Describe the book you read that you found useful

Describe the book you read that you found useful

You should say:

• What it is
• When you read it
• Why you think it is useful
• And explain how you felt about it

Sample Answer:

Well, it doesn’t take me so long to come up with an idea for the question since I’m truly an avid reader(1) . And the book I want to share with you now is called “No time to cook”, which I have read thousands times up until now.

If my memory serves me right, the book was given to me as a birthday gift 5 years ago. This was from my mom. “No time to cook” is actually a cookbook which used to be the best seller (2) that year with more than 300.000 copies printed and sold.

Honestly at first, I’m not really into cooking because it’s not my forte(3) . That was also the reason why I didn’t know much about cooking at that time. I did dabble in (4) cooking sometimes but then I always ended up messing up the kitchen. It was not until the year 2015 that I took up cooking so that after moving to HCMC study at university, I can feed myself without ordering too much processed food(5) .

For a person who didn’t know the first thing about (6) cooking like me, learning to cook is not that easy. Therefore, my mom decided to give me that book. The book includes 150 pages in which many simple recipes (7) to cook various dishes were introduced. The thing that really impressed me about this book is that it not only included everything in clear details but also used vivid and colorful pictures for illustration, which made it so interesting and appealing to me. From the book, I also know how to recognize and use different ingredients or spices (8) used in cooking. It just took me half a day to read through it and practice. I’d say that “No time to cook” is an extremely useful and informative book for anyone who wants to learn cooking and live independently.

Vocabulary

1. An avid reader /ˈæv.ɪd riː.dər/:
   Ex: Mr. Brazier was an avid reader and an avid talker.
2. Best seller /best ˈsel.ər/:
   Ex: The book was a best seller.
3. Forte /ˈfɔː.teɪ/:
   Ex: Cooking was not exactly her forte
4. Dabble in /ˈdæb.əl ɪn/
   Ex: He first dabbled in politics when he was at law school.
5. Processed food
   Ex: I bloody love processed food
6. Not know the first thing about:
   Ex: She does not know the first thing about English.
7. Recipes /ˈres.ɪ.pi/:
   Ex: You’ll need a can of tuna for this recipe.
8. Ingredients and spices:
   Ex: The menu lets fly with a barrage of ingredients and spices