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To be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting much from The Lido. I read a short synopsis and wasn’t intrigued by it, but decided to read it anyway, as I love swimming. However, when I started reading the novel, on almost every page, I became more and more interested in...

After reading Peter Wohlleben’s first publication The Hidden Life of Trees (reviewed here), I wanted to learn more about his second book The Inner Life of Animals. And I wasn’t disappointed. The Inner Life of Animals is a fascinating read, a true eye-opener to the world of animals. The book...

“Children are born to become bilinguals and multilinguals.” Colin Baker This is a bible for any parent, teacher or professional dealing with bilingualism. The book is organised in a question-answer style and also contains some recommendations on further reading. There is no straightforward answer to some of the questions posed;...

A beautifully photographed album of the world’s luxury and local long- and short-distance train journeys. Since reading Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky) by Bohumil Hrabal, I have become inspired by the romantic and sentimental vibes associated with trains and train stations, to such an extent that I now even...

“The big ‘secret’ to improving second language skills is practice.” Eve Lindemuth Bodeux (p. 9) I became in love with this book from the very first page. The author, Eve Lindemuth Bodeux is an experienced second language user and the content is predominantly based on her own experience. This, I...

I decided to fulfil my dream of visiting the British sub-tropical archipelago, the Isles of Scilly, located around 30 miles off the coast of Cornwall. You can read more about my travelling experience here and today I want to share with you what inspired me to visit the Isles and...

I enjoy reading and learning new interesting (arte-)facts about Cornwall. Even though I try to pack my days with as many steps to walk and as many places to visit as possible, there is always time for reading and time to discover new publications on this topic. Below are my...

You may remember our blog post from a few weeks ago on how to improve your listening comprehension skills in a new language.  This week we give you more tips on how to optimise your language learning – this time with advice on how to develop your reading in another...

Eric Liu is a monolingual American whose Chinese parents emigrated to the USA and lived there for the rest of their lives. In Liu’s memoir, The Accidental Asian, he presents a series of essays on ethnic identity, assimilation and “Chinese-ness ”. He chose topics that are particularly close to him,...