The best kind of books are the ones that keep hold of you, long after you’ve closed the covers. The ones that touch you and keep your mind engaged in the story so that you can’t move on, even once you’ve finished reading it. The ones where you feel lost when you’ve run out of pages because you never want this book to end. These are my favourite kinds of books. I love reading, and I’ve read many wonderful books, but this sort, the best kind, are very rare, very precious, and are exactly the kind of books I want to write.
By that, I don’t mean I want to write the same type of books in the same genres. The last book that grabbed me like this was “Words In Deep Blue” by Cath Crowley, and I don’t even read contemporary romances as a rule. So it’s not that I want to write these exact kinds of books. It’s more about the elements of the story that grab me, the way the author weaves the tale so that, even if it’s not a genre I normally enjoy, I am hooked, breathless until the last page.
These books are filled with love and a passion for something. The best way I can describe “Words In Deep Blue” is as a long song to books. You can feel the authors love of books and bookshops, and the way words touch people’s lives, running through the book. Her characters are passionate about things. In another of her books, “Graffiti Moon”, which I love also, her characters are passionate about glass blowing and street art. There is so much love and passion for these things in the books. Even though I don’t always connect to the things they love, I am hooked by their intense emotions, which resonate with my own loves and passions.
They’re also filled with truths. I don’t read contemporary fiction as a rule, because I don’t connect with the experiences of the characters. I never went to parties and got drunk. I never went to school. I’ve never had a close real life friend circle. I never had a high school boyfriend. These are things that I don’t connect with. But I do connect with the intense desire to find a place in the world. I resonate with the character’s uncertainty about their futures, their wishes to do the right things, and the way they fail, even when they try so hard.
The best books don’t shy away from digging deep into characters and finding what makes them tick, drawing their inner thoughts and fears out onto the page where we can relate to them, even if we are nothing like these characters. I think, deep down inside, our fears and insecurities are very similar. These books echo with human truths.
And that, I think, is why these particular books grab me so hard. “Words In Deep Blue” and “Graffiti Moon” by Cath Crowley, “Tigerfish” by David Metzenthen , “The Blue Castle” by L. M. Montgomery. These are some of my favourite books. Most of them are outside of genres I usually read. But they all have these elements that keep me captive. These are others too, many from my favourite genres. But the most amazing ones to me are the ones that grab me, even when I wouldn’t normally even pick them up. These books ring with truths that tug at your heart. They have a solid foundation on the most relatable elements of life. They’re not afraid to be passionate. They’re not afraid to talk about the hard things. But they reach out to you and show you, instead of hitting you in the face with harsh realities.
These are the sorts of books that I want to write. The sort of books that stick with you because you connect with the truths and the messages they present. The ones where you can see your thoughts and worries and loves on the page before you and you can recognise yourself in the book. They are the ones that stay with you long after you close the cover. They are the ones that are really worth rereading over again when you have a quiet afternoon and you want to sink into something comforting. One day, I hope my books will touch some reader the way I have been touched. Because these books are precious, and these experiences are rare and all the more beautiful for that.
I want to hear from you. What is the last book that was so good you had a hard time coming back to reality after reading it? What is it about these books that grabs you so much do you think? have you ever found a book in a genre that you don’t usually read that just blew you away with how much you loved it? Let’s chat in the comments down below!
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