a certain type of character? coincidences? imagined wolrds? anything alse...
2006-08-24 04:52:11 · 15 answers · asked by Delilah T 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
When it really grips you and you can't put it down, and you actually go to bed an hour or two earlier (I read in bed mostly) just to read it.
Another thing I like is originality, when I feel there is something really different in this book...
2006-08-24 22:42:56 · answer #1 · answered by JarJar Odd 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The way the book is written (form) is the most important element for me. Content comes second--as most of the stuff that you read has already been written in a different way anyway. So it's the way the story is adapted that gives it a fresh, new appeal to me.
I like books that are fast-paced, easy to read but poetic at the same time (I dislike highfaluting words and over the top methaphors that go on and on) and are up to date--modern day mysteries that are humorous with sympathetic characters.
2006-08-24 12:45:04 · answer #2 · answered by the_memory_of_ashes 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i like to be engaged, either through the character, the plot, or some familiar/relateable setting. the better i can emphathize with what's going on, the harder it is for me to put it down.
so i guess really it would come down to the emotional tug of the character(s) -- and it doesn't necessarily have to be the main character, just one well-written enough to make me want to learn 'more.'
as an added bonus, i like to be surprised -- i like twists and turns, either in the physical plot, or in the characters' growth/understanding/reactions. don't just tell me that the star athlete wears adidas cleats to football practice... show me that altho everyone thinks he's the golden boy, he's got a temper -- and he swiped the cleats from the sporting goods store on a dare because he was feeling mean and nasty after his history teacher gave him a C on a test... and you find out the history teacher's pregnant sister in law owns the sporting goods store....
so basically if you have a character i can relate to/understand well, and a convoluted plot that gradually clears itself up... then i'm hooked, lol.
2006-08-24 15:09:47 · answer #3 · answered by frzzld_1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I love mystery books. I like them to have an interesting story line that I, who seems to always figure out many plot lines long before the book is over, can't figure out and am surprised by.
I also like unique settings and quirky main characters. I don't like all mystery books however and that although I like Diane Mott Davidson's Culinary Mysteries a great deal, I absolutely hate Tamar Myers Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries. Living in Dutch Country I can tell you they are so far off base it is ridiculous.
Tamar Myers is a good example--I like a certain authenticity. She presents herself with the background of Amish roots but makes obvious mistakes and inaccuracies.
Next to Diane Mott Davidson I love M.C. Beaton (Hamish MacBeth and Agatha Raisin), Sherlock Holmes, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell and Nero Wolfe.
Ironically I don't like Miss Marple but my all time favorite detective and my addiction is Hercule Poirot.
2006-08-24 12:01:33 · answer #4 · answered by charmingchatty 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Symbolism. I really love books hinting pieces of eternity, because I think this is the true meaning of literature -- being atemporal. Most of the time, I read fantasy or kind of occult novels, so it might be a natural sonsequence of my day-dreamy constitution. Actually, I prefer books that convince me about reality being a bit more enthusiastically real that what it uses to be in 'real' life. This explanation is certainly not as clear as crystal, but my mind isn't either.
2006-08-24 12:03:14 · answer #5 · answered by Sully L 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A certain type of character that is realistic but still has that something that we all wish we could be.
also i love the ability of an author to be able to make everything flow with little coinicidences and such,
but my favorite thing about a good book is a good ending.
2006-08-24 11:59:02 · answer #6 · answered by Sarah K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I really like a book that will make you sit down and actually think for a while. It leaves a mark on you that causes you to really think about the story and maybe apply it to your own life.
2006-08-24 11:57:46 · answer #7 · answered by im_shady77 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on how the author writes his book. Usually I would imagine myself at the scene watching it dirtectly by sitting invisible beside the scene.
2006-08-24 12:17:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Looking up from the page and remembering that I'm reading, not actually being in the author's world.
Then I know I've been captured.
2006-08-24 13:06:29 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
what really interest me in a book is certainly the very and real base of the story, should it be romance, mystery or science-fiction. a book should be foremost a very good and originally story,
2006-08-24 12:41:58 · answer #10 · answered by shahine 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋