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What Do You Look For In A Book?

post #1 of 14
Thread Starter 
I like a book that's a fast read. I like it to grab me on the first page and take me on a whirlwind trip through time and space. I like a book that when it spits you out pages later, your world is changed. I like a book with likeable female characters. I like a book with funny sidekicks.

What about you?
post #2 of 14
Then you should be reading more Larry McMurtry.

My only requirement for a book is the same requirements I have for music and films: DO NOT BORE ME.

I don't care about length of the book,amount of action, lots of sex......
just entertain me. I hate being bored by a book. I hate when reading is a chore. I did enough of that stuff with school texts. I just want to be entertained.
post #3 of 14
words and/or pictures.
post #4 of 14
I'll usually read the back to get a sense of the story. If it sounds interesting, I'll read the first page. If you can't grab me right off the bat, you probably won't grab me later on.

When it comes to fantasy novels, I usually look to see if there's a map and check out the names on it, or just skim for names if there's no map. If I see names like "Gord," "Brak," or "Mord," I don't count on there being much imagination inside.
post #5 of 14
I like a book that grabs me by the ball sack and says, "Hay! I'm a damn good book!"

Seriously, a good book has to be damn entertaining and have good character development and some resolution (IE: death or dismemberment).

P.S. The best damn book I ever read was the most borring but really made me feel like the character at the end.

You have to ask me what this book is cause I won't just tell. And you will be suprised. wink
post #6 of 14
What is that book, billy?
post #7 of 14
Quote:
Russell Lucas:
Quote:
billylove w/removable pants:
).

P.S. The best damn book I ever read was the most borring but really made me feel like the character at the end.

wink
It's obviously the timeless classic Pat the Bunny, where the last page is a mirror.
Close. lol

It was Moby Dick. For the most part the book was very lagging, but towards the end Captain Ahab confesses his intentions and his fate to the reader. After I read that section I felt really depressed. There was just something about those words that put daggers into my very soul.
post #8 of 14
Fucking.
post #9 of 14
Hence the Henry Miller love.

Gorgeous sig. I love that coach.
post #10 of 14
Miller is a big fave. It's more than fucking, but the fucking is the proverbial icing on the cake.
post #11 of 14
A good book has to teach me something about life, and also show me how far my imagination will go.
post #12 of 14
Like others here, I HATE to be bored by a book. I like to be entertained by what I'm reading not frustrated or put to sleep.
The size of a novel doesn't matter, but I like what I'm reading to hold my interest & keep me turning the pages. They don't have to have a blistering pace, they just have to have some forward momentum.
And I really prefer a main charecter that I can identify with. I've read plenty of books in which the protagonist has saved the whole damn book.

-Jim
post #13 of 14
Quote:
samhain61:
And I really prefer a main charecter that I can identify with. I've read plenty of books in which the protagonist has saved the whole damn book.
Hey, if it wasn't for Patrick Bateman I wouldn't have made it halfway through American Psycho.
post #14 of 14
Whether or not it made the New York Times best-seller list.

Actually, I don't look for anything. The books I purchase are usually referred(positively) to in other books, reviews, conversation, and so on. I just read.
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