Hello and welcome back to my podcast, My Life and Other Funny Stories. My name is Dagmar Tomášková, I’m an English tutor and coach, and I’ve created this podcast for English students who want to improve their oral comprehension. As always, you can find the transcript of this episode and a vocabulary list in the notes.

Today, I want to talk about something I love but I don’t usually share here … books. More specifically, the books I’ve been reading lately. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure to use lots of grammar in this too … actually, I’ll be focusing on past continuous and past simple, because those two tenses are the backbone of storytelling. You’ll hear me use both and I’ll explain why at the end.

So first, a little background. In the last couple of years, I’ve really stopped reading classics and non-fiction theory books. I used to read so many of them when I was at university, and honestly, I got tired of it. I burned out a little bit. And don’t even get me started on self-help books… They just annoy me now. I pick them up, read a few pages, and put them straight back down. I don’t enjoy them anymore. So these days, I’m mostly reading fun, light fiction. Stories that make me relax, and fall in love with the characters.

Let’s start with a fantasy series I picked up recently. The first book is called Fourth Wing, the second one is Iron Flame, and the third one, which I’ve just finished, is Onyx Storm. The series is called The Empyrean. It’s a fantasy world full of dragons, battles, romance, betrayal … you name it. But don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything for you. I was reading it in English, and I have to say, the language was quite challenging. There were so many characters and places, I sometimes felt like I was drowning in all the names. At one point, I was literally flipping back through the pages, trying to figure out who was who and where they came from. While I was following one character’s story, another ten were popping up, and I was constantly losing track. Honestly, I’m not the biggest fantasy fan, mostly because of this. But I still enjoyed it. The writing kept pulling me in, and I was staying up late at night, turning page after page, while telling myself, “Just one more chapter.” And of course, it was never just one.

After finishing Onyx Storm, I told myself: “Okay, you need something lighter. Something you can just relax with.” So I decided to switch to romantic comedies. Cute stories, funny dialogues and happy endings … basically the book equivalent of comfort food. I just needed something where I would smile at the book while reading it.

The first one I picked up was Beach Read by Emily Henry.And, I loved it. I was sitting on my couch, reading for hours, and I couldn’t put it down. The book is about two writers who are complete opposites. He writes serious, dark literary fiction, and she writes light romance. They knew each other from colleague and weren’t really keen on each other. They end up spending the summer in neighbouring houses and, of course, things start happening. While I was reading, it was so much fun, and I was constantly rooting for them to finally get together. Emily Henry has this way of writing dialogue that makes you feel like you’re sitting at the table with the characters, listening in.

Then I moved on to Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez. This one was really sweet. It’s about a doctor who’s dealing with a lot of anxiety, and another doctor who slowly becomes her friend and support system. I was reading it in bed at night, and while the main character was struggling with her fears, I was lying there thinking, “Oh wow, I know exactly how that feels.” The story was touching, but also really funny in places. Abby Jimenez is great at mixing more serious topics of trauma and relationships with humour, so you don’t feel heavy while you’re reading.

And then, because apparently I couldn’t get enough of Emily Henry, I went back and read People We Meet on Vacation. This one is about two best friends who travel together every summer, and the book flips back and forth between their past vacations and their present. While I was reading, I was smiling like an idiot because their friendship was so real and so lovely. It is a kind of slow-burning relationship. That means that everything moves a little slower but the key moments are so much more intense because of it. And of course, I didn’t want it to end. Every time I got close to the last chapters, I was slowing down, reading more carefully, because I just didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters.

Emily Henry has officially become one of my favourite authors. Her books don’t have crazy plot twists or shocking endings. You always kind of know what’s going to happen. But that’s the point … the joy is in the journey. The writing is so warm, the characters feel so alive, and when I finish one of her books, I actually miss them, like they were my real friends. Plus, her English is not too complicated. I would say even B1 students could manage with a little patience, which makes them a great choice if you want to practise your English and also enjoy the story.

So, now let me quickly explain why I was switching between past simple and past continuous in all these stories. Past simple is for the main events: I read a book, I finished it, I laughed, I cried. Past continuous is for the background, the actions that were happening around those events: I was sitting on my couch, I was staying up late, I was slowing down and so on. When you mix the two, you make the story richer. You’re not just telling what happened, you’re painting pictures of the moments. That’s why native speakers use both all the time when telling stories.

 Okay, so just to sum it up, I read the fantasy series, uh, where I finished with the book Onyx Storm.

Then I moved to Beach Read by Emily Henry. Then I moved to Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez, and I finished by Emily Henry and her book People We Meet on Vacation.

So, what about you? What are you reading these days? Send me a message on Instagram and tell me, because I’m always looking for new recommendations.

That’s it for today. Thank you so much for listening, and don’t forget you can find the transcript and vocabulary list in the notes of the podcast. If you liked this episode, please leave me a five-star rating and share it with your friends. See you next time!