What Do You Look For in a Book?

As any keen reader will know, far more than other mediums such as film or TV, books are a highly personal, subjective thing. Why does your best friend love a book, and you think it is a worthless piece of trash? How can one of you get it so wrong? The answer is of course that they don’t. Yes, some books can objectively be said to bad, according to some easily defined measure – most readers can agree that anything with lots of spelling mistakes, poor grammar, contradictory plotlines and other mistakes is not a good book. But beyond that? I think it is impossible to say. You often see this with fans of literary fiction who bash genre fiction such as crime/thrillers or SF & Fantasy. But you also see it the other way round too with fans of genre fiction saying how terrible literary fiction is (I know, I used to be one of them).

So what makes one person rate a book so differently from someone else? I think the answer is that they are looking for different things in a book. Most readers don’t actively think much about what they are looking for in a book but it can be worthwhile considering this. It can help you make better choices about what books to read, and get more enjoyment out of reading. Here are just a few things people look for in a book and reasons why they read.

Escapism – This is where you are looking for books to take you away from your life for a time while you are reading, to forget the cares, worries and stresses of modern life. It is a very common thing to look for in a book. Fantasy and science fiction or historical fiction are popular escapist books, but most genres can be escapist too.

Visit new places – Most people experience a wanderlust, the urge to travel to see new places, at some point in their lives. Few people have the time, money or sometimes the ability to visit all the places they want to. Books allow you to cheaply and easily visit new places, and you don’t need to take two weeks off work to do it! Travelogues are obviously good for this, but so are novels.

Get New Experiences – This is a little bit similar to visiting new places. Books can allow you to experience so many new things – climb Mount Everest, dive into the deepest ocean, sail around the world, live alone in the woods – all from the comfort of your armchair. Books can also give you experience of growing up in a different country, doing a different job, even being an animal!

Empathy and understanding – reading books can help you better understand your fellow human beings, appreciate their drives and motivations. Literary and character driven fiction is best at this. It can even help you get on better with other people.

Indulge in Personal Fantasies – People can look to books to act out their personal fantasies, to do things they could never or would never do in real life. Take revenge on people who have slighted you, have passionate love affairs with billionaires, movie stars etc. With books, the world really is your oyster.

Adrenaline Rush – Many people like the gripping plots, the edge of the seat action, the compulsion to keep reading. This is most common in thrillers and adventure novels, but can be in any type of book.

To relax – If you are anything like me, to relax with a good book is one of the great pleasures in life. Reading can be one of the most relaxing of activities, and many people read to relax at the end of the busy day before going to sleep.

Beautiful writing – Some books seem to rise above the rest, their authors showing a such a mastery of language that it is a joy to read them for the sheer joy of the words on the page, irrespective of plot or characters. When beautiful writing is linked to wonderful characters and a great story, you have something really special.

To learn new things – Many books are read simply for the information in them, because the reader needs the knowledge they contain, but even more than that many people read not because they have to, but for the joy of learning new things and acquiring knowledge.

To help yourself – Self help books are very popular, as people try to improve themselves – mindfulness, dieting, getting on at work, finding happiness, the list is endless. Beyond that though, by reading the right kind of novels people can find help, and therapy through reading is starting to even be prescribed by doctors!

To be challenged – Perhaps you want to pit your wits against the author, solve a mystery or a puzzle. This is particularly common with crime novels and the mystery genre.

These are just some of things people look for in books, and a few of the reasons why people read. There are many more. Next time you are choosing what to read, think about what you want from your next book. It will help you choose a great book, perfect for you right then.

What do you look for in a book? Let us know in the comments.

Getting Back into Reading

I'm always interested in asking people about books and reading. Do you like reading? What are you reading? How books do you read in a year? What can I say, I'm bookishly curious. A large proportion of the people I come across don't read much. Out of those, some never read, but a common story is that they loved reading as a child, and then at some point probably in their teens, they stopped reading. Now there's nothing wrong with that, growing up is a fun and challenging time, but in many cases they never go back to reading. It would be interesting to see if this pattern existed in the past, or if it is because of computer games, the internet, Netflix and all the other distractions of modern life. The result though is the same. Other people used to be really keen readers and then 'burned out' and don't enjoy it any more.

This would all be fine, I think everyone should do what makes them happy, but I think a lot of people would like to read more, and a lot more people would enjoy reading if they gave it a good go. Reading is a really rewarding experience, but sometimes you just have to work at it. Here are a few suggestions for how to get back into reading and enjoy it.

Make time to read - I'm starting off with possibly my most important suggestion. You've got to make time to read, without distractions if you can. I love reading and I generally read every day, but it is so easy to just have an extra few minutes on the internet, watching tv, or some other distraction. I still have to make the conscious decision to pull myself away from those distractions and saying I'm going to read now for 15 minutes or half an hour. It's harder when I'm not in the middle of a book. I always enjoy it though, and usually a lot more than whatever else I could be doing.

Read regularly - You should read regularly, every day if possible, to maintain your interest in a book. For every day that goes by without reading your book, you forget a little bit and lose interest in the book. Obviously the more infrequently you read, the longer it takes to read a book which in itself will make you fed up with it.

Choose the right book for you - A lot of people that have lost interest in reading or think they don't enjoy reading are probably reading the wrong type of book for them. If you don't read much or haven't read for a long time, then you shouldn't start off reading Dickens or Tolstoy. People that don't read much probably aren't that aware of what books are out there, and when they do read they read a book that someone else told them "you should really read this book", when that isn't necessarily the best thing for you. There's a perception some people have that if you are reading you *should* be reading classics or literary fiction. If you try these and find them difficult or boring, it's easy to think you just don't enjoy reading. Instead, you should perhaps be trying a fast paced crime or thriller, a young adult book, chick lit or even a graphic novel, whatever takes your fancy.

Life's too short for bad books - by that I mean books you aren't enjoying. Don't feel you have to finish every book you read. Give it more than a couple of pages - my rule of thumb is read the first 10%, or maybe a bit more if it is a short book - as a lot of books take a bit of getting into, but after the first couple of chapters if you aren't enjoying it, give up and try something else. If you don't you'll just get bogged down for weeks or months and get fed up with reading generally. Even if you find yourself halfway through and suddenly find you aren't enjoying it anymore, don't persevere, give it up. Some people have the idea that they're invested too much time in it not to finish, but why? That's dead time you can't do anything about, but you can stop yourself having to put up with any more.

Be Mindful - Mindfulness is something of a buzzword these days, the idea is if you concentrate all your attention on what you are doing at that moment, you will get more out of it, find it more useful, enjoy it more. This is true in all sorts of activities, including reading. Try and clear your mind of anything else as you read, fully immerse yourself in the story, try not to let your mind wander. You'll enjoy the reading experience much more because of it.

Don't Force It, Take a Break - Sometimes life is really busy and stressful. Reading can help that in many cases, providing an escape and a comfort, but not all the time. Don't stress yourself out feeling you've got to read. If you've tried everything else, but you are still not enjoying it then stop for a while. Give yourself a break, and come back in a few weeks or months when things have calmed down. This is also a good idea if you've been reading a lot, perhaps for studying, and are fed up with it. Give it a rest, try again at a later date.

I hope some of these suggestions are useful. Have you got any other ideas for how to get back into reading or how to enjoy it more? If so, post them in the comments below and share with everyone!