Oxford Learners Pocket Dictionary. Fourth edition. Paperback: 524 pages. Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Essential information on basic English vocabulary in a popular, slim, pocket-sized book that is easy to carry with a recent update of new words that have entered the language. The dictionary is aimed towards English speakers at an intermediate and advanced level. The dictionary contains 37,000 words, phrases, and meanings, with distinctions between British and American English.
Corpus-based examples show how words are used and grammar patterns help with the correct use of prepositions, infinitives and gerunds. Apart from the regular vocabulary, the dictionary explains thousands of idioms and phrasal verbs, reads the cover note.
The dictionary is a part of the Oxford Learner’s Pocket series which also includes the Oxford Learner’s Pocket Grammar book by John Eastwood, featuring 180 grammar topics, and the Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary of Business English.
Professional English in Use – Law. Gillian D. Brown & Sally Rice. Paperback: 128 pages. Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Professional English in Use – Law contains 45 units covering a wide range of legal vocabulary, including corporate and commercial law, liability, real property law, employment law, information technology, contract law and intellectual property, the cover notes read. It is designed for people who need to use legal English vocabulary in their work, such as lawyers, litigators, paralegals or legal researchers, legal secretaries or trainee lawyers.
The book is also for students of law who wish to develop their knowledge of legal English vocabulary to assist their legal studies.
Cultural Heritage of Slovakia – Technical Monuments. Ladislav Mlynka & Katarína Haberlandová. Paperback: 112 pages. Publisher: Dajama, 2007.
Slovakia, although historically an agrarian country, is also rich in technical monuments. The surviving monuments here are not only witness to mining, in which Slovakia held an eminent position, but also to industrial production in general. Technical monuments – mills, water reservoirs, mines and bridges – perhaps belong to the most threatened types of monuments that are decaying literally in front of our eyes, the introduction to the book writes.
Apart from being a valuable guide for tourists interested in Slovakia’s technical monuments, the book also intends to raise the awareness of the public about the value of this country’s technical heritage and its protection and conservation.
The Bad Girl. Mario Vargas Llosa. Paperback: 403 pages. Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2007.
When the beautiful teenage Lily arrives in Lima in 1950, 15 year-old Ricardo instantly falls in love with her. She claims to be from Chile, but vanishes at the moment it becomes clear that she has lied about both her name and her nationality.
A decade later, living in Paris, Ricardo falls in love with a woman named Comrade Arlette, who is incredibly similar to Lily but refuses to acknowledge that she is the same person. For his whole life, Ricardo seems doomed to keep running into ‘Lily’ and to keep falling in love with her, read the notes on the cover, introducing the storyline of the book.
Crime. Irvine Welsh. Paperback: 345 pages. Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2008.
Crime, a novel by the author of Trainspotting and The Acid House, is a story about the corruption and abuse of the human soul and the possibilities of redemption.
According to its cover notes, Crime is a thrilling journey into the bright glamour of the Sunshine State and its seething underworld of utter darkness.
Oxford Junior Illustrated Thesaurus. Sheila Dignen. Paperback: 226 pages. Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2007.
A thesaurus with colour pictures that helps children write creatively and independently at home and in the classroom. The thesaurus is intended for children older than 7 years of age. It includes over 20,000 synonyms and alternative words with supporting colour pictures to extend vocabulary. Example sentences show how words are used in practice to help children choose the best word and avoid overused words like ‘nice’ and ‘good’.
The thesaurus also includes a special section on overused words along with top writing tips and help with writing letters, all to develop the best language and writing skills.
This column is a selection by The Slovak Spectator of books recently released in Slovakia; it does not represent an endorsement of any of the books selected. The column is prepared in cooperation with the Oxford Bookshop Bratislava.
