybe thrillers or maybe horror, you know? So things that are really captivating that

kind of you know really, you know keep you engaged that's when you will say that it was

a real page-turner because you couldn't put the book down you, you probably you know spend

the entire night reading it you know so that's when you say it's a real page-turner, okay?

And moving on to the next expression we've got a phrase which says, ‘it spoke volumes

to me’. Now certain books may not be fictional books. Certain books may be self-help books,

for example, so books relating to maybe meditation or you know basically just introspection on

life you know what life is all about, so it gives you, you know ways to live life. So

these kind of books which tell you about how to live life in, in a proper way to make you

successful or to live life you know in peace or to just, it just kind of makes you feel

like you have to be a good person, right? So certain books speak volumes to you so they

give you information that you've not really had before and it kind of opens your eyes

to a different perspective of looking at life. So when you read books like that especially

self-help books, that's when you will say it spoke volumes to me. Of course you can

also use these phrases if you feel peaceful or if you kind of get a different perspective

even after reading fictional books, okay? So that's when you say I, it spoke volumes

to me or you could also say that, ‘it was very soul searching’. You can use words

like it was soul searching or you could say, ‘it was very uplifting’ you know if it

made you feel very good on the inside you could say it was very uplifting which also

means encouraging, okay?

And the next expression is, ‘I think it was okay’. Okay now some books are not very

good but then they're not very bad either, right? So I think it's fair to say that, the

book was okay. Okay which means that the book was average and easily forgettable, you know,

you're probably in a week or in a month time wouldn't even remember what you've read or

you wouldn't even remember the story. So they're average or what I call as forgettable books,

easily forgettable books. That's when you will say, I think it was okay. It wasn't that

great, it was okay.

All right then um then we've got an expression that says, ‘I couldn't really get into it’.

What are you trying to get into? Well when you're reading, you are getting into the story,

right? So when you say that ‘I really couldn't get into it’, it basically means that the

story was not so engaging, the story was not so interesting for you to actually keep reading

the book, okay? You probably do not even understand it, some people don't understand certain books

or some people don't understand the storyline, the plot, you know around which the story

revolves that's when you will say, ‘I couldn't really get into it’. Okay, you didn't find

it interesting, you probably didn't understand certain parts of the story, you didn't kind

of understand what the story was all about really, okay?

And then we have another expression that says, ‘the author did nothing for this story’.

Now obviously the story is written by the author so if the story did not turn out to

be that good, you're going to blame the poor author, right? So when you say the author

didn't did nothing for the story, you're basically saying that the story did not have a good

plot or maybe the, the main character or the characters

were not believable. So you know I'm a reader I'm a frequent reader so I come across a lot

of fix, wherein the author has done nothing for the story. So the plot is kind of weak,

there is no strong base to the storyline and sometimes the characters are way to larger

for life, they are not believable. So that's when you will say that the author did nothing

for the story, okay? You didn't really like it but that's another way of expressing a

book that you've read.

And then we've got two more phrases which says, ‘it made me laugh and crying at the

same time’. Now this is a sentence or an expression that you will use when you're talking

about books that relate to drama and romance. Of course for you to use the sentence, you're

gonna have to like the book a lot, okay so when you have a story like you know, a romantic

story wherein you know maybe the, the, the lady or the man who is in love dies at the

very end you know you go through a riot of emotions wherein you're happy but then you're

also very sad because it's romantic but then there's the tragedy this tragedy at the end,

so that's when you say, it made me laugh and cry at the same time. Because we are talking

about a story which involves some kind of drama, some really nice and mushy romance

and that's how you're gonna say it, okay?

And our last expression is, ‘you could give it a Miss’. When would you miss something

when you don't like it, right? If you like something and you miss it you don't really

regret it. So if you didn't like the story, okay you would give it a Miss. But if I'm

telling somebody else that you could give it a Miss, I'm actually recommending that

they do not read it. So sometimes you hate the story so much that you aren't going to

tell everybody out there not to read it. So this expression is basically recommending

someone not to read a book. So you could say something like this book is a waste of time,

you could give it a Miss, okay? So you are recommending that the person not read that

story, okay?

Well that's it from me on this lesson on talking about books that we read, all right? So I'll

be back with some more lessons until then this is me saying keep reading.