Booking Through Thursday: Highlights: 12/27/07
Booking Through Thursday

It's an old question, but a good one . . . What were your favorite books this year? List as many as you like ... fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, science-fiction, business, travel, cookbooks ... whatever the category. But, really, we're all dying to know. What books were the highlight of your reading year in 2007?

I pretty much covered this topic in last week's Thursday Thirteen. If you'd like to see my list of 13 favorites from my year of reading, please see that blog entry.

Rather than rehash my list again, I'd rather explain what makes an enjoyable read for me. Although I can read quickly and frequently, I don't have the time in the day to waste on difficult to read books.

A good read will keep me entertained and be easy to follow even if I have to put it down a number of times over the course of a day. I should be able to pick up where I left off no matter what the circumstances.

I prefer short chapters to long chapters and dear Mr. Pratchett, please for the love of god, learn how to write in chapter form! Dan Brown, cheesy as his books are, I love them for their short chapters.

I adore well punctuated books. Quotation marks, commas and periods are good things. Italics and em-dashes do not make good substitutes for properly punctuated dialog (even if you are a prize winning author). I would much prefer to read Nathaniel Hawthorne's longwinded but well punctuated sentences to Margaret Atwood at her most experimental.

Sex scenes, I can take them or leave them. Most of the time they get in the way of the flow of the plot. As you can guess, I don't read much in the form of romance or erotica. I do make exceptions for gay or lesbian romances (which are unfortunately lumped together as erotica) because they are often time more compelling and interesting stories than the average vanilla romance or chick-lit.

Fantasy and science fiction books will keep my attention better if the characters have easy to read names. The made up sounding names to be either "futuristic" or "otherworldly" sound stupid. I'm not expecting a world populated by Tom, Dick and Mary but let's keep the names believable, okay?

I prefer short novels to long novels. They are easy to hold and honestly, most of the 400+ novels are just filler any ways. If you really feel like you have more than 400 pages of story, break it up into "books" and break each of those books into chapters. I have listened to an audio version of The Historian but there is no way I am tempted to crack that thing open.

That brings me to my next point: vampires. I really don't "do" vampires. I know they're all the latest rage for readers in my demographic but frankly, they are boring. I love Dracula but "vampire as erotic lead" or even as a "screwball heroine" just doesn't appeal to me. I make an exceptions to the books by Christopher Moore and Terry Pratchett.

On physical descriptions, I really don't care what your characters look like unless it's important to the plot. Don't waste my time telling me what everyone is wearing in every damn scene. Sue Grafton in her Kinsey Millhone books wastes so much time setting up every single scene with useless descriptions. Again, I have to go with Pratchett for keeping things simple. Take Carrot: he's tall and has bright orange hair an there is something vaguely regal about him.

Above all, make sure I can remember your book a month or so down the line without having to reread my own reviews.

booking through thursday | books

Comments (4)

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Comment #1: Friday, December, 28, 2007 at 00:50:22

Literary Feline says:
"I enjoyed reading your post. Although you and I don't necessarily agree on all the points, that really doesn't matter since it comes down to personal preference and taste. Still, it's good that you know what you like and can so clearly state it."

Comment #2: Thursday, December, 27, 2007 at 22:00:03

pussreboots says:
"Isn't it wonderful that there are enough books to chose from that we can so hapily disagree and still find things to enjoy?"

Comment #3: Friday, December, 28, 2007 at 12:03:01

Shoshana says:
"Terry Pratchett has indeed begun to write in chapters! Read Going Postal and Making Money. He said in an interview, when asked why the departure from his non-chaptered books, "Going Postal, and indeed it's successor Making Money both have a somewhat Victorian feel to them so I thought it might be fun to go back to the glorious era of chapter headings which were practically an index to the book! In the same way I found you could have fun with footnotes, I have now learned that chapter headings can be quite amusing.""

Comment #4: Saturday, December, 29, 2007 at 14:05:06

alisonwonderland:
"what a fun analysis! i totally agree with you on some points - and adamantly disagree on others - but it's fun to think it through! (i may have to do a similar post sometime in the future.)"

Comment #5: Saturday, December, 29, 2007 at 17;10:06

pussreboots says:
"Let me know if you do a similar post. I'd love to see what makes a good book for you."