I am a bookseller. To keep on top of my form I need to read a wide variety of different types of books to ensure that the recommendations I make are suitable. As you may imagine, it is impossible to read every book by every author.
My solution is to read one book by as many authors that appeal to me in the genres I enjoy. Since there are few genres I don’t enjoy - this still leaves me with a huge reading list, especially since my reading is not confined to fiction.
There are some exceptions to this rule. They are few, but there are occasional authors that genuinely push my buttons - that speak to me in such a way that I seek them out as I would the one friend you know at a crowded party. I will buy, rather than borrow what they write, I will keep most of their novels and I may even reread what they write from start to finish, simply because I want to.
As I said, this is rare and I freely admit that although the authors I like may be high selling authors, they are not always bestselling authors - not to everyone’s taste. They contain usually a high degree of character self examination and philosophising. Their characters are often moody, melancholy and traumatised, people who have difficult choices to make, who question their own ethics and motivations, who are cynical and brutally honest, who have equal parts angel and devil and who live with guilt.
I also love imagination - which is why fantasy and Science Fiction is my preferred genre. They have little in common in one way; fantasy deriving from the past and Science fiction extrapolating the future - but each deals with “What if…?” scenarios.
What if there was an animal with the body of a lizard, the wings of a bat, the eyes of a fly in the iridescent colour of peacock feathers? What if it breathed fire, lived in a cave in the mountains, could communicate telepathically, hoarded gold and possessed the wisdom of ages having lived for centuries. Where did the dragon come from, able to fly ‘between’ times and spaces and who would dare to ride upon his back and call him friend?
What if one element of history hadn’t happened, if Jesus had never lived, if Hitler had been accepted as an artist. What if we had machines that could fly faster than light through space, that could split our atoms and put them back together in another place. What if we cured disease and no one ever died. What if up was down and night was day and what if we’re not the only planet with intelligent life.
Genre wise, I prefer a little fantasy to a dearth of a reality, reading to escape the mundane, so I prefer the heroic to the common, however well written or imagined it may be if it has primary characters that I would hate to know or have to spend a lot of time with. Horror elements are things I tolerate rather than enjoy.
Patterns please me. The complex weaving of a story is an intricate skill involving many threads and where they start and end should all be neatly tied off or cut rather than raggedly freying away.
Rich and bitchy rarely appeals to me, extreme forensic detail I skim over, torture, fighting, chases - all plot elements that hurl me through the book at lightning pace are good but not what pleases or satisfies or touches my emotions. High tech equipment blinds me with science, war is too heartrendingly tragic, romance too contrived and predictable and action thrillers make me too jumpy.
Having said that, all of the above in small doses - in a story about a person or people that I like and identify with is - part of the story. Its just when a genre concentrates on its elements at the expence of its characters that I find it tedious.
So now you know what I like and dislike and are therefore forwarned about novels that I review. If you find a resonance in these thoughts you may enjoy my recommendations. Oh yeah, and if its bad - I don’t bother - life’s short.
Author JA Francis
Not Rated.