Walkin' the Talk

Aside from the synopsis, and the title, and perhaps a snazzy book cover and a few name dropping reviews, all extras known to draw readers to a book, there are several condiments inside a book that appeal to me most. I mean, what’s the use of an eye-catching book without the rest of the stuff?

Humor is the forerunner. Please tell me you’re playing on solid ground…that being you can laugh at yourself as well as you can note the ironies in life.

Word Play. I absolutely love it when authors repeatedly and repetitively mishandle whole phrases. Ex: “I ran up that hill like a Copperhead puts on a mink coat.” Silly stuff. Stuff that doesn’t make sense, but makes sense.

Winners. These books I eat up. It’s understandable that life doesn’t hand any of us a silver screen to look through, sometimes shielding some of us from seeing the offsets in life from both ends, but please toss me a few pearls to let me know you at least have one good arm to throw with. Strong characters/narrators are my weakness.

Have to admit…shameful as it is…but I like sarcasm too…to a point & this depends…ugh…on my mood. Because sarcasm is often so one-sided, all against the antagonist who’s rarely given the equal play to put up an adequate defense, it’s easy to tire of sarcasm whiplash. Not unless the sarcasm can be turned around, where it then becomes humor, can I appreciate it more.

And I also must admit, though not as shamefully, I love racy hot steamy...in this case provided there is a healthy story. A healthy story for me, (other than my own), is one where the characters are intelligent and classy. A novel that comes right to mind is, Trouble by Ann Christopher. Though it wasn’t a terribly racy or hot novel, there was quite a bit of steam carrying on, and it certainly was my kind of intelligent and classy.