Describe a book that had a major influence on you.

You should say:

· What is the name of the book and the author

· How did you first hear of the book

· What's the main story of the book

and why does it play such an important role in your life

Follow up Questions:

· How often do you read books?

· How books can impact on a man's life?

· Name some of the famous writer of your country?

· Have you ever thought about writing a book?

· How reading books is different from watching movies?

Possible Answer 1:

Whenever I get time, I try to read books and the ranges vary from profession related books, technical, religious, fiction, classic and contemporary books. The book I would like to describe is a novel called ‘Kane and Abel’ and is written by the famous British writer Jeffrey Archer. Sometimes I read book reviews on internet and after reading 2/3 books by Jeffrey archer, I tried to get the list of all books by Jeffrey Archer. I found that most of the Jeffrey Archer fans have recommended the book ‘Kane & Abel’. Some people even commented that this is the best book ever written by the same author. I made my mind at this very moment to read this book. After one month or so, I bought the book from a book store and started reading it.

The book was first published in 1979 in the United Kingdom and in USA in 1980. The book was the international success and reached No. 1 position on the New York Times best-selling book list. The story-line started with the birth of two infants named Kane and Abel in the year 1906. One of them was born to a life of prosperity and eases in USA in a rich family while the other one to a world of hardship and struggle. On different sides of the Globes, they grew up: one shaped by a luxurious upbringing, fine schooling and history he read, the other one who lost his mother at the time of his birth and did not know who his father was, well tempered by war, slavery and history he was part of. The story telling of Jeffrey Archer is magical and enchanting. Most of his story simply mesmerizes the readers and for Kane and Abel the attraction worked even more. Every page I turned tempted me to read further. Not for a single moment I could have stop thinking about the events and characters of the books and that had a major influence on me. The characters have their own charismatic powers and followed their own paths. One is gold, meritorious while the other one is steel and have forfeited the Dead himself. On their journey in life, they confront each other and became the ultimate adversary of each other. In their relentless battle, both men knew that there could be only one victor- and one vanquished.

Across three generations and around a rapidly changing world, their war rages unchecked, for the love of a dream, the loss of an empire, and the lure of a fortune. Kane became the owner of the largest bank in USA while Abel came to USA as a penniless emigrant after the World War I. With intelligence Kane started flourishing the banking business, while Abel made his fortune at last in Hotel business. The first time they confronted each other as a bank owner and a debtor. Though Kane wanted to help Abel regain his business by financing further, but could not do so because of the bank’s board members’ decision. After that Abel considered Kane as his greatest enemy and sought to destroy Kane. As time passed both had to fight their own fates but the vendetta remained on their hearts. When both men finally grew older, their son and daughter fell in love and got married. They never agreed on the marriage because of their personal hatred of each other. Abel succeeded to buy the bank stocks of Kane’s Bank to hold the power to veto Kane. At the end of the story both confronted each other for the second and last time. After that Kane died and after his death, Abel learned that it was Kane who backed him financially to start his hotel business. The story was told like a magician and is a powerful portrait of a world and two men that a reader would never forget.

Alternative Answer 1:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about a book that had a major influence on me. I am going to tell you the name of the book and the author, what I remember of it and why it is so significant to me.

Funnily enough I was thinking about this book only the other day. It is called ‘The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse’, I don’t know why I remembered it suddenly, but I had to google to look up the author. It is by Ursula Moray Williams, but I didn’t know that when I first read it.

As to how I first heard of the book, I can’t really say! It is actually a children’s book, and I think it must have been chosen for me by my parents as I don’t remember actually buying it with anyone, and I don’t think it was a birthday gift or it would have had an inscription in its front cover. The copy I had was a rather tatty paper back with an orange cover and published by a then famous book company called Puffin Books. It had a picture of crudely fashioned toy wooden horse on the front. The horse had a cylindrical body and straight legs fastened onto a board with four wheels on it. The horse had a flowing mane and tail, and in my copy was facing away from the reader, heading off on its’ adventures.

The story was so very sad! The horse in the title was a toy horse originally supposed to be sold by his maker. The little wooden horse is very loyal and wants only to stay with his Uncle Peder who crafted him. However, sadly the toymaker is forced out of business as mass produced toys become available, and the little wooden horse sets out to try and make his fortune so the two of them can stay together. Terrible things happen to the horse, he is sometimes lonely and unhappy. Eventually though, he does make his fortune (I can’t remember how) and returns home only to find the toymaker has vanished! It is heart-breaking. In the end the little wooden horse and the toy maker are reunited by chance and there is at last a happy ending after a harrowing set of adventures.

The reason this book is important to me is because it is the first book I remember really wanting to read for myself. My mum and dad would take turns to read me just one chapter at night, but there were lots and lots of chapters – about twenty I think, and I was so upset not knowing how the story would end if one chapter was finished and the poor little wooden horse was left in distress! I could read a bit, but not that well, and not well enough to read silently in my head. Anyway, one night, after my parents had closed the book and left me alone, I carried on reading all by myself. I had to read out loud, and the story was so sad I was sobbing as I read, which made it even harder for me to get the words out and finish the story. Even so, I carried on reading right to the end and fortunately the story did end happily! I can still remember this, even though I must have only been about four years old at the time. My parents remember the episode too. They could hear me in my room reading aloud and crying, and they said it was heart-rending to listen to, but also quite impressive, as I was so stubbornly determined to do this, and on my own.

I have never re-read the book as an adult. I’m afraid if I did and found it wasn’t really very good or very well written it might spoilthe memory for me. I prefer to imagine it as the most brilliant story ever written even if that isn’t true at all! So the book is special because it is probably the book that encouraged me to read, as well as being probably my earliest memory.

[ Written by - Lucy Marris | Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ]

Alternative Answer 2:
The book that tremendously influenced me in my college level is titled "Pather Panchali" by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. This book was published in 1929 and later a movie was made with the same title by Satyajit Ray. The book is a tragedy and family drama which is considered to be one of the finest literary works in Bengali literature.
This book deals with the life, happiness, sadness and inner-picture of Roy family in a rural area. Later they moved to a different place in search of a better life but they had to face great deal of anguish and loss during their travel to a new transition.

The book describes the rural life, the people of this rural place, their sufferings, their joys, the beautiful country-side, green fields, paddy-fields, flowers and many more things that become alive in the story. The story line, the mastery of story-telling ability, the scenic beauty of rural area, the tragic death of a touchy character all were so profoundly expressed that I was deeply touched. Moreover this book was written by one of the superior writer who has a talent to describe the rural beauty in a style that no other writer can do.

The book reminded me rural are I had once been. It was like travelling to the past in a time machine. Bibhutibhushan is a gifted writer and probably the best of his type. He had an ability to depict the rural life and scenic beauty profoundly and perfectly. The characters of his books come from ordinary places and lead ordinary lives, but the impression they create in readers' mind is extraordinary.

Tips for answering this cue card sample:

This cue card asks you to talk about a book you have read. You should pick a book that you know well. Let's say you have read a book which was very interesting but you have forgotten the name of the author or the publisher, you can't tell the story in an organised fashion, then you should not talk about that one. Rather pick a book which is interesting, you have read and you know the writer and story of the book. If you are not sure of such a book, think about one, google for the details of the book and remember the following information about the book:

1. Writer.
2. Publisher.
3. Publishing year.
4. Some other book names by the same author.
5. Story of the book.
6. Why the book was critically acclaimed.
7. Some characters of the book.

For the part why this book has a great influenced on you mention some of the following points:

1. The book was written by a writer who has a great way of telling a story.
2. The story is a page turner and you had hard time keeping it away.
3. You have learned an important lesson from this book.
4. The characters of this book gave you great impression.
5. Some of the trivia and facts about the book. etc.

If you prepare for this cue card, you should also be able to answer the following cue card topics:

Describe a book you have recently read. 2. Describe your favourite book. 3. Describe a book you read and remember. 4. Talk about a book you enjoyed reading. 5. Describe a book you would recommend your friends to read. 6. Talk about a book your one of your friends recommended you. 7. Describe a worth reading book.

Since the cue card topic is asking to describe a book that has a major influence on you, not necessarily you have to talk about a story book. You can pick any academic book, religious book or specific subject or technology related books as well.

For instance if you pick the major book of your religion, you can say how it has changed your view of life and world. How it had helped you learning morality and humanity and religious lessons that you follow in your life. There are so many things we learn from our religion and you can talk about these.

If you pick an academic book, let’s say JAVA programming language book, Introduction to business or Accounting you can tell how this book has changed your view on this specific subject and created a solid base on the subject and influenced you to later study on that subject further.

IELTS Cue Card Sample 4 - A journey you went on

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1785