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1. What is the title of the last book you finished? What was the name of the author? When did you finish it? How long did it take to read?
2. Was it good? Why?
3. What was it about?
4. Why did you choose it?
5. Are you a voracious reader? If yes, how many books a year do you finish? What kind of books do you like to read? Why? Please recommend a book to the group. If no, how many books do you read a year? Why don't you enjoy books? Do you read newspapers or comics instead?

6. Reading Graded Readers (special fiction and non-fiction books written or re-written for second language learners to enjoy) can improve your English faster than English lessons. Do you regularly borrow books from the Reading Tree? If yes, tell us about your success and failures using the Reading Tree. If no, you must be crazy, why not!!?

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Question 1

The last book I finished was a fantasy novel called "A Memory of Light". It is the fourteenth and final book in the "Wheel of Time" series. The original author of the series, Robert Jordan, died before the series could be completed. Another fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, was able to finish the series using Jordan's notes. I think I finished it in 2016. I don't know how long it took to finish but the series took me two-and-a-half years to read in its entirety. I'm a slow reader and it's a pretty dense series. Everything I have read since has been non-fiction: textbooks, how-to manuals, and the like. I don't know that I've actually "finished" any of those.

Question 2

I thought it was great! The whole series was working towards an epic fight between good and evil called "The Last Battle". Over the course of the series, I kept thinking that the ending would have to be a huge anticlimax, that there was no way it could live up to expectations. I was wrong. There were still a few surprises left to be had and "The Last Battle" was as exciting as promised.

Question 3

That's a really difficult question. I guess it was a typical fantasy series: good vs evil, magic and monsters, heroes triumphing against all odds. Not so different from any other random fantasy series. For some reason, it holds a special place in my heart though. I will read it again some day but not for a while yet.

Question 4

I'm a huge fan of fantasy as a genre. I think there are a lot of interesting philosophical ideas to be explored in fantasy. I also really dig dragons.

Question 5

I used to be a voracious reader but not so much these days. It's not that I don't enjoy reading, I just don't have the time that I used to. In my teens, I would devour books, reading for pleasure instead of studying. Now, I enjoy reading when I can, which isn't often. Most of my reading time is spent on websites and blogs, checking the news or looking at movie reviews. Other than that, I read books on how to improve my Japanese or be a better teacher.

Question 6

No, I don't. Until recently, I didn't think the Reading Tree was there for teachers to take advantage of. In the near future, I plan to borrow a few books for my daughter so I can read them at home to her. I hope to cultivate in her the same love of reading I once had. Still have, I suppose, even though I don't get to indulge myself as often as I'd like!

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
in its entirety	全体として
dense	濃い
and the like	など
epic	エピック
anticlimax	アンチマックス
live up to expectations	期待に応える
triumph against all odds	あらゆるオッズに勝利
I dig it	私はそれが好きです
devour	貪欲
cultivate	耕す
indulge	ふける