Does that book make you happy?
A couple of posts ago, I wrote about reading happily, and how to choose a book that was most likely to please you. That was Part One of my meanderings about How to be Happy with Book (click the link if you’d like to refresh your memory about that).
First, a reminder about the things I consider when faced with that delicious choice – which book next:
Clare’s three questions for being happy with a book:
- Do I want to read this book? … cover, genre, look & feel, reputation
- Is the book well written and appropriate to its genre? … writing quality, genre stylistics, expression, editing, production values
- Was this book a success? … thoughts about plotline, characterisation, suspension of disbelief, resolution, afterglow
Today’s post looks at the second list of criteria. That is, does the chosen book deliver what you expected? Let’s look at the writing quality and think about whether the book matches its promise.
Writing Quality Matters
There is no escaping the readerly expectation that books should be well-written and well-edited. We expect nothing less.
Production values
We like the book to look and feel good in our hands or on our screens. I talked about covers last time, and I want to add that I often look again at the cover while I’m reading. Does the cover represent a specific scene? Perhaps it shows me what a character looks like. Maybe it simply sets the mood.
If you don’t refer often to the cover, or you’re not really into visual mood-setting, this may not bother you. But…
When a cover doesn’t match what’s inside in any of those ways, I feel let down.
Writing values
What is it about good writing? To me, it’s a bit like listening to speech. When I was a speech pathologist, I used all sorts of cues and markers to diagnose speech problems. However, most listeners wouldn’t even hear what I was hearing. For example, it’s not until a speaker is less than 96% fluent that ordinary listeners might think they are stuttering.
The same with writing. I have studied the craft, and although there are much better editors than I am, I can spot writing problems – especially in other people’s writing! Not so much in my own… Many readers will be made uncomfortable by ungrammatical writing or too many swear words. They may not be able to pinpoint the problem, but they will say that the book is not well-written, and they will ditch it.
For us writers, getting it right means endless rounds of editing and polishing.
Editing values
Poor layout and frequent typos present another barrier to the enjoyment of a story.
To some extent this is due to the disruption of the publishing industry and the rise of self-publishing. But that’s a long discussion for another day.
If typos and shoddy layout don’t bother you, you’ll be fine with anything. That’s not what I hear or see in the world of books, though.
Let’s just say that too many typos are a big turn off for dedicated readers. Look at the review websites to see the loathing. Hmm.
Genre matching
Sometimes it’s wonderful to be surprised, sometimes not. The example I often use is the Game of Thrones (GOT) fantasy series.
On first reading, you might expect that the story will follow the traditional hero journey of mainstream fantasy. There, good triumphs over evil, after a series of horrendous trials, strange meetings and sad events. Well, the death of Ned Stark at the end of the first GOT book put paid to that expectation. Not to mention the random slaying of baby dire wolves early on. Eek!
Millions of readers were enthralled about the reversal of the typical storyline of the genre, thrilled by the way the story played with fantasy conventions, and excited by loads of extraneous sex and violence that raised the stakes higher and higher. Other readers not so much, because they invested heavily in Ned Stark and felt short-changed.
I’m not going to decree whether meeting or flouting expectations is good or bad. However, if you particularly want a certain type of reading (such as a happily-ending Regency romance), you probably shouldn’t choose one with zombies included.
When to DNF
I try my very best not to choose books that I can’t finish. As I said previously, a DNF is a disappointment for both the reader and the author. I can generally judge whether I’m going to enjoy the book by using all the cues I mentioned in the first post about How to be Happy With a Book, and reading the first page/few pages/chapter.
I am so excited when I realise that YES, this book is going to be fabulous!
I hope you get that feeling often too.
Next time, let’s talk about how to reflect on the book … and a little bit about reviewing.