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What a treat for a linguist! I loved every single page for the author’s humour, curiosity, witty observations and passion for languages. It tells the story of an American who moves to London, then to Geneva and then to…? The book is also about communication between languages, countries and cultures....

“Life is not what we live; it is what we imagine living” (p. 436) A masterpiece. This is an excellent reading companion to Lisbon; it is rich, powerful and beautiful. It tries to answer existential questions by exploring one’s life and soul, our ancestors and socio-political influence. The philosophical side...

This book is AMAZING! It’s fascinating, thought-provoking, funny and practical. If you want to read one book on motivation, this is the one! It’s a must-read for teachers and students, but I also recommend it for parents, business people, coaches and trainers. It is a guidebook of almost 200 pages...

Prague is a fascinating city. It’s beautiful and magic, but full of paradoxes. Reading about Prague is like discovering some secret spot that was once internationally recognised for its intellect, mystery, architecture and culture. Let me take you on this reading journey to discover Prague once again. Pocket Rough Guide....

What did I read when I travelled to Crete? A rather eclectic selection of travel writing, which I enjoyed reading and from which I learnt a lot more about Crete. Greek Islands, Lonely Planet I think I have a good relationship with the Lonely Planet guidebooks. I’ve been using them...

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...

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,...