What Defines a Good Read for You?

Now this is a leading question, is it not?

What defines a good read for me is whether or not the book or story grips me enough to make me keep on reading to the end of it.

I have abandoned a few stories and books which failed that basic test but am glad to say I can count the number of those on the fingers of one hand.

Life is too short (and there are so many excellent things to read) I’m not going to waste time on what I consider to be “duds”.

Of course tastes are different but a good rule of thumb for me is if I don’t care about the character, the reading stops. I have got to be able to see where the character is coming from, whether I agree with them or not. There has to be sufficiently high stakes for the character to make me want to find out the outcome.

And all of this is a challenge to me to make sure I produce those kinds of stakes, those kinds of characters, my readers will want to find out more about.

Mind you, even “dud” books have had their uses. They have shown me what I don’t like. Therefore, I make sure I don’t produce those kinds of things myself.

But on to good books. Nothing beats a good read, curled up, with a nice drink besides you, does it?