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View Poll Results: What genre do you like best? | |||
Romance | 19 | 22.89% | |
Fantasy | 37 | 44.58% | |
Science Fiction | 43 | 51.81% | |
Realistic Fiction | 15 | 18.07% | |
Horror/thriller | 12 | 14.46% | |
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 83. You may not vote on this poll |
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03-17-2013, 08:11 PM | #1 |
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What makes a book worth reading?
I'm not sure if this is in the right forum. I am new to this site. The topic seemed to coincide with this forum though.
I was wondering what genre people like, what about that genre you like, what good books their are in that genre, and what makes it a good book. What, in your opinion, makes a good book period? |
03-18-2013, 02:14 AM | #2 |
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Characters you love to love, or love to hate. Lots of oh my gawd moments. Throw in a few I can not believe the author actually did THAT, and yes you have a good book.
I would rather get all riled up at GRMM killing off yet another Stark then read some feel good warm and fuzzy any day of the week. I want to feel. applesauce |
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03-18-2013, 03:22 AM | #3 |
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And a good plot that raises questions..
Last edited by David Munch; 03-19-2013 at 04:25 AM. Reason: Rise, raise.. Thank you Charles! |
03-18-2013, 04:32 AM | #4 |
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I agree with the previous replies. A good plot and good characters.
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03-18-2013, 06:59 AM | #5 |
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Oh and good writing. Can't stand books where the author attempts to show literary genius by the constant use of made-up metaphors. It really questions my continued desire to scan the pages left to right of the written scripture like a seagull at the wave-impacting sandy beach surveying the water for its next...and perhaps infrequent digestion of nourishing roughage.
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03-18-2013, 07:56 AM | #6 |
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My preferred genre is SF, broadly described as the literature of ideas.
The best SF books make you think. About what people do to themselves, to each other, to the world. About "what if" or "if only!" or "if this goes on..." It is about the world we live in and ways it might lead to a specific future. The best SF books draw you in with interesting settings and situations, they draw you in to worlds you might want to live in or dread to experience. They suggest ways we could improve our world or warn of ways this world can go horribly wrong. Utopias, dystopias, cautionary tales. The best SF books introduce us to interesting people; they may be just like us or, like the gods of mythology, larger than life reflections of human traits and follies. They can be people we can reasonably aspire to emulate or people we can barely understand. The best SF books will challenge us to think. Whether dead serious or light and airy, the best SF will always tell us something worth pondering about us, our world, our role in it. And, of course, the best SF books will do any or all of the above in an accessible, entertaining fashion. Because good SF, serious or not, has to be *fun*. |
03-18-2013, 08:13 AM | #7 |
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It should be well-written. The style should be good. Spelling and punctuation must be correct. The book itself, as well as its paragraphs and chapters should have the appropriate length, as should sentences, which have the additional requirement of having to contain at least a subject and a verb.
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03-18-2013, 09:19 AM | #8 |
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I used to be pretty easy to please when it came to reading. I loved science fiction when I was younger, and went through a stage of reading the classics.
Last year (because I'm gay) I decided to read nothing but gay-themed novels. Well, that's proven to be something of a disaster. All my life I've been reading about the fortunes and misfortunes of straight people as they fell into and out of love, and being gay, I've been translating it all through my own frame of reference. Now, having read so much good gay literature over the past year, I can't get enough of it. And the problem is that I like "good" writing. There's plenty of very average gay novels around, my own included, but I want to read something better than average, and I've just about reached the bottom of the barrel. |
03-18-2013, 09:36 AM | #9 |
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Me.
I make a book worth reading. (and that's not conceit talking--even though some will make the mistake of construing it as such) |
03-18-2013, 10:08 AM | #10 |
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Since I prefer non-fiction books at the moment, I look for a book that not only presents the facts in a clear and precise manner, but also presents the book in a narrative that makes me want learn more about the subject. The last book that I read about Chief Quanah Parker accomplished just this.
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03-18-2013, 11:00 AM | #11 |
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A story that sets the 'hook' early
Moves right along though the twists and turns of the plot Then smacks you between the running light with the conclusion |
03-18-2013, 11:05 AM | #12 |
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Any formula will be incomplete. All I know is that I know it when I see it.
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03-18-2013, 02:54 PM | #13 | |
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Quote:
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03-18-2013, 03:16 PM | #14 |
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It has to capture my interest, and it has to be well written. Currently, not a lot of fiction books manage to catch my interest; so I switched to reading non-fiction. There are many good, gripping and funny non-fiction books out there, fortunately.
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03-18-2013, 03:18 PM | #15 |
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A book is a journey. The guide should take me somewhere interesting. Tell me interesting things. Not be an idiot.
The trip can be slow and beautiful, fast and dangerous, deep and philosophical, or quirky and light. I don't have to love the place or the people because I'm not going to live there. Teach me. Move me. Blow my mind. If a book can do a bit of this stuff, it was worth reading. |
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book, good, reading |
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