Reading books in English is an effective way to improve your language skills and a fascinating journey into a world of new stories, ideas, and cultures. By reading books in English, you get to know the traditions of the English-speaking world, and the right choice of English books will help you enrich your vocabulary, improve your reading comprehension and grammar skills, and even train your pronunciation if you read aloud, and develop your listening skills if you combine reading with listening to an audio version.

In this article, we will recommend books in English for beginners and experienced readers and review the most popular and interesting English books. Considering the diversity of English-language literature, we will classify English books by level and suggest the best books for learning English for each level.

So, first, let's consider English books for beginners

If you are beginning your English learning journey and want to start getting acquainted with English-language literature, we advise you to start with adapted books. It will allow you to improve your language gradually and without stress, developing your vocabulary, grammar skills, and confidence in reading. We suggest the following adapted books from the Penguin Readers and Oxford Bookworms Library series.Books in English for levels A1-A2.

Penguin Readers:

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain,
• Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne,
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling,
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll,
• Animal Farm by George Orwell,
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Oxford Bookworms Library:

• The Elephant Man by Tim Vicary,
• Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son by Arthur Conan Doyle,
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum,
• Sherlock Holmes: The Norwood Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle,
• The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde,
• Henry VIII and His Six Wives by Janet Hardy-Gould.

English books for level A2 are not much more complicated than those for level A1, and in general, all the above-mentioned books are quite simple and can be read together with children. Besides, among them, you can easily find a book for learning English for teenagers.

Students at levels B1-B2 can already express their thoughts quite fluently in English, know most tenses and basic vocabulary well, and can write small texts themselves. This means the literature recommended for this level will be a little more difficult. At the same time, at the Intermediate level, it is still worth choosing adapted books for learning English according to the level.

Among the interesting books in English for level B1 we recommend the following:

Penguin Readers:

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald,
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London,
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.

Oxford Bookworms Library:

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens,
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett,
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley,
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

Besides, the Intermediate level students can enjoy the following books in English without adaptation:

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway,
• The Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.

At the Upper-Intermediate level, there is a wide range of non-adapted books to choose from, and you can try to read English literature in the original.

Books in English for level B2:

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee,
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger,
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie,
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins,
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert,
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

At the Advanced and Proficiency levels, you can choose any book in English depending on your preferences. We recommend the following interesting options for levels C1-C2:

• 1984 by George Orwell,
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen,
• Becoming by Michelle Obama,
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari,
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell,
• Ulysses by James Joyce,
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë,
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman,
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Of course, this is just a small selection of books in English that may interest you. When choosing books in English by level, be sure to take your own preferences into account, looking for a genre, plot, and theme that is interesting for you. Choose the book that suits you and start your way to English fluency!

Read also: 

• How to learn English
• How to quickly learn and memorize English words
• Selection of online English dictionaries and their useful features

Our courses:

• English for IT
• Business English
• Corporate English
• English for Marketers
• English for economists and financiers
• Individual training
• Determine your English level