Conversation and discussion books and reading thematic vocabulary

1. Categorisation: Children's and adult's books; travel books and
biography; romantic and historical novels; thrillers; detective stories;
science fiction/fantasy; non-fiction; pulp fiction.

Absorbing; ambitious; amusing; controversial; brilliant; depress­ing; delightful; disturbing; dull; fascinating; gripping; hilarious; out­rageous; powerful; wise.

2. Books and their parts: paperback and hardback; binding; cov­er; jacket; title; epigraph; preface; the contents list; fly leaf; bookplate; blurb; a beautifully printed book; a tome bound in leather/with gilt edges; a book with dense print/with loose pages.

3. Reading habits: to form a reading habit early in life; to read silently/incessantly/avidly/voratiously; to read curled up in a chair; to read a child/oneself to sleep; to be lost/absorbed in a book; to de­vour books; to dip into/glance over/pore over/thumb through a book; to browse through newspapers and periodicals; to scan/skim a maga­zine; a bookworm; an avid/alert/keen reader.

4. Library facilities: reading rooms and reference sections; the subject/author/title/on-line catalogue; the enquiry desk; comput­er assisted reference service; to borrow/renew/loan books, CDs and video tapes; rare books; to keep books that are overdue; books vul­nerable to theft; to suspend one's membership; to be banned from the library.