I’d like to start a discussion about what you think makes a good book. This could be a touchy subject as what works for one may not work for others, so please no snarking at anyone in the comments for sharing what they love.
I’ve got quite a few thoughts and opinions on the subject.
Some books really work for one person but not for others. For example, look at the dividing lines on those who have read Twilight—-many people adored it and many people despised it. There seem to be few in between. You either loved or hated it. Either way, it sure as heck made an impact with those people, didn’t it?
I’m going to keep things simple and address fiction instead of non-fiction, as I think that’s what most of my audience here on the blog is reading, anyway.
So! What makes a good book can be anything from light and airy to deep and thought-provoking, as well as anything in between.
There are some books that are “guilty pleasures” for me. They don’t expand horizons, but they leave you feeling good when you’re done. Take a look at Jennifer Crusie, Julie Garwood or Shirlee Busbee’s romance novels. You haven’t gained anything by reading them other than a warm, fuzzy-bunny feeling and perhaps a craving for your own hero to come sweep you off your feet and make sweet, sweet lo—err, household decorating decisions with you. Am I right?!
Then there are the “deep thought” books, the ones that make you think, and sometimes change the way you view the world. Take books like The Call of the Wild or 1984. These are not light reading by any means, and they leave you with a lot to chew over once you’ve reached the last page.
And, of course, there’s everything in between. I have a tendency to reread books that stuck with me despite the size of my TBR pile. Right now, despite the huge number of new books I have waiting to be read, I’m currently rereading an old favorite. Some books that I’ve read multiple times (this is just a handful of the ones I can recall off the top of my head) include Black Sun Rising, The Legend of Huma, The Secret, Lovers Forever, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Incident at Hawk’s Hill, Dinosaur Planet, Raptor Red, Needful Things, The Thief of Always, and Undead and Unwed. All of these books have their own merits and faults, but I love them to pieces—enough to pick them up again and again. Few of them could be considered great literature—and yet they keep me coming back, entertained time and again.
So what does this boil down to?
I think the answer to my question is simple: a good book isn’t one that’s technically perfect–it’s one that leaves an impression on you when it’s over.
What I’m getting at is that you may not curl your toes in pleasure once you reach “The End,” but you aren’t hurling the book across the room either, and you feel some sense of satisfaction and perhaps a desire to someday reread the story. You’re left with some form of emotional impact, something that stuck with you, something that leaves a little bit of attention on it or some warm satisfaction with having read the story, even if it didn’t rock your world.
That, to me, makes a good book.
What about you? What do you think makes a good book? Do you have any titles or authors you like to come back to again and again?
