I was wondering is they're a book/s I could read that wouldn't embarrass me that would improve my grammar and vocabulary ?
Pretty much read anything. Newspapers, magazine, books. Anything with words.
As >>2 said, read anything that you can. Literature is great, because there are lots of words in there you probably never heard about, that you will be able to learn either by deducing them from context (if you are good at that) or by opening a dictionary whenever there's one you don't understand or are not sure to understand fully.
By the way, every time you employ a word and you're not sure about it, verify in a dictionary. Everytime someone says something, and you're not sure to grasp the complete meaning of it, open your dictionary.
And so on. It's work, but pays off, and can actually be really fun to do.
I was wondering if there any book's I could read to improve my grammar and vocabulary, without becoming publicly embarrassed?
But yes, books are pretty much all you need. Use a dictionary to figure out words you've never heard before, then try using them in real/internet conversation. Not only will you increase your English skills, you'll be expanding your general knowledge on so many levels through literature.
Literature is great for any language. You'll learn so many new words, and you'll see how people actually use them. Doesn't get much better than that.
If you don't have a local library to get books from, you can check out some eBooks.
>>1
I'm a big fan of the novels and short stories of Annie Proulx (Shipping News, Postcards, The Accordion Crimes, dozens of short stories of which the most famous is probably Brokeback Mountain). She's a truly masterful writer, and she throws around a generous quantity of unusual vocabulary. Read one of her books with a dictionary hidden in your backpack and consider yourself edumacated while you're being entertained.
Another author with similar educational properties is Colson Whitehead, author of The Intuitionist and John Henry Days.
Remember to get the pronunciation of a word right, before you say it wrong. It can be embarrassing, even more so if no one even bothers to correct you.
Also, a Thesaurus is not a dinosaur.
I have a pretty large vocabulary (it's hard to say that without sounding arrogant), and I found the best two ways to absorb & utilise new words are:
(a) Gain a basic understanding of Latin, and maybe a tiny bit of classical Greek.
(b) Try to use the context of the sentence to work out the meaning of a word before you go and look it up in a dictionary. Simply reading from a book will not necessarily aid you in your quest, but actually using your new vocab. will most certainly help.
> (b) Try to use the context of the sentence to work out the meaning of a word before you go and look it up in a dictionary. Simply reading from a book will not necessarily aid you in your quest, but actually using your new vocab. will most certainly help.
THIS