23. Get ready to speak about an important library, its history and facilities.

24. Do some library research and write an essay of 350-400 words on one of the given topics:

1.     Should students’ textbooks be replaced by notebook computers?

2.     Are books more important than experience?

3.     Our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming.

4.     My favourite book.

5.     The most inspiring book I’ve read.   

Writer and society topical vocabulary

1. Types of writers: staff writers, free-lance writers, ghost writers, beginning writers, technical writers, columnists.

2. Writer’s mission: to be a sharp-eyed chronicler/ accurate observer, to be influenced by ideology, to oppose the ideology, to be published/ to appear posthumously, to raise awareness of, to resort to, to rebel against social evils, to decipher social context, to be engaged in social, political and national problems, engaged literature, to oblige the audience, to make fat profits from obliging the audience, to rebel against traditional values, to be calculated for effect, to depict the fuss of the day, to assure the reputation as a novelist, significant accomplishment, the best minds of the generations, to bear responsibility for future generations, to be a patriot, to offer the resistance to the authorities, to reflect the social realities of the world.

3. Literary critics:

Speaking about authors: to come of (from) a … family; to show promise; to have the makings of a writer; to earn (make) one’s living as a writer; to live by writing; to live by one’s pen; to try one’s hand at drama (a short story, a novel…); to choose the novel (the short story…) as one’s medium; to write in the genre of the short story (the detective story…); to draw on one’s own experience; to draw one’s subject (characters) from everyday life; to gain (win) recognition; to be a success; to come to literary prominence; to become famous; to gain fame (popularity…); to be (make) a (smashing) hit; to be a best seller; to be a sensation; to be (now) at work on… .

Speaking about books: to be a very enjoyable book; to be a powerful novel (story); to be (make) good (easy) reading; to hold the reader’s attention (interest); to keep the reader interested; to keep the reader in suspense; to deal with problems of topical interest; the book is chiefly concerned with…; it is a novel written (meant) for teenagers (young people); to read aa story with unflagging interest (attention); a dull book.

The main point the author is trying to make (to put across) is…; the main idea the author is trying to convey is…; to carry a deep psychological message; to expose the ills (evils) of society; to author invests the character with the following traits…; to present (depict, portray) a character truthfully; to describe something vividly; the story (scene) is set in…; the scene is laid in…; the action takes place / begins/ ends…; as the plot progresses (goes on)…; the author has a feeling for (a sense of)…; the story is written in the first person; it is (a) first-person narration; the story has brilliant wit, sparkling humour; the author has a gift of observation; the story has a happy/ tragic/ unexpected ending.

4. Censorship: government censorship, clash of opinions/ interests, to ban a book, to be rejected from the society, to criticize one’s skill of word, to see something through rose-colored spectacles, a victim of all regimes, to be repressed savagely.