I AM reading

First of all, thank you very much for the good wishes – I’m sure Liz and I will cheer each other on tomorrow at the Festival of Romance Awards, and we’ll post pics afterwards whatever happens!

Autumn - great time for reading!

Now on Monday Anna was saying “I wanna read!”, whereas at the moment I can definitely say “I AM reading!”  And how!  In the last week alone, I read six books, (although some of them were fairly short).  Autumn is a great time to curl up with a book, but the reason for me is not that I’ve gone on an autumnal reading "bender" (if there is such a thing) or taken time out.  It’s just that I help organise a literary award and this time of year the long list is more or less finalised.  And as the organiser, I sometimes have to talk about the award and the books that end up on the shortlist.  Which means – I have to read them so I know what I’m talking about.  Good excuse, right?

It is in no way a hardship reading these particular books as they’re all romance and, having ended up on the long list, great stories.  But it’s made me think about WHY these particular books have done better than the other entries.  What is it about them that gives them page turning quality; what keeps the reader hooked?

There are all the usual reasons of course - first of all (and most obvious), there has to be a great love story, one that stays in your mind long after you finish reading.  The chemistry between the hero and heroine has to be amazing throughout, even if they themselves don’t notice it to begin with perhaps (or they try not to).  The dialogue has to be just right – a sassy heroine and a hero with a sense of humour is always good and makes for some interesting conversations.  And the conflict between them must be believable.  In some cases it’s the fact that the story is unusual which makes it stand out, or if it’s not, the plot has been given a new twist and made to feel original.  The writing has to be just right too – fast moving and entertaining in an effortless way.

All this makes for a great story potentially.

But ... we’re all different and what we look for in a novel may vary wildly, as the readers for the award demonstrate every year.  What one person finds wonderful, another says is utter rubbish.  Thankfully, each book gets read several times and the ones where all the readers agree come out on top.  Those are the ones I’m reading at the moment.  

For me, personally, the thing that always makes or breaks a book is the hero.  If I don’t fall in love with the hero, the story is doomed.  I don’t really care what he looks like (although hotties are always welcome of course :) ), but he has to be charismatic.  He has to charm me (and the heroine) in every way.  Then, and only then, will I consider the book a winner or keeper for my shelf.

What makes a book a keeper for you?

Please come back on Sunday/Monday to hear from Liz – she might have photos from the Festival of Romance!

Choices

We're having a clear-out. We have a roomy, if crumbling, three-bedroomed home, and just the two of us have rather spread out to fill the available space. We need to clear out, tidy up, redecorate in places.

But what we really need to reduce is..... I'm sorry folks, but it's the number of books we have. We have books in nearly every room, and the two landings are groaning with them. It's almost at the stage where you have to shuffle sideways to pass by. We don't have shelf space for them all. We very nearly don't have FLOOR space for them all...

I'm not usually a book-discarder. I'm more of a book hoarder. I remember in my teens being horrified when my parents went through a similar process. "How can you give this away?! It's a BOOK!" But it's okay, we're making space for good reasons, so I can reconcile this with my bibliophile soul....

(eBooks is a whole other story, but there's a difference between the books I want to share my phone with, and the books I want to share my home with.)

But the trouble is how to choose. What actually makes a keeper? Must I keep this signed copy, even though my reading tastes have changed and I'm never likely to read their work again? Do I keep this book, because I sent friends running to buy it when I was signing my first book at the RWA mass literacy autographing? Do I keep this book, even though I don't much like it, because I love this particular author?

As a reader and a writer with a lot of writer friends, the lines between book-that-is-a-story and book-that-is-the-book-of-my-friend become very blurred, and influence the decision-making of decluttering a lot.

Some choices are easy. Close friends' books (which currently fill two shelves, hooray!) are no-brainers. There are some authors (but VERY few, as it turns out) that I will keep all their books because they are ALL magnificently good. Other authors where a particular series really caught me, and will continue to be re-read. The Mary Stewarts, the D L Sayers, the Terry Pratchetts... those collections stay in their entirity, of course, including duplicates (because you never know when a book might get damaged!) There's one four-shelf collection of the 'complete works of' which I'm slightly embarassed about, but I'll keep because they're great comforters, I read them a lot when I'm not feeling well, and, well, I like them. So there.

While mining my book collection, I've found large seams of books that I haven't read in years, that I wouldn't really choose to read any more, but that have fond associations with places or people. But they are people I'm never likely to meet or talk to again, and places I may never go again. They belong to another "me". So, although it feels a little bit like I'm giving away a part of myself, they've got to go. I'll keep a few, just as reminders, but I can't make space for a book in my home just because it has a whisp of fond memory attached.

So. Keepers, then, it turns out, are the books of close friends, books I will read again many times, and a few, a treasured few, that fly the flag for past times.

What are keepers to you? How do you choose what to keep, and what to pass on?