4. Books

1. Read and translate collocations in bold

When a new book or film comes out, newspapers will review it. The people who review the book/film are called book reviewers / film critics and they write book/film reviews. If they don't like a book/film they give it a bad review. We can say that a novel or film is based on a true story. We say that a book/film captures an atmosphere or that a book/film deals with a topic. We talk about the opening/closing scenes of a film and the opening/closing chapters of a book. We talk about the beginning and end of a book/film (NOT start and finish). If everything works out well for the central characters, we say that the book/film has a happy ending. You may recommend a book/film that you enjoyed to a friend. If a lot of people have enjoyed it, it is highly recommended.

2. Use collocations above instead of the underlined words in this conversation. The conversation has no errors, but the changes will improve it.

Mattew: Have you read that new book that has just appeared about Ireland?

Lorna: No, I don't go to bookshops and I don't read articles discussing new books. What's it about?

Mattew: Well, it concerns the Irish War of Independence. It's very authentic and it manages to give the atmosphere of Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century.

Lorna: Is it just historical facts, then?

Mattew: No, the main people are two brothers who have different opinions about the war and this divides their family. In the first chapters they're happy and do everything together, but by the last chapter they have become enemies.

Lorna: Mm, it sounds a bit depressing to me.

Mattew: Well, it certainly doesn't finish in a happy way, but I liked it, and it's recommended very much by all the critics.

Lorna: So, a book with a pleasant start and a sad finish. Not for me, I'm afraid. I prefer the opposite.

3. Read and translate the dialogue paying attention to the collocations in bold

Ken: I read that novel that Laura recommended. I eventually managed to wade through¹ all 400 pages, but I didn’t like it very much. It was really heavy going². It’s not what I would call a page-turner³!

Nina: Yeah. The critics in the Sunday papers certainly did a hatchet job on⁴ it.

Ken: Well, it’s pretty easy to pick holes in⁵ the plot. I didn’t think it was at all convincing.

Nina: Mind you, I could never write a short story, let alone a novel.

Ken: Yes, it’s much easier to be an armchair critic⁶, isn’t it?

¹ finish reading something, but with difficulty

² difficult to read or understand

³ a book that is so exciting that you have to read it quickly

⁴ criticised strongly and cruelly

⁵ find mistakes in; criticize

6 criticize, but without any personal expertise in what is being 27criticized (You can also say ‘armchair traveller’ and ‘armchair gardener’.)

4. Read and translate types of books

Type of book	Function/Purpose
journal manual	written record of what you have done each day, also means an academic publication containing articles reporting research, new theories, etc., published at regular intervals (e.g. every three months)
memoirs	written record of a person's own life, typically by a politician or military figure
anthology	collection of, for example, poems or short stories by different authors
compendium	collection of detailed, concise information about a particular subject
manual	usually a technical book with instructions, for example, a computer manual
logbook	book that records events and times, etc., for example, all the journeys made by a lorry or ship