I have two categories for books I consider great: first, books with wonderful stories and characters that I care about and worlds that I want to live in (i.e., Tolkien), and second, books that throw me off balance and make me think in ways I've never thought before and are sometimes even painful to read (Joyce, Lawrence, Faulkner, etc.).
Well, since I am my own blog follower -- and I'm still working out the etiquette for this -- I think a great book, to me, has to be one that keeps me engaged and then changes the way I see the world. (So my answer here is a lot like Em's). I also think that a great book is one that has "legs," that is, enduring qualities that make it last through time, and therefore an ever-changing audience of readers. We can't necessarily tell what books these are going to be: Thomas Hardy's books like Jude the Obscure and Tess of the d'Urbervilles were considered lurid when they were published. So, if the book has legs, it has a long run?
You first.
ReplyDeleteHeinlien, Piper, classics
ReplyDeleteI have two categories for books I consider great: first, books with wonderful stories and characters that I care about and worlds that I want to live in (i.e., Tolkien), and second, books that throw me off balance and make me think in ways I've never thought before and are sometimes even painful to read (Joyce, Lawrence, Faulkner, etc.).
ReplyDeleteWell, since I am my own blog follower -- and I'm still working out the etiquette for this -- I think a great book, to me, has to be one that keeps me engaged and then changes the way I see the world. (So my answer here is a lot like Em's).
ReplyDeleteI also think that a great book is one that has "legs," that is, enduring qualities that make it last through time, and therefore an ever-changing audience of readers. We can't necessarily tell what books these are going to be: Thomas Hardy's books like Jude the Obscure and Tess of the d'Urbervilles were considered lurid when they were published.
So, if the book has legs, it has a long run?