What Makes a Book Good?

Have you ever read reviews or had people recommend books, and then you read them and can't understand what all the fuss is about? What works for one reader might not work for another. And there's nothing wrong with that—that's why there are so many different books!

While I was in Los Angeles, I had time to hook up with a friend from high school. We discussed reading and writing, and we got started discussing the male-female thing. He'd read books by a well-known female mystery author, and he said he rushed through all the "emotional" stuff because he wasn't interested in that. He wanted the "mystery" stuff, not all the "feeling" stuff.

I recently read two "out of my normal genre" books in anticipating of attending a book club meeting. I'll be interested in seeing how the book club works, especially since the woman who invited me stressed that they served a delicious breakfast rather than extolling the brilliance of the book discussions. I've never joined one before, since they remind me too much of assigned reading in high school.

One of the books I read would, by today's standards, probably be considered poor writing. But it was a memoir written by someone born just after the Civil War, who had very little formal education. The publisher had opted to leave the manuscript virtually intact rather than edit it for spelling or grammar.

New Ventures in Reading

What I'm reading: Pioneer Woman, by Ree Drummond; Daughter of a Pioneer, by Atlanta Georgia Thompson; Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson.


Happy Independence Day to my readers in the US. We have a total burn ban in the county, so we won't be doing the fireworks thing here. However you celebrate, be safe.

First, a reminder that today is the last day to take advantage of my Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale. Second, there's a new summer sale at Smashwords and WHAT'S IN A NAME? is on special for 25% off. Check the Deals & Steals tab.

My reading pile has taken a shift in genre recently. I tend to stick to mystery or romantic suspense. The majority of my variations come from giveaways or because I'm judging a contest.

At my last RWA chapter meeting, I won a drawing and had a choice of two books as my prize. My tastes in reading seem to be reasonably well known, because one member of the group called out, "You took the Pioneer one?" I pointed out that the second offering was FINDING SARAH, which I just happened to be one I'd written, so there wasn't really any question about which book I'd choose.