The Books Issue

Hello everybody!

  Someone said... "Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."

Of course this phrase has been around for a while, and in this modern times books may seem an old fashioned endeavor, having internet, cell phones or TV at hand.

Lately, I've been obsessed with arguments in favor of paper books, against digital books and vice versa. I wonder what you think about that...

This issue, we pay tribute to books in any format, paper, audio, or bit. When you are learning a language, reading books is a plus. It may have to do with habits we build when we are younger, but anyway, if you have never picked up a book or you haven't had your nose in one for a long time, I hope this might encourage you to give it a try.

Keep in touch!

Libraries Grapple With The Downside Of E-Books - The Books Issue

Listening Activity -   length:  3.45 min

National Public Radio

Digital books are the fastest growing area of publishing. What’s the situation for public libraries?

Click here to open player!

Listen to the radio segment and answer whether the questions below are True or False.

1. For libraries, digital books create benefits but also problems. 
2. Libraries are lending both e-readers and digital texts.   
3. You need to go to the library to borrow a digital text.
4. One advantage is that digital books cut costs for libraries. 
5. The late fee to return digital books is $2.
6. Libraries buy the e-books from a company called Overdrive. 
7. The demand for paper books is still high.
8. Some major publishers won't allow libraries to lend their titles or charge double.

*Grapple (V.) = wrestle, struggle with.

Answers here!

Book Idioms - The Books Issue

Black book: a book containing a blacklist

By the book : According to the rules.

Hit the books: study.

Can’t judge a book by its cover: don't determine the worth of something based on its appearance.

Know like a book: to fully know someone or something.

Be an open book: someone or something easily understood or interpreted; something very clear:

Wrote the book on: be an expert on a topic.

In one's book : in one's own opinion

One for the book : a relevant or important act or occurrence.

To book something: make a reservation

Try the following exercise:

1. I’ve never seen such a beautiful cake. That’s……………...
2. ...........................that’s the best way to do it.
3. We’d better ..................................a room at a hotel for the long weekend before it’s too late.
4. It looks like it’s going to rain tomorrow. But you never know, you ............................................
5. I wish I could go to the movies, but I've got to....................................
6. He can’t lie, his face is  like……………………………...
7. He’s a very responsible driver, always do things………………………….
8. My grandmother is so awesome, she ........................................on being a grandparent.
9. I’ve been to their house many times, I know the way......................
10. Ever since I almost lost the client, I’m in the manager’s…………………………………...

Answers here!

A Next-Generation Digital Book - The Books Issue

VIDEO Activity

4.35 minutes

If you have a paper book in your hands, you can open it, close it, turn its pages... However, with a digital book new verbs come into action.

Watch the clip, find out how may things you can do with an e-reader and, afterwards, complete the text that follows.

Software developer Mike Matas demos the first full-length interactive book for the iPad -- with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with.

SUMMARY : Use the terms in the box to fill in the blanks.

pick up (2)  -    zoom into -  pinch and peak back  -    swipe through    lift off   -   pop it  -  walk you through - zoom out to  -  open it up scroll through  -   fold it back up

We can open the book and .............................the chapters to browse the book.

We can ..............................the pages at the bottom and if we wanted to ............................................a page, we can just open it up.

Anything you see in the book, you can ............................................with two fingers and ....................................the page and open up.

And if you want to go back and read the book again, you just ...................................................and put it back on the page. You pick it up and ...........................................open.

The author can ...........................................and explain photos or illustrations. You can zoom into any of them and you can open footage and interactive animations.

We can ............................................at the page, we can .....................................the table of contents, and if you started reading on your iPad then you can .........................................where you left off on the iPhone.

You can pinch into any page to............................

Answers here!

"The Stolen White Elephant" by Mark Twain - The Books Issue

Listen & Read

In this short story an Indian elephant, en route from India to Britain as a gift to the Queen, disappears. The local police department goes into high gear to solve the mystery.

Do you know...

... Project Gutenberg? Find this and thousands of literary works to download as text, pdf, or for your e-reader. Follow the LINK to read or download the story.

...Librivox? It is an organization which provides free audiobooks from the public domain. Get this or other mp3s HERE.

Listen, read and answer the QUIZ:

1.Is Mark Twain a character in the story?

2. Who is in charge of transporting the white elephant.     

3. Who is in charge of finding the lost elephant?     

4.What’s the elephant’s nickname? 

5.Does the Queen of England play a role in the story?

6.Where does the animal disappear?  

7.Does the story have a happy end?

 

Answers here!

What Are Narrative Tenses? - The Books Issue

Narrative tenses are the verb tenses that we use to talk about past events and to tell stories. They are used to make an anecdote more interesting. They are:

·        Past Continuous: to introduce the context of a story or an event in the story.

·        Past Simple: to describe the main events in the story.

·        Past Perfect : to go back in the past to previous events.

Example of narrative tenses in use: 

“When Rob opened the door he noticed the window curtains were blowing. He entered very slowly, looked carefully around the room as he walked in. Clearly someone else had been there.”

• Exercise: Complete the following fragment of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, with one tense from the box.

thought      -    was beginning   -   had    -  could  -      was reading had peeped   -  ran       -       made  -        was considering

CHAPTER I. Down the Rabbit-Hole

Alice ..............................to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she ................................ into the book her sister.................................., but it ...........................no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' ....................................Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'

So she ............................... in her own mind (as well as she..................................., for the hot day ......................................her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes .....................................close by her.

Find this and other classic books on Project Gutenberg Website

Answers here!

QUOTES FROM FAMOUS BOOKS - The Books Issue

Read the book quote and find the book and its author on the right column

A. “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.”	1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
B. “Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”	2. Breakfast at Tiffany's  by Truman Capote
C. “There, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white... something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell.”	3. 1984 by  George Orwell
D. “People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.”	4. Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare
E. “All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.”	5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
F. "I knew damn well I would never be a movie star. It's too hard; and if you are intelligent, it's too embarrassing. My complexes aren't inferior enough: being a movie star and having a big fat ego are supposed to go hand-in-hand; actually, it's essential not to have any ego at all. I don't mean I'd mind being rich and famous. That's very much on my schedule, and someday I'll try and get around to it; but if it happens, I'd like to have my ego, tagging along.”	6. The Lord of the Rings  By J. R. R. Tolkien

Answers here!

Answers - The Books Issue

 

 

Libraries Grapple With The Downside Of E-Books

1.T  -  2. T -   3. F (you can do it from home) - 4. T  -  5.F (there is no late fee) – 6.F (they rent them)  -  7.F (readers are lining up for digital books) -  8. F (Most publishers)

Idioms with BOOKs

1. one for the books – 2. In my book  -  3. book-   4. can’t judge a book by its cover. – 5. hit the books – 6. an open book – 7. by the book – 8. wrote the book  -  9. like a book – 10. black book

 

A Next-Generation Digital Book

We can open the book and swipe through the chapters to browse the book.

We can scroll through the pages at the bottom and if we wanted to zoom into a page, we can just open it up.

Anything you see in the book, you can pick up with two fingers and lift off the page and open up.

And if you want to go back and read the book again, you just fold it back up and put it back on the page. You pick it up and pop it open.

The author can walk you through and explain photos or illustrations. You can zoom into any of them and you can open footage and interactive animations.

We can pinch and peak back at the page, we can zoom out to the table of contents, and if you started reading on your iPad then you can pick up where you left off on the iPhone.

You can pinch into any page to open it up.

"The Stolen White Elephant"  by Mark Twain

1. YES  - 2. An elderly Indian gentleman-  3. Chief Inspector Blunt    

4. “Jumbo”  -  5.YES  -  6. in New Jersey  7.NO

Narrative Tenses

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

QUOTES FROM FAMOUS BOOKS

A5 – B4 -  C1- D3 – E6 – F2