Great Books

The activities director at my retirement community noticed on a service to which she subscribes to give ideas for each month that October includes Great Books Week. She has scheduled an activity in the library for Wednesday afternoon. She has printed a crossword puzzle game related to the theme and the participants will be making book marks. I am to gather up any books on the list she gave me for display purposes. We have less than 3% of the books; I personally have read about 5% and many of those in high school and college literature classes. The list came from Good Reads. It doesn’t spell out the criteria thoroughly but mentions that it tried to be cultural, era, and language inclusive. That sounds good, but some of the titles aren’t even transliterated into the Roman alphabet but left in Arabic, Persian, and something I can’t even identify. Obviously, my Midwestern library users probably haven’t read those.

 

I would make a distinction between great books and good books. I think great books can only be recognized over time and usually by experts in the field of literature. It is still subjective of course. Good books, however, are more personally identified, depending on an individual’s criteria. What I consider a good book may not appeal to another reader at all.

 

Writing style and skill play a part in both categories I suspect. However, some rather poorly written books do get designated as “great books”. An example would be  Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It’s “greatness” comes more from its impact and influence on society in attitudes about slavery. I think besides social impact, staying power thru generations of readers, most great books touch upon universal truths about the human condition or perfectly represent an era. Besides the Great Books list from Good Reads, I am going to throw into the display a list of “best or favorite books” gathered from librarians by Brodart, a library supplies vendor. I don’t see the list on their site anymore, but here is another spot that shows the list: Favorite Novels of Librarians It is a bit dated, having been compiled in 1999. It also limited itself to 100 titles. Our library has about 25% of these books. They are all English language books. I find it interesting that on both of these lists which are ranked in order, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice sits in the number one spot.

 

Since I have ruled myself out as being qualified to decide what is a great book, I don’t have any criteria re great books, other than I think the test of time should be part of the process. I will, however, share some of what makes a book good for me. Writing quality, character development, plot do count. I want the author to draw me into the story quickly, sustain my interest, and make me care about the characters and how they will fare.

 

Genre and subject matter do influence what I read. When in library school, we had an assignment to sample books in various genre. With a few exceptions such as Ray Bradbury, I never connected with science fiction characters. Maybe there was too much emphasis on technology and alien worlds for me. I enjoy mysteries and suspense, but I don’t want the outcome to be obvious. I gave up on Mary Higgins Clark; though she is a skillful story teller, I almost always guessed the perpetrator/cause of the “mystery” long before it was revealed.

 

I don’t consider myself a widely-read individual. Books with gore, demonology, gratuitous violence, vampires, graphic sex don’t even get the cover opened. I gave up on Patricia Cornwell as her books became more extreme and bizarre. When she moved from Scarpetta to a policewoman as her main character, the excessive vulgar language became a deal breaker. I will overlook bad language if the book is riveting enough. I read Grisham, for example, and he is no Puritan re language.

Now that I read digital books, I find a lot of mediocrity in writing skill and character development. Poor editing and proof-reading are rampant in ebooks as well. A good sounding plot falls flat. I do try new styles occasionally such as a steam-punk novel which I found to be pretty good. Being frugal, I have downloaded a lot of free books that once started don’t always get finished. I buy print books at library book sales for a dollar or two and will take a risk on unknown authors, but if I had paid $10, $20, or more I would have regretted it. 

 

I have been astonished at people who have told me they never read fiction. I am pretty eclectic as I enjoy biographies, memoirs, nature stories, historical books, and other non-fiction as well as romances, historical fiction, mysteries, fantasy, sometimes Westerns. I have grown tired of bonnet books (Amish fiction) this past year. I read several to get an idea of what my library users were reading, but very few sustain my interest. I find the story lines too similar. These days there are very few books on the best sellers lists that tempt me. I do read reviews in magazines and newspapers. My husband is more industrious in seeking out books of interest. I admire people who have the drive and passion to seek out good books for themselves.

What kinds of books interest you? What makes you think them good?