The book Legend by David Gemmell Legend is considered as a classic in the fantasy genre. It is the novel that launched the career of the bestselling author David Gemmell. The plot is simple, Gemmell tells a story of men fighting a heroic last battle. A small army, outnumbered by invaders, must keep a fortress, the narrow gateway to their empire. The fate of the empire lies in an old man, a mighty warrior, a legend. I read it in French when I was a teenager. I was sixteen at this time, and the heroic tale of a warrior coming out of retirement to defend his people one last time really appealed to me. As I knew the story, I decided to read it again but in English. I must admit that I didn’t have the same pleasure when I read it again. I’m still fond of fantasy and eager to read novels of this genre, but as I get older I’m more demanding or maybe it’s because my English is not good enought. The book is fast-paced, action packed, and gripping. It’s a blend of action, suspense, sword, sorcery. It’s a tale of heroism, sacrifice, duty and love. Legend is a great place to start if you haven’t read any of this genre It’s also a must read for any heroic fantasy fans.

The series The Night Of I recently saw a really good series, The Night Of, I watched the 9 episodes in 3 days, I really enjoyed watching the episodes. I found this show amazing. The summary is: one thing, one decision, one event in your life can screw up everything. After a night of partying with a stranger, a man wakes up to find her stabbed to death and is charged with her murder. The story is set in New York, it’s a mix between a police investigation, a portrayal of society and people, a jail survival and a criticism of judicial system. The plot seems so real. The cast is great, one of the actors is the talented John Turturro. Actors and their characters are awesome. I particullary liked the fact that there is only 9 episodes with a real ending at the end of the season, it’s not like a lot of series whitch seem to last forever. If you watch the first episode, you will be hooked.

Review of a comic book One of the first comics I read in English was « Through the woods » by Emily Caroll, I picked up this book because it’s looks like an illustrated children's book (I wasn’t used to reading in English at this time) and also because the drawings are very well done . The book includes five beautiful graphic stories, actually five fairy tales which turn out to be five horror stories. Don’t expect a happy ending. The artwork is beautiful, the stories are a little spooky. It’s not a book for bed time story for too young kids, it will definitely give them nightmares, but it’s perfect for young teenagers. If you are an adult and if you enjoyed reading creepy tales growing up, you might enjoy this.

Reading graphic novels in English I’m fond of graphic novels. Since I was a teenager I’ve always liked comics. I own a lot of this kind of books, all are organised in my bookshelf. At the end of 2015, I read my first graphic novel in English. As I was in the process of learning English I thought it might be a good idea to practise my English by reading the genre of book I particulary like. It made me feel like I can read more in English. Even if don’t know the meaning of words it’s not a problem because the drawings help to understand the story and the dialogues. So I looked up on the internet to find reviews and recommandations and I picked up more graphics novels. I found some in which the artwork and the story look pretty interesting. I bought them on Amazon because on line there is a wide range of choice. As I live in France, if I go to the bookstore I don't have so much choice in the English department. Now I’m used to reading in English. And I still have a lot of graphic novels that I’m eager to read. So I’m a kind of a bookworm with comics !

Back to English learning I’m curently trying to brush up my English after a one year break of learning. I needed this break beacause after 2 years of learning I was a bit worn out with the process. And also because it was difficult to find the time to dedicate to it. My motivation diped to zero and I wanted to have more time for others leisure activities. In fact 3 years ago I had decided to relearn everything from scratch, the grammar rules, the tenses, and so on. Because I was very much a beginner, actually I was pretty terrible. I had been working hard to improve the way I speak English, I put a lot of effort, including learning flashcards daily, but at one point I got fed up with that and I wasn’t able to keep it up. But now I’m back to putting in effort to learn English, I want to get out of the intermediate level that I’m stuck in. Language skills are so hard to acquire and so easy to lose, hope that I didn’t lose too much.. But no worries, I think I worked up again the nerve to learn and I also know that my journey with English is an all life plan that will never come to an end. And the journey is totally worth it.

Boring things As I had a long weekend I had enough time to do a lot of things even boring things. I sorted my paperwork because it was a mess. I didn’t do that for ages, I was overwhelmed by all the documents from the flat, invoices, insurance papers, bank papers and so on. There were documents everywhere in the living room, all was in shambles. At one point I was fed up with this work but I kept it up. Now all my documents are organised in files. I also sorted my clothes in order to give away the old ones I no longer wear. All was pretty boring, I falt like I wasted my time but now I’m happy because I got rid of theses stuff !

My English routine Let me tell you what I do in my process of learning : I use two apps on my Ipad to learn new vocabulary. It’s a system of flashcards, it helps to memorize. The point is that you have to work on them very regurlarly. I suscribed to a newspaper, especially made for English learner. It’s a selection of English articles from English newspapers from all over the world. The difficult words are translated in French and there is an issue every other week. I try to read comics, all in English without translation. Even if I don’t know the meaning of some sentences or worlds it’s not really a problem because the drawings help to understand the story and the dialogues. I have a few English speakers penpals, we echange few messages in a month. They write to me in French, I correct their mistakes and I reply in English, they correct me and so on and so forth. I watch movies or series in English with English subtitles the more than I can. So English is part of my routime and I’m an enthusiastic learner.

My weekend I had a good time this weekend. First it started on Friday with an awesome party in a pub. We had lots of rounds, the dj was terrific. I really liked to listen to his set and he made everybody dance. I ran into some friends during the evening. At the end of the party we were almost thrown out of the pub. I felt a bit tipsy. On saturday I went to the movies, I saw « The revenant » by Inarritu, staring Di Caprio. I enjoyed the film although the plot is really tiny, but it’s exiting right to this end. The landscapes are breathtaking, the film was set in Patagonia. On Sunday I went on a bike ride, I bycicled for about 40 kilometers and now my legs are sore from so much bycicling. After that I went to a pub to listen to a little jazz concert, the singer had a pretty nice voice.

Daily routines During the week I usually wake up at 7 am. Sometimes it’s difficult to get up but I have no choice, I have to go to work to earn a living. I take a shower and leave home approximately a quarter to eight. I get to work at 8. During the day I’m busy working. I spend my time in meetings or in front of my computer and sometimes both at the same time. I take some breaks to drink cofee with my coworkers. I leave work around 6 pm to get home but I don’t really have fixed schedules. It really depends on the day. In the evening I can stay in or go out. Usually I go to bed about midnight and fall asleep very quickly. And I wake up at 7 am and so on and so forth …