Types of books

Adventure, anthology, autobiography, biography, children’s literature, comic book, cookbook, crime, detective story, drama, diary, encyclopedia, fairytale, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, manual, memoirs, mystery, poetry, romance, satire, science fiction, short story

Nouns, noun expressions

An author, an avid [‘ævɪd]/big reader, a bookworm, a character, an edition, an e-book, an e-reader, a hardback, a narrator, narration, a page-turner, a paper book, a plot, a protagonist, a setting, a scene, a twist, a writer

Adjectives

Chilling, disappointing, evocative/ expressive, heavy-going, lightweight, realistic/ true-to-life, touching, unpredictable

Synonyms for exciting: absorbing , addictive, alluring, breathtaking, captivating , compelling, engaging , engrossing,  entertaining, enthralling, fascinating, gripping,  intriguing, involving , thrilling

Expressions

To arouse deep feeling in smb, bedtime reading, to be published, can’t put it down, to center around, to convey ideas, to be engrossed in a book, to be set (the book is set…), to flick through a book, to read from cover to cover, to tell the story of…

Parts of books

Chapter, epigraph, epilogue, introduction, illustration, part, prologue, quotation, sequel, title

Review of a book

To become popular (among), to get/have a favorable/ unfavorable review, to leave a deep and lasting impression (on smb), to win universal acclaim

 

STUDENTS’ WORKS

1. ‘Clear and Muddy Loss of Love’

‘People’s hearts were made of flesh. No matter how cruel-hearted someone was, facing someone who trusted you unconditionally, who was considerate for you in every way, who was always forgiving; wavering would be inevitable.’

Synopsis:
A natural moat divided two kingdoms. Jing of the north, and Wei of the south.
A war turned the “Prince” of the grass plains into an orphan. Taking the personality of another person, she planned to infiltrate the court and become an official to bring the Wei kingdom into chaos and pay the debt of blood.
However, an unforeseen circumstance appeared: she was appointed Fuma to the daughter of her enemy.

Clear and Muddy Loss of Love (泾渭情殇, Jīng Wèi Qíng Shāng) is a political romance novel written by Please Don’t Laugh (请君莫笑, Qǐng Jūn Mò Xiào), Chinese web novel author. It was first published on JJWXC from December 24, 2018 to March 17, 2020, with the last extra chapter published on March 26, and has 303 chapters with 4 extras, totalling up to over one million words in Chinese.

I love it how well the main characters and their feelings are described. They are really compelling and you can empathize with them very easily. I have a thing for antihero gray-moraled protagonists, so it’s not a surprise Qi Yan became my favourite. Nangong Jingnu — also one of the main characters — had a huge development throughout the story; it’s almost as if she had become a completely different character. Character relationships were engaging and touching. On top of that, the plot is extremely detailed. Although, I didn’t get many things because it was my first novel in that kind of setting, so I couldn’t get a full grasp of it. It can be described as a slow-pacing story. Nonetheless, it doesn’t make things worse somehow. It’s rather slowly-getting-immersed-in-reading kind.

The story leaves you no time for break. Seriously, I am not sure if there was even five consecutive chapters where everything was peaceful. While you wait for the moment when everything calms down a little, it throws you in even deeper depths of hell. I would call myself a person who can endure anything if the story has a happy ending, but after reading it, thinking in hindsight made me feel grievous. You have the “oh, this totally won’t end well” feeling while reading. It does have a happy ending, but I still would call it like that with a stretch, it’s more bittersweet-like. The ending itself is not bad, it really isn’t, yet it felt really hasty to me, leaving unanswered questions. I had a feeling that some side characters were forgotten for the reason that their ending wasn’t specified in the story. Though, perhaps their stories were not meant to have an ending in the first place.

As it was said at the beginning, It has 307 chapters, so it may be too intimidating to read. In this case, I can recommend an audio drama adaption which is called Two Adamant Hearts, since it’s more succinct compared to the novel. Despite reluctancy to continue at times, partly due to the size, partly due to the headache arising, trying to comprehend and digest all these plot collateral and not really branches; walking the whole journey was worth it. Hence I would totally recommend it to other people.

By P. Perepelkina

2. ‘Anna Karenina’

‘Anna Karenina’ is one of the world’s greatest novels by the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Thе novel, written in 1873, was translated into many foreign languages and repeatedly filmed.

The novel centers around two couples: Anna and Vronsky and Levin and Kitty. On the one hand, there is tragic love of the married lady Anna Karenina and the brilliant officer Vladimir Vronsky. On the other hand, there is a happy family life of Kitty and Levin. Anna, married to an aristocrat 20 years her senior, has an affair with Vronsky, as a result of which she becomes pregnant. Eventually she leaves her husband to keep on her love for Vronsky. A young girl of 18, Kitty, is initially courted by both Vronsky and Levin. She turns down Levin’s first marriage proposal, assuming one may be coming from Vronsky, but instead his eye has been caught by the glamorous Anna. Eventually Kitty and Levin do marry, and the couples, as well as their relationships, are foils, with Tolstoy’s title character standing in stark contrast to Levin, who is believed to be a somewhat autobiographical figure.

I suggest that this book is really about people’s personalities, worked out so well that you can experience their feelings. However, this isn’t the easiest book to read. First, the novel may seem too long and slow-moving. Also, at times Tolstoy is incredibly detailed while at other times his descriptions are very concise. It is hard to know what is important and what you need to pay attention to.

‘Anna Karenina’ is one of the most gripping and thought-provoking books I’ve ever read. Tolstoy brilliantly describes the psychological portraits of the characters and his reflections on society and God are fascinating. I highly recommend this novel to anyone!

by E. Truscheleva