Last year, I would read more than one book a month easily. I also knew the first book I would read this year would be a Christmas gift, “We Are The Ants” by Shaun David Hutchinson.

This book was recommended to me by a long-time friend. She told me “it’s really sad.” Within the first chapter, we learn that Henry has been regularly abducted (绑架) by aliens since he was thirteen years old. The aliens usually just do strange experiments on him, but they recently communicate with him that the world is going to meet its end. They give him the choice to either press a button and save the world or not press it and the world will end on January 29th, 2016. Henry’s entire life is already falling apart. With his grandmother suffering from Alzheimers, his mother struggling to pay the bills, and his girlfriend dying a year ago, he decides not to press the button.

I thought I knew what I was going to get when I picked up this book, but it’s nothing like I could imagine. The self-discovery, existential crises (生存危机), and romance (爱情) don’t seem like it would fit so well with alien abductions, but this book proved that wrong.

I could sit here and type out the entire story of this book, but you would still be missing out on the experience of reading it. There is such a wide range of emotions “We Are The Ants” made me feel, and that is one of the reasons why I enjoyed this book so much.

I’m really happy that this was my first book of the year and I’m already starting on book number two! The hardest part of reading is starting, so try reading even just one book this year. It’s good for you.

What types of books do you enjoy reading? What are some of your favourite books? What’s your favourite type of books? Here are some books you might like to try.

The Venice Experiment : A Year of Trial and Error Living Abroad (2011) by Barry Frangipane

Type: travel

A few years ago, a real-life American couple decided to escape the competitive life and live in Venice for a year. This is the story of their experiences there, and it’s full of funny events about their struggle to adapt to the Venetian lifestyle. An author said, “For anyone thinking of an overseas adventure, The Venice Experiment is a laugh-out-loud read...”

The Hunger Games (2008) by Suzanne Collins

Type: science-fiction/adventure

The story is set in the future. A governor rules the country and most people are very poor. Every year, there’s a game show called “The Hunger AOLLNS Games” in which 18 teenagers are sent into the wild to battle it out until only one survives. The book has just been made into a highly successful Hollywood movie.

There but for the (2011) by Ali Smith

Type: general fiction

The book is the sparkling satirical novel by Ali Smith. There once was a man, Miles Garth, who one night between the main course and the sweet at a dinner party, left the table, locked himself in a spare bedroom, and refused to come out. As the days passed, Miles became a famous man, and people gathered outside his house. People even started selling Miles-themed goods.

An Idiot Abroad by Karl Pilkington

Type: travel/humour

Karl is a British TV personality and comedian (喜剧演员) who stars in the popular TV show An Idiot Abroad. In the show (and in this book), Karl Pilkington visits the Seven Wonders of the World and makes funny observations about his experiences. The Spectator magazine called Karl “the funniest man on the planet”.

When you are reading something in English and you see a word or words you do not know what do you do? Do you pause and look up the meanings? Or do you put down the reading and find something different to read?

Neither solution is satisfying. Unless you are reading at a level that is clearly too high for you, avoiding reading may leave you feeling defeated. And pausing to look up every word can slow down your reading. Using context clues works. A context clue is a piece of information that appears near an unknown word or phrase and makes its meaning clearer. Context clues are right there in the text. But sometimes we don’t see them. There are some kinds of context clues that can help you become a better reader.

The first kind is synonyms. As you come across unknown words while reading, look for synonyms. A synonym is a word or phrase that has a similar meaning to the unknown word. Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of a word. One way to identify an antonym is to look for contrast words, such as “but”, “however”, “though”, “although”, “unlike”, “whereas” and “despite”. These words signal that some opposite idea or meaning is coming. Another kind of clue is appositives. An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that comes after another noun, where the second gives the meaning of the first. Examples can also help explain the meaning of a word or idea. In English, the most common ways we introduce examples are with the phrase “for example”, “for instance”, “such as” and “like”

And now for some closing thoughts. Leaning to use context clues can take time. Don’t pressure yourself to be great at the skill too quickly. Also, it is often not necessary to know the meaning of every word to understand what you are reading. So next time you come across a word you don’t know, ask yourself whether you can understand the sentence without it.

A．

B．

C．

D．