Easy to read for second language speakers?

[Victor]

Hello everyone. How are you all doing? It occurs that my first language is Spanish and English my second language. I came to this country when I was 13 years old. I'm trying to read more but sometimes is very hard and I get discouraged because there are some words that I don't understand. Any books you recommend. I know English but there are words that I don't know. I like mystery crime thrillers.
Thank you
God bless you all

[Holly]

I don't think Agatha Christie's books are *too* difficult, but because they were written quite a while ago, there are some unfamiliar old-fashioned words in them. Luckily, Agatha Christie has been translated so often that you can probably pick up her books in Spanish, if you wanted to.

The first couple of Agatha Christie books are actually in the public domain, so you can download the ebooks for free on Project Gutenberg. That way, if you decide the language is too complex, you won't have lost any money or anything like that :]

[Victor]

Yeah, I think you could have a look at the ones that are on public domain. Agatha Christie's books were the first ones I read in English (I'm from Brazil) and I found them easy to understand - both because a) the constructions are quite simple to understand in the context and b) the plots are so interesting that makes you want read more and study the language to go further with the reading.

[Alberto]

Also, if you are in the US, note that there are a lot of terms that are strictly British and not intelligible to those of us who speak US English (one short story depends on knowing what "hundreds" means to a Brit).

[Carolyn F.]

I find that too, the slang is different and so I'll have to look it up somewhere, usually internet - yeah Internet!

[Denis Joplin]

I'm Spanish and lived in England for 10 years, so I'm quite fluent in English, but I find the classics are the most difficult for me to read in English because of the old words I have no idea what they mean but also the way the sentences are constructed and the differences in grammar.

Also, like Silvia said, the American writers can be tricky: I have read the whole series of Kathy Reichs and sometimes I had to jump entire passages as I had no idea what she was talking about!

Silvia also mentioned JK Rowling: I tried to read Harry Potter's books when I first moved to England and I couldn't understand much. This year, I gave them another chance and I enjoyed them so much that I read the whole series!

Having said all this, it was Christie's books that I started reading as my English was getting better, so I can recommend them for intermediate English speakers.

[Victoria_Grossack]

I think they should be OK. I have made a point of reading a few in French and German - foreign languages for me - and I find them readable.