Divination

What makes people choose their next reading materials? Some go strictly by genre - adventure, romance, Young Adult; others choose only certain authors or read only on a specific subject (for example, I used to read anything I could get my hands on about the Tudors: "diaries," nonfiction, rambling fantastical novels). But are their favorite books all in the same category?


Stop right now and think about a few of your favorite books - two, three, five, I don't care. The books that you could read over and over for the rest of your life without so much as glancing at any others. I'd probably list mine as Love in the Time of Cholera, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and The God of Small Things. What on earth do those three have in common? There's not much to go on: they all were originally written in different languages (Spanish, French, and English, respectively), all concern different places, all are set in different time periods, all are narrated in distinctly different styles. The only similarity I can grasp is their common label of "fiction." Given these obvious differences, what is it that draws me so often to these three books?

In my case, it's the authors' style. The writing is smooth and rhythmic but never repetitive; García Márquez, Barbery, and Roy know just how to manipulate the cadence of their words so that they hold me captive. Márquez especially has the golden touch, as evidenced by his myriad other works. Of course, this would hardly be enough to capture the attention of a toddler - all these authors have a wry but often subtle sense of humor as well, and their characters are so well-written that virtually anyone could see a glimmer of themselves in the eyes of Fermina Daza or Renée or Estha and Rahel. Their themes are various but too easily simplified; as García Márquez once said in an interview, "You have to be careful not to fall into my trap."

What is it about your favorites that makes them so extraordinary?