IELTS Speaking for Success - 📚 Books (Part 1 ) + Transcript

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

Get access to our episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs Do you often buy books? Do you often read books? When? Do you prefer reading books or watching movies? Have you ever read a novel that has been adapted into a film? Are your reading habits now different from before? Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/s12e08 Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello Sunshine, I'm Maria. And my name is Rory, and we're the host of the IELT Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills as well as your listening skills along the way. We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and super vocabulary for your high IELD school. Your bandnight school. Oh, Rory, what's that book next to you? Oh, it's the one I'm ploughing through at the moment. It's an autobiography of one of our prime ministers.

Oh, I see. Mm-hmm. Shall we talk about books? Let's talk about books. Books, books, books, their listener is a very popular topic in IELTS, reading, reading habits, books. It can be like everywhere in IELTS speaking part one, two, three, and also essays. Do you often buy books? Not as much as I used to, mostly because I've just built up a collection of unreads.

ones and it seems quite wasteful to buy more when I already have that stockpile just sitting there. And if I buy more then I'll never get through them all, will I? Do you often read books? I do. I try and get through about two a month just by reading a chapter from them each day. For one of them it will be in the middle of the day on my break from work and for the other it's in bed before going to sleep. I find it helps me unwind more easily than just scrolling through my phone or scrolling through social media. Do you prefer reading books or watching movies?

I think that depends largely on who I'm with. If it's a group of people, it's a more fun social experience to go to the cinema. But if I'm by myself or just my partner and I are having a quiet day in, then I'd rather chill out with my nose in the book, frankly speaking. Have you ever read a novel that has been adapted into a film? Not recently, though I did read Jurassic Park as a child. That's about genetically engineered dinosaurs being let loose in the theme park. It's much goryer and more violent than the movie, though.

But I think it took me weeks to read just because of all the vocabulary in it, and I was younger and didn't know so much back then. Are your reading habits now different than before? Well, definitely. For example, I used to read until I got bored or tired, but now I try to limit myself to a chapter a day just to keep my exposure regular and to let myself mull over the ideas more effectively.

It's harder with some books than others, though. Like, if they're real page turners, then I tend to revert to form. Ella McKay, coming to Theaters December 12th. Your father's here. Why? A heartwarming new comedy from James L. Brooks. I'm a different person.

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As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free, and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. So de listener, books. At the start of this episode, Rory said, I'm plowing through at this book at the moment. To plow through is a very nice phrase or verb, which Rory means what? To work hard to complete something.

Usually something big. Finish reading, eating or dealing with something. with difficulty, all right, but it means something difficult that you are doing. For example, it's a book on science or a difficult book with difficult ideas, maybe philosophy, you know, or in Japanese, Chinese language that you don't really know. So you can say, I'm plowing through this book at the moment. And Rory reads super challenging books, science, engineers, medicine. Hold on a minute.

I don't read any books on engineering. No, not yet. Okay, farming, agriculture, no? Yes, I have read books about agriculture. Yeah, there you go. In fact, it's mentioned in the book I'm reading right now, which is much more interesting than the lessons we had at school. I've built up a collection of unread books.

So built up, I've collected so many books that I haven't read. So unread books, books that you haven't read yet. So you can say, I don't buy new books because I have built up, I've built up a collection of unread books. Or it's quite wasteful to buy more books when I have a lot of unread ones, once, meaning books. And if something is wasteful, you just waste your money or your time. So kind of you use it in a careless way. And I have a stockpile of unread books. So a stockpile is just like a pile of books, like a lot of books.

Well, it's a lot of anything. Yeah, for example, like a stockpile of food, goods, weapons. So I have a stockpile of what, of chocolate, of cash. I have a stockpile of cash. You know, like in mafia movies, they enter flat and then everything is in money. Money is everywhere, you know. Ooh, they have a stockpile of cash. And you can say that when I get through them, I'll buy more.

Get through books means to read books. So we have one phrase of verb, which means to read something difficult, plow through. Or if you just read books, you get through a book. So I got through this book very quickly. It took me one day to read it. And then kind of a very interesting question. Do you buy books? Do you read books?

Like, no, I just buy books. Like, no, I... Well, you could borrow books from a library, I suppose. Yeah, but some people buy books, but they never read them. They're for decoration. I try and get through about two books a month. Look at you, Rory. Wow, a super reader, Ben Nine.

So get through. Again, I try to read two books a month. So I usually get through two books a month. I read a chapter each day. Oh, you are reading two books at the same time, right? Yeah. Oh. Okay, so Rory reads two books at the same time.

And he reads a chapter from each book every day. Wow. look at you. I try to. It's been difficult recently with everything that's been going on. And I usually read before going to sleep. It helps me unwind more easily. Unwind means relax. It helps me to relax. It helps me to unwind. Actually, a very good sentence. Reading helps me to unwind. C2D listener, Unwined. Proficiency level, Ben 9. So reading helps me to unwind. Well, it is quite relaxing to read, isn't it? Yeah, but if you are reading a book on, I don't know, agriculture,

and you understand maybe two words from a sentence, is it relaxing? Does it help you to unwind? Well, for me, generally, I understand more than a few things. Like, I usually don't have that problem, so it's not really a big deal for me. VD helps me to unwind more easily than scrolling through my phone. because usually we scroll through our phones and then we go to sleep. But Rory reads. Well, do we? That's the thing.

The blue light interferes with your natural body rhythms. Reading books or watching movies or films. And Rory tells us that it's a more fun social experience to go to the cinema. So watching movies is a more fun social experience. experience. And if I'm by myself, if I'm alone, if I'm having a quiet day, or if I have a day in, which means if I stay at home, I'd rather chill out with my book. So I would rather relax with my book. So chill out, like relax, I'd rather I would prefer. So I'd rather chill out with my nose in a book.

Rory, what did you mean when you say? Chill out with my nose in a book. Like you put your nose in your book? Just relax by reading, but ignoring everything else that's happening around. To have your nose in a book, a book, is an idiom, which means to be reading. For example, she always has her nose in a book. She's always reading. and Rory always has his nose in a book.

So you can say, like, well, I prefer to chill out with my nose in the book. Ben 9, super nice. When you're flying Emirates business class, dining on a world-class menu at 40,000 feet, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. And by the way, dear listener, our Rory has written 25 books, no, eight books. I've not written 25, I've only written. Five.

Five? Five, I think. Five? Wow, look at you. So, Rory has written, he has written five books. Can you imagine? He's been so productive. And you can buy his books on Amazon, right, Rory? You sell your books on Amazon.

I do, but we've already had a podcast episode on advertising. Then a very strange question, like, have you ever read a novel that has been adapted into a film? So there is a novel, The Lord of the Rings, and they made a movie based on a novel. And maybe you've read Sherlock Holmes, or you've read Harry Potter, there you go. Or you can just lie and say, I've read Harry Potter the first book, and then it has... Oh my God, yeah, I have read Harry Potter. Harry Potter, haven't I? Oh, I've listened to all Harry Potter books. Audio books. Beautiful. Ooh, yes, that would work. Yeah. So you can say, like, not recently, but a long time ago, I read

da-da-da-da, as a child. When I was a child, as a child, I read blah, blah, blah, about dinosaurs, and then they made a violent movie. A violent and gory movie. That means there's lots of blood and guts. Not very nice things to see. dinosaurs just eat people. Hmm, Jurassic Park. And Rory, what are popular novels that have been adapted into films? I don't know. I'm not very good at this. Starship Troopers was a movie that was adapted from a book.

And that's quite violent as well, actually, thinking about it now. Contact is also adapted from a book. Those are both examples from science fiction. We already mentioned Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter. What else, Maria? Forest Gump, for example. Oh, so Laris, if we want a Russian example or a Soviet example, I don't know where, but which era that comes from.

Dracula. A fight club. All right. Oh, the devil wears Prada. Roy, your favorite book. Come on. Oh, yeah, I read that book, didn't I? I forgot about that.

Yeah, well, the Harry Potter series is this, yeah, amazing. The Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins film, amazing, the talented Mr. Ripley. Yeah, do you know, go for it. Reading habits. My reading habits have changed since I was a child, you can say. I like these questions. It's a good chance to use used to.

Exactly. So when the questions are about your childhood, what has changed, now and before, you said, I used to read course books at school, but now I read three. I read fiction or science fiction. You can listen to our previous episodes about reading books where we discuss different genres and we give you more vocabulary, which you can use in all speaking parts and essays. I used to read until I got bored.

Or I used to read until I got tired. But now I limit myself to a chapter a day. See? So I keep my reading regular. I keep my exposure to books regular. So I read regularly every day, but I limit myself to a chapter a day, which is a very nice strategy, Rory. Well done. And I let myself mull over the ideas.

The listener, a bad, nine phrase, a verb for you. If you mull over something, yeah, you think carefully about the ideas for a long time. So not just like you read the book and you forget the book. You kind of you mull things over. You mull over the ideas. You see, you are processing a book. You are digesting a book. You kind of think about the ideas.

And some books are real page turners. So a page turner is a book that you can't put down. So you can't stop reading it. Right? It's so interesting. It's so exciting that you want. want to read it quickly. And for example, you could say, his latest novel is a real page turner.

I kind of find read it, I turn the pages and I can't stop. And if that's a new thing for you, you could say it's a novel experience. Oh, it's a joke! Do you get the pun? No, you should explain it. Oh, well, a novel experience is a new experience, but also the word novel is the kind of book, or talking about books and reading. just occurred to me there. Oh, don't say that in your exam though. Oh my God. We're going to wrap this

episode up with a joke. Rory, but you should teach our listener one word. Rory, who is a bookworm? A bookworm. Oh, a bookworm is someone that likes to read. So if I say I'm a real bookworm, I enjoy reading. For example, Rory is a bookworm. Is it positive or negative? Is it like something like cruel and rude like oh you're a bookworm. It depends on how you say it rather than just the word itself. Right, dear listener.

So the joke goes, what should we take when we go fishing? Bookworms. Fadier. So we go fishing. We go and kind of fish

the fish out of water. Okay, go fishing. And what should we take book worms? So pretty much like people who need. enjoy reading books, but when we go fishing, we take worms. Worms like this little thing is that the fish usually eats.

I feel like a fish out of water in this explanation. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you with more stupid jokes in our next episode, okay? Bye. Do you often buy books? Not as much as I used to, mostly because I've just done. built up a collection of unread ones and it seems quite wasteful to buy more when I already have that stockpile just sitting there. And if I buy more, then I'll never get through them all,

will I? Do you often read books? I do. I try and get through about two a month just by reading a chapter from them each thing. For one of them, it will be in the middle of the day on my break from work. And for the other, it's in bed before going to sleep. I find it helps me. unwind more easily than just scrolling through my phone or scrolling through social media. Do you prefer reading books or watching movies? I think that depends largely on who I'm with. If it's a group of people, it's a more fun social experience to go to the cinema. But if I'm by myself or just my partner and I are having a quiet day in, then I'd rather chill out with my nose in the book, frankly speaking.

Have you ever read a novel that has been adapted in terms? film? Not recently, though I did read Jurassic Park as a child. That's about genetically engineered dinosaurs being let loose in the theme park. It's much goryer and more violent than the movie, though, but I think it took me weeks to read just because of all the vocabulary in it, and I was younger and didn't know so much back then. Are your reading habits now different than before? Well, definitely. For example, I used to read until I got bored or tired, but now I'd try to limit myself to a chapter a day just to keep my exposure regular and to let myself mull over the ideas more effectively. It's harder with some books than others, though. Like, if they're

real page turners, then I tend to revert to form.