Happy first Friday of December, you fantastic unique individuals, and welcome to the Open Mic! Guest posts are looking scarce for the rest of the year, so we should be able to get some good discussions in before 2012 comes round. 😉 If you’re new or haven’t visited in a while, on weeks when we don’t have a guest artist, I pose a question and we chat in the comments. Ready?
Today I want to talk about books, because one of Anna’s posts over at Girl in the Hat got me thinking. That was a writerly post and a writerly conversation, but I want to know even if you’ve never written a word: What makes a book good for you? It’s one of those basic questions we don’t ask ourselves often enough. What does it for you, as a reader?
See you in the comments!
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
Well Lisa, I should not be the first to lead off with this question, because I never read books. I have not read a novel for more than 15 years, and did not complete it. And it was a novel written by my girl friend, how bad is that (: Even with my E reader, I have yet to finish a book. I use it mostly for internet access. Now in all fairness I will read articles. Lots of articles. My attention span just cannot cut reading a novel. Plus all my life I spent any considerable amount of free time creating visual art.
Well I am sure whoever comments next will give you the story of a great read. 🙂
peace and light Lisa
Walter, that’s so interesting! Is it purely the length of a book that deters you, or are you not a fiction fan? I’ve definitely gone through phases when I couldn’t bear to read a novel, but devoured nonfiction books as if there were nothing I’d rather do.
Peace and light. 🙂
Lisa, you know I am not sure why I don’t read books. I really am a visual person and an active person. I have seen countless films, and I think I do so because of the visual, kinetic essence of film. On another note, I remember listening to Joe Frank’ Works in Progress a national syndicate radio surrealist storyteller out of California. I was very much into him during the 80’s and 90’s. And he once told a story that had an excerpt of how Inca Indians defeated the Spanish Invaders (I think I got that right). And it was because the invaders were caught up in all manners of decadence in the art of reading, so much so that they could not put down their books and raise arms. Joe joked about our difficult it was to throw a spear when you are busy reading a book etc. He went on to say that the printing press and the copier machine was instrumental in destroying creativity (as soon as you put it down in writing you lose something in the nature of it). All of this was in a academic setting of writers in a round table discussing the history of writing, printing and the source of creativity. I will try and find this episode, and list for you. But I highly recommend googling Joe Frank, Work in Progress and checking him out. You can download or order CD’s His work spans over 2 decades.
Here is my sixpenneth, in no particular order – plausible story or interesting topic – imagination – good grammar (sorry, it does jar when it’s not) – beautiful prose style (sometimes you can read a book floating along on the beauty of the writing – Saul Bellow comes to mind) – crisp editing – connection with the reader.
Currently reading “My Life” by Fidel Castro. Absolutely un-put-downable. Good for it’s relevance, flowing narrative and historical context. ( There, I just added 3 more qualities to my list.)
I agree with you on grammar, though I’m not sure I’ve had the misfortune of reading many books that ignored it! 🙂
Setting is actually a big draw for me, oddly enough. I love books that are woman-against-nature or books where the setting is so strong it becomes a character in itself. Like Alaska in the Dana Stabenow books. Tony Hillerman’s books come to mind, CJ Box, Sandi Ault, Val McDermid. All seem to have such a strong sense of place, that I am deeply there, simply by reading the story. Characters are a second place draw for me, believable, flawed, and people I can care about.
Ooh, setting has a lot of power for me too, though it doesn’t typically come to mind first for me. Does a setting have to be real to speak to you, or can it be a fantasy world?
I’m just discovering fantasy/science fiction, which is odd because my husband and son are avid readers of the genre. And the settings there grab me, too, so it doesn’t have to be some place ‘real’. I think what it is about setting that grabs me, is, when it’s well-written it fills my senses. I love it when I can smell the wind, when an author has put me in a place that believable. When I leave the story feeling like I’ve actually been spending time there. For me, a strong sense of place in a story is like the foundation that makes everything else believable.
For me it’s the way a book’s written, the way it’s sentences are constructed. I can love the concept, story, characters, but if the writing feels like I’m wading through something to get to them, I often have to give up to save my sanity. I can do difficult, like ‘more intelligent’ than I am. I can look up words. But other than that, I want the reading to have a flow to it so I forget I’m doing it, and disappear into the book.
Simplicity and clarity can be vivid and beautiful like in the Harry Potter books, but the beauty of the writing in “The God of Small Things” just makes me cry.
“The God of Small Things” is a great book.
The beauty of the language is critical, isn’t it? I felt the same way about “Ravelstein” – Saul Bellow’s first novel in how long. Just gorgeous writing.
I hear you on needing to give up on a book if the writing doesn’t flow. One of the reasons I’m so happy I’m not an academic anymore is that I’m no longer required to read academic writing! (I ranted about this back in 2007!) But awkward sentences in a novel can be just as off-putting.
I haven’t read God of Small Things, but it’s on my radar as one to pick up someday. I do remember watching the documentary Drowned Out, and they’d interviewed Roy about her part in the hunger strike.
Well drawn characters, a strong sense of place, a plot that is compelling even if not plausible, beautifully descriptive writing (but not too much). And it is always a bonus if I feel I have learned something!
I like to learn something from my reading too! I think that’s why I’m so often drawn to nonfiction.
It’s been so interesting reading all your thoughts on this! I’m not sure I ever really asked myself this question before, and now that I have, I’m still not sure of my answer. I know some of the things that draw me to pick up a book in the first place: unusual or interesting concepts/situations/structure, the promise of romance (yep!), a beautiful and intriguing cover. I guess that means I could design my own most alluring bookstore table display… but just ‘cos I’ll pick it up doesn’t mean I’ll love it. What do my favorite books have in common?
(1) Characters I like. I want to enjoy hanging out with them, or at least be fascinated by what makes them unique (wouldn’t want to hang out with Hannibal Lecter, but I did really enjoy Silence of the Lambs, believe it or not. Haven’t read it in years, but in high school I read it several times).
(2) A strong sense of atmosphere, place, or voice — I’d read Amelia Peabody for the latter alone, even without Egypt.
(3) Vividly captured truths or sensory observations. I love it when I feel like the author has put her finger on something I’ve felt all my life, or described a commonplace thing in a way that makes me see it differently.
(4) I like a bit of humor, action, romance, drama and/or intrigue — Harry Potter has it all!
I think above all, I like to feel that the book offers me something to take away and enrich my life and thoughts — and the above four items can really do that for me. The characters are my friends while I read, #2 and #4 take me out of my normal world, and #3 gives me a fresh perspective or something new to think about. I think I read nonfiction much the same way… and even those books can have characters (in fact, I like it when they do!).
Curious; I feel it’s particularly writerly to be obsessed with language, and yet that doesn’t make it into my top draws.