What makes a good book?

21st January 2020

Interesting question. And is there even an answer? Or is it totally personal?

If I were to ask my university professors that question, I’d get the reply of Tomas Mann’s Death in Venice, Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest and Norbert Ellias’ Process of Civilisation (arguably not a book at all). None of which I liked, nor read even when forced, nor will ever read.

So the next couple of points are just my personal opinion, a few ideas of what I think make a good book and why Death in Venice doesn’t come in to it (it’s not even well set in Venice).

At a party last weekend, my best friend said that Steppenwolf was one of her favourite books she’s ever read. Aghast and a bit bewildered I asked her why. And she replied that it was one of the first books she’s read where she wanted to write things down and think about them afterwards. Not with anything that Herman Hesse has ever written, but that is something I can completely relate too. I have a whole notebook of quotes I love from many books that I’ve kept for many years. The first is one from The Beach, and the most current from the Librarian of Auschwitz. When something is so beautifully written, you have to put the book down, find a pen and take note of it, for me that automatically makes for a great book – as long as the rest isn’t bad and there is only one nice sentence. A book so powerful you think about it even when it’s long finished is an amazing thing.

Which leads me onto my next point. Books I read years and years ago that I would still say are in my top 10. And it takes a lot to nudge them off. Incidentally The Beach is in there (probably because it was the first book I thought about) as is Winter in Madrid, Shantaram, Chocolat, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and a new comer of Leopard at the Door. All books that I read a long time ago and still remember the title (which is quite impressive as so often I remember what happens and a vague character but not the name nor who wrote it). They are books that in one way or another have made an impression on me, which I think is an aim of any good book and therefore lets them qualify.

And of course, for a book to be good it actually has to be well written. Perhaps be a little unique in the way the story is told, have an unusual main character or a great twist right at the end. It also has to evoke some sort of emotion within me and, naturally, be set somewhere amazing. No big surprise, but the location of a book is so important to me. Memoirs of a Geisha had me searching the streets of Kyoto, The Tea Planter’s Wife always wanting to go Sri Lanka and Shantaram making me take my friend (the Steppenwolf lover) to Leopold Café in Mumbai. Location is such an important element that it doesn’t make a good book bad without one, but it makes a good book great with an amazing one.

What’s your favourite book and why? Comment below to let us know!

Charlotte for the TripFiction team

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