What Makes A Book A Favourite? | Discussion Thursday

What Makes A Book A Favourite?

Hello bookworms and welcome back. It’s Thursday and you know that recently, I’ve paved the path to introducing this weekly feature in which every Thursday, I discuss a topic – bookish or otherwise. I am open to suggestions of topics to discuss, so please feel free to give me some ideas in the comments. 

Now, back to the topic of discussion. What makes a book a favourite? Like honestly, what? We make lists of our favourite books of the year, or our top favourite books of all time, but how exactly do we distinguish these books as favourites? Let’s discuss…

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I put quite a few books labelled as ‘favourites’ and there are many of which I added to the list of favourites that I just only read this year. This includes: The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey, The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas and quite a few more that honestly, I cannot pull out from the top of my head at the moment. But you get the gist of it, and I’m sure many of you may be nodding your head thinking yep, those are on my favourites list too! But let me ask you… how do you know these are your favourite books exactly? What makes them so different from every other book you’ve read?

I can think of many reasons for my distinction of these books and others as favourites. Of course, if I’ve given it a 5 stars, they are a favourite. I guess, the things that make a book a favourite come from very similar things to a book review. We look for certain elements that we want to be written well in a story. We want great, engaging characters that are interesting and always entertaining to read about. We want gripping, exciting and well thought out plots that will keep us on our toes, or will keep us from ever wanting to put the book down until it’s finished. We want beautiful, capturing writing styles that will leave us feeling a little breathless by it’s cohesiveness and flow.

At least, that’s what I look for.

For a book to be a favourite, it’s gotta meet the expectations in all areas and elements. For me personally, the make or break it for me is the characters. If your book can’t get me to engage with the characters or feel true emotions towards them, you might as well just take the book back because I most likely will not like it. The plot comes next. I need to be pulled in. I want to genuinely be involved in whatever is going on in the story, I want to feel as if I need to read on. And when books make me feel this way, there’s a guarantee of it becoming a favourite. Writing style? It always helps when the writing is cohesive, flows well and is even beautifully crafted. Bonus points for writing style.

But also there’s another question that plays upon my mind when it comes to making a book a ‘favourite’. How can we possibly label different genre-type books as favourites, all in the same category? They all have certain elements within the aspects of characters, plot and writing style that equate to it being a great book for their specific genre. So what is it that makes it so that we can put books of different genre’s all into the same category?

I’ll tell you what. When a book gives you true and genuine feelings that leave you wanting more, or leave you absolutely exhilarated and amazed. When a book can leave an imprint on your mind. When a book lingers in your mind long after you’ve read it and moved on to pick up another. Books of any genre can make you feel this way if it’s to be a potential favourite. Don’t tell me you haven’t felt this way with a book. Don’t deny it!

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That is all for this week’s topic of discussion. Please discuss with me, as this is what this post is all about!

What kind of things makes a book a favourite to you?

Do you agree with the things I said? What’s the most important thing that determines a book being on your ‘favourites’ list?

~ josiethebookworm xoxo