What qualities do you think make a good book?

I prefer sci-fi, action and historical books because most of them have a good story, action and some mystery. The best science fiction novels I've read were written by Issac Asimov. I like he's inteligent and logic style. He presents the action ina great way.

A good book(fiction) must have a good plot. The language must be smooth move with great ease. Now as for capacity to take vocabulary is concerned authors and readers both have their preferences and limitations. Withing the limitations if an author uses langusge very effectively then that will hold the attention of the reader. A classic or an epic will have the attraction even with the passage of time. I can say with certainty that taking Indian Literature, the appeal of Ramayana and Mahabharata has hardly been surpassed by any other book in later years.The one characteristic that makes the characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata come alive is their relevance to our times also. That a plot and character design whose validity is beyond the compass of the time in which the story was laid out is what makes it an all time reading.Homer's Iliad is of this genre. One more thing make a book eternally interesting. Like for instance I read a book called "Mister God this is Anna". I would love to read this book any number of times.Here too the subject dealt with i.e. the simple relations one could have with God is a greatest puller for a person who has belief in God! There are books I would love to read for the way language had been handled there. In good classic writers Oliver Goldsmith, holds my attention.In modern times I like the way Arundhati Roy has handled English in say "The God of small things." To be enthralled by a massive sized book the writer must be extraordinarily captivating. I tried reading Vikram Seth - A suitable boy- twice but couldn't really stick to it. That way I had started Anna Karenina also but may be I didn't really come to grips with it. Otherwise Leo Tolstoy is no ordinary writer. Dr Zhivago is one such book which I had to give up after reading half. I do wnat to complete it.

For me it has to do with style, then with story and finally the characters. There are books that no matter how good the story is or how well the characters are written but because it has a extremely complicated or confusing writing style I don't disappear into the pages. That is important to me, to disappear into a book, I have to get involved in the characters, care about them feel that they belong to me. The story is very important in maintaining a kinship with characters that have to be fleshed out. The pacing in a story is also important, to keep me on the edge of my seat in a mystery novel, laugh at the right time when it's funny(nothing worse then a serious book that you laugh at the plot lines). The thing is that only when everything is well balanced and structured will a truly remarkable book exist.

One of the top rules for me is a good book HAS to have great characters! They have to have good guys you love, and bad guys you love to hate. If a book has really boring, unlikable characters then I'm not going to enjoy it at all. And of course a good book has to have a good story. I think that's just a given :D A good plot or it's not going to be good.

I particularly love excellent characterization in a book. I prefer a well turned story but I have finished a book before in which I really didn't enjoy the story but the characterization was so beautifully presented that I loved the book in the end. I like to feel like I actually know someone new after having read about them. I would prefer that an author be very subtle in their characterization, not paint the character outright but introduce them to us through revelations in the their writing.

Well, to me is necessary a lot of elements. The story, of course, is very important. I think that the book needs to have a good story, that envolves the reader, and keeps you tied on the book. The characters are important too, and i'm sure that everybody has your preferred style, and read something that you really love, makes the lecture more interesting. But I like something more in the books I read: it have to be full of details. I love details, but unfortunately, some books haven't much details, especially the short books, so i try to not read them.