1. Sherwood Smith says:

    Rather than clutter this space with a long reply, I’ve committed a lesser error in good taste with a link.

    Or, to put it simply, a keeper is a book that reward rereading one’s entire life, each time illuminating new things.

  2. Great article, Sherwood. I’d say you’ve gone on to discuss what makes a great story.

    Becky

  3. John Weaver says:

    Good article, Sherwood.

    John

  4. There are a couple genres I just don’t like: romance, paranormal, and horror (oh – and erotica and GLBTQ, but I guess that’s assumed on this site). I have my reasons. Those genres are simply not my cup of tea. Otherwise, if a book has either a) a good story or b) an excellent world, I’ll read it. Artistic writing. . . mleh. . . not really. Maybe if it’s a short story. But I wouldn’t track down a novel for it’s artistic writing.

    I’ll look for stories with a strong story or world within my favorite genres to read first, and in that way I am playing favorites, but genre is merely the first street, not the guide, of my search.

    Is anything more important to you in selecting the fiction you read than whether or not it’s a good story?

    Whether it’s clean or not. 😛

    So, does anyone else put “excellent world” next to “captivating story” in novel virtues? I very much love world-driven stories, which is probably part of what drew me to the speculative fiction genre.

    • oh – and erotica and GLBTQ, but I guess that’s assumed on this site

      I’d make a case, sometime, that one can’t enjoy those and legitimately glorify God — unlike the others, including horror, paranormal, and (sigh) romance. 😀

      But I’m guessing I wouldn’t need to make that case for this audience. I have noticed, however, that some “Christian” artists love to make excuses for Quasi-Nudity, e.g. erotica, so long as it Shows Things How They Really Are (and is presumably Edgy).

      So apparently some professing Christians need to reconsider or re-learn: that stuff doesn’t help. As one of my pastors said over the weekend: gray areas may exist about modesty, what a man can “handle” without sinning, etc., but no one sees a sex scene (or in this case reads about one) who isn’t thinking wrongly about sex and is therefore dishonoring God — and missing the points of sex in the first place.

  5. Galadriel says:

    Pretty much what Kaci said. I’ll read almost anything clean, but it’s only when options are really limited or brain cells are already dead that I’ll go for Westerns, bonnet books, or teenage angst.

What do you think?