6 Things I Want From Books

The things that make a book go from an average "meh" three stars to a four- or five-star "must read" for me.

Good morning, friends!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. Our youngest came up for an all-too-brief visit, and she brought her cat along for the ride. He's made a return visit once before, so he had met his replacement previously and wasn't shocked to find said replacement still residing here. Detente was reached fairly quickly between all three felines this time around with the oldest cat playing Switzerland between the younger two.

There was no lasting trauma with the current feline residents when our visitors left, apparently, because The Man and I spent most of Easter evening watching a movie while the cats picked their preferred laps and snoozed away.

By the way, there is very little that makes us feel older right now than eating out because we're lazy and then watching a movie we've seen a dozen times while cats doze on our laps. This may be a picture of our retirement years.

Last week, I shared what I consider the bare minimum things I look for from a writer--to be clear, to check facts, and to tell a good story. Honestly, meeting that baseline will get you at least three of five stars on my personal rating scale.

But the truth is, I am always in search of books that prompt me to grant a four- or five-star rating. I want to read good books. I am hungry for books that go the extra mile beyond just average.

So as I've been thinking about how I want to rate books going forward, I thought I'd jot down some of the things I want from a book. In no particular order, here are six things that will make me give a book four or five stars.

Books With Pretty Words

This is probably one of the weirdest things about me, and it's entirely a function of my overdeveloped language center that makes me entirely unsuited to survive the coming zombie apocalypse.

If you give me a book with horrible characters and a senseless plot, I will still finish that book if it's beautifully written.

I'm thinking in particular of A Bend in the River, by V. S. Naipaul. I hated every freaking character in that book, and the plot was super depressing, and Naipaul was kind of an unpleasant person, and yet, I could not stop reading. The language was so beautiful that I was compelled to finish it.

Books That Make Me Feel

Sometimes when I worry that I've become entirely too cynical about the world in general, or I start to wonder if my self-protective tendencies have cut me off my empathetic tendencies, I remember books that have left me in an absolute puddle of emotion, and I start to think that maybe being GenX hasn't entirely warped my humanity.

There are a lot of books that have done this for me over the years. Most recently, Circe, by Madeline Miller, accurately captured for me the many joys, fears, pains, and struggles of motherhood, and I found myself tearing up in several places. The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles, triggered just about every emotion I've ever felt--satisfaction, joy, grief, frustration, exasperation--the full range. Same with A Gentleman in Moscow.

We need books to make us feel. Well-written fiction can help us on the road to becoming better people and connect us to our humanity in ways we can't fully understand.

Books That Make Me Think

I love me some good non-fiction, and in the last few years, I've read a lot of books in the leadership, business, sociology, and psychology realm. I like a good history tome, too, and I've always appreciated a well-written biography or autobiography. The occasional memoir, especially about someone's spiritual journey, can also hit the spot.

What do these all have in common? They make me think. They give me a glimpse into other human experiences or other ways of thinking about obstacles. They challenge me to improve myself and push me to make the world a little better.

Books That Draw Me In

One of the best experiences a reader can have is when a book just kind of sneaks up on you and pulls you in so thoroughly that you can't entirely extricate yourself from it. I love falling in love with a book this way--letting it woo me until I am so smitten that I can't imagine not finishing it.

There are precious few books that have really given me this experience. The aforementioned Amor Towles tends to be this kind of writer for me. I always enjoy Ann Patchett, but Bel Canto was one that especially captured me. Every Willa Cather book I've ever read has surprised me this way, too. But one that really got its hooks in me and didn't let me go for a long time was Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. I struggled to put it down to, you know, live my life, and when it was over, I didn't really want to read anything else for a while because I didn't want to live anywhere else but in that world.

Books That Give Me a Roadmap

I am what might be charitably considered a slow adapter. I don't like change.

However, when I set my mind to change something, I want someone to give me a very clear manual on how to accomplish it, because if I'm going to do something new or different, I need a clear map. I'm not very innovative, but I am an excellent follower of instructions.

I have had great success following roadmaps. The Well-Fed Writer, by Peter Bowerman, gave me a roadmap to develop my freelance writing business. I read that original book over 20 years ago, and I still return to the techniques and tips he wrote when I need to tweak something or find more clients.

Another one that gave me a good starting road map was the original Body for Life, by Bill Phillips. A friend had used his system for herself and thought I might benefit, so she gave me the book. I first followed it in 2007 and had great success, but got derailed by gallbladder surgery and... well, life. When I decided to get myself back in shape in 2017, I went straight back to the Body for Life plan. I don't do the plan exactly anymore, but I do tend to follow the principles in it, and I've managed to keep off almost all of the weight I lost this time around for almost eight years.

Books That Make Me Laugh

Looking at my Goodreads bookshelf might make you think that I take myself entirely too seriously or that I don't enjoy a good laugh.

On the contrary, I love a book that makes me laugh.

But I don't tend to read books that are billed as humor books, though Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse are notable exceptions. Instead, I love a book that has the humor embedded in it as satire or witty dialogue or even the occasional slapstick scene. And I especially love it when I don't expect a book to be funny, and then it sneaks up on me and biffs me with a rubber chicken.

One that I didn't really expect to be funny was White Noise, by Don DeLillo. It was on my massive TBR list, and I stumbled on a used copy, so I picked it up. Since it was short, I decided to read it when I was a little behind on my reading challenge. Y'all, the book is hilarious. It's witty and incisive and bites at our modernity in all the right ways.

As I tiptoe slowly into the realm of more book reviews and critiques, these are the six items that will bump a book up from something I simply record on my Goodreads shelf and something that earns a fourth or fifth star. Give me a good, clear, consistent story that makes me laugh, and I'll give it four stars. Give me one that makes me feel something deeply as well? That's an easy five stars.

Here's the thing, though... I am increasingly struggling to find that elusive fourth or fifth star in speculative fiction, especially modern fantasy. I don't know if I'm being hypercritical or if fantasy has just degenerated, but I feel like the genre is just losing its appeal for me. And while I will continue to plug away at The Taurin Chronicles because I did make a promise to finish these five books, I'm starting to think maybe I shouldn't be writing fantasy anymore.

I'll have more about that next week.

See y'all then.