from typing import List


def read_file(file, num_lines=0) -> List[str]:
    """
    A simple file reader
    :param file: A file-like object
    :param num_lines: Number of lines to read from the file.
    :return:
    """
    response = []
    for ix, line in enumerate(file):
        response.append(str(line, errors='ignore'))

        if (ix + 1) == num_lines:
            break
    return response