The Perfect Book

After my last book review, my sister, Martha sent me an email asking what it would take for a book to receive five stars.  I had to think about that for a few minutes.

In my attempt to find a good book, I admit my vision is becoming blurred.  You see, I'm also attempting to write a good book.  In order to become a great writer, a person also has to become a great reader. I've always been interested in a variety of novelists and stories, never sticking to one or two specific genres and authors.  I think you all know by now that those book covers call to me.  Since covers come in an array of shapes, sizes and colors, reading a single genres is never going to happen for me.  Variety is my spice of life.

When a reader becomes a writer, reading takes on a life of its own.  It's not that I no longer enjoy  the pure and simple enjoyment of curling up with a good book, I do.  It's my passion. It's simply that I read with a different eye.   I examine the layout, the sentence structure and the characters with a fine tooth comb.  If I love a scene I'll read it again.  If I don't understand a character's speech pattern, I'll read it until I do.  Let's just say I dissect the story down to its bare bones.

What do I need to find to rate it a perfect five stars?  A story and characters that I can fall in love with, that make me laugh, cry and get angry.  A story that grabs my heart so much that I can't let it go.  A book that finds a permanent place on my bookshelf.  It's not to say that four stars is not a book worth reading.  A four star is a really great and wonderful book.  Three stars means it's really not my taste, a good story just not my cup of tea.  Any book that receives two stars was plain and simple too much of a slog for me.   I don't think I've given anything only one star.  I'm too nice a person.

As a writer I understand all the hard work that goes into writing a novel, even what I consider a bad one.    The books I think are good you might detest.  So don't put too much stock in my rating system.  As hard as I try to give you an unbiased view, it's impossible.  We are all on our own personal quest for the perfect book.  I'll keep reading and reviewing until I find mine. 

I think I'll be able to keep blogging for a very long time indeed.