Okay, or The Best?

 

Terry here with our question of the week:

Not every book can be a stone cold classic. Do you seek out only the 5-star reads or is a book just as enjoyable if it is a 3-star read? Not an all-timer, but enjoyable nonetheless. Where’s the line for recommending a book to someone else? 

 There are authors whose books I always buy. Mick Herron. Rhys Bowen. Eric Beetner. Anne Moose. Lou Berney. Thomas Perry. Tracy Clark. Among others. For me, they usually provide what I think of as a top-notch read. Occasionally there will be one that I think, “meh.” But with most of my favorite writers, “meh” is still better than the usual. 

 Seeking out a book to read mostly depends on my mood. I have a huge to-be-read pile, and it displays a wide range of reading, from cozies a la Ellen Byron to the police procedurals of Tracy Clark, to the dark vision of Jo Nesbo. You’ll find both known writers and unknowns. Some of them I’ve bought when I attended a book event and thought the book sounded like a good read. Some of them I have gotten in book bags at conferences. Usually I’ll read a few pages of those before deciding whether I want to lug them home. 

 Sometimes I hear about a book that everyone reads and I’m compelled to read it. That’s how I knew about William Kent Krueger’s Ordinary Grace, probably one of the best books of the last twenty years. It won every award that year. Every year I try to read every Edgar nomination in the Best Novel, Best First, and Best Paperback categories. One year every single one of the Best Novels was astonishing. Any one of them could have won in another year. But sometimes I wonder what the award panels were thinking. 

 There are those rare times when a zillion selling “must read,” falls flat for me. I can think of more than one that I said, “What? Why would anyone rave about this?” I belong to a book club that reads mostly non-mysteries. And it’s amazing the number of times all of us have wondered why a book we read got mega hype. 

Occasionally when I want something to read, I play a game. I’ll pluck ten books from my TBR pile without regard to subject, genre or author, and read the first ten pages of each. Then, I’ll chose to read the one that draws me in.  I often don't get to all ten because I start reading  and am immediately caught up by one. That's how I sometimes read what others may think of as less than stellar, and yet still enjoy them.

I have read many books that in my notes about it I said some variation of, “Writing okay, plot pretty good, liked the characters and the voice. An enjoyable read.” So, it doesn’t have to be the best of the best for me to enjoy it. 

 Notice in all this I didn’t use the term 5-star. That’s because I don’t pay attention to the ratings. If it sounds like an interesting subject, I’ll read a few pages to see if the writing suits me. By that I don’t mean that I want to know if it’s the best writing I’ve ever read. I just want to know if the characters seem interesting, and if the writing is competent. I also notice something else, more indefinable---does the writer write in a rhythm that works for me. There are some books that seem tedious to me to read because the writer’s style doesn’t resonate. For some reason, the great Stephen King is not an author I enjoy reading. Believe me, I understand why people love his plots, but his books don’t resonate with me. It’s sort of like when I was a kid and we played jump rope. I was perfectly competent at the “forward” part. But I could never happily jump in if the rope was being swung backwards. Different rhythm.

 I love to recommend books. I like to do author signings at book festivals because people stop by to say hello and I enjoy talking to them about the books they love. I read widely, so even if they don’t like what I write, I have fun finding out what they do read, and why they like those books. If they ask for recommendations, I’m ready. Sometimes, it even works in my favor. I once had a long conversation with a man who reads only sci-fi. We kicked around a lot of books we had read in common, and I recommended some I thought he might enjoy. He was about to walk away and suddenly he turned back and said, “You know, my mom reads mysteries. I’ll buy one of yours. I’ll bet she’ll like it.” 

 Before I recommend a book, I usually want to know what a person likes to read. I  won’t tell a cozy reader to read Hugh Howey’s Wool. Nor would I tell an avid sci-fan to dip into Anne Moose's novels. If someone tells me they like short books, I probably won’t recommend Mick Herron. In recommending books, I’ll always be honest, though. I recently starting reading a book by an author whose books I’ve always loved. The latest fell flat, even though everyone I know who has read it raved about it. So maybe it was me. But I’m not going to recommend it. On the other hand, I sometimes read an unknown author whose books I find really enjoyable. So I’ll recommend those. It’s always nice to give other authors a boost.

 I have a few recommendations for your reading enjoyment:

James Ziskin just came out with a zinger of a book, The Prank. It's a great read.

Eric Beetner just wound up his Carter McCoy trilogy with A Wound That Will Not Heal. I love this series.

If you are a sci-fan who enjoys apocalytic novels, I highly recommend 51%, Matt Witten's latest novel.

And last, I just finished reading Rhys Bowen's latest standalone, The Castle in the Glen. As always, an engrossing read by one of our finest storytellers.