Video Response: What Makes a Perfect Book?

[@karlalikestoread]

I agree that the books that make me go “that was perfect” do that more because they were personally satisfying to read and hit personal sweet spots, rather than because they’re objectively perfect. Except Pride and Prejudice, no one can convince me that it could be improved!

[@crypsid]

I don't think perfection in a book can be measured through the means of critical reading, and that will effectively rule out the circumstance of a "perfect book." I'm not using the old cope of "Oh it's all subjective"; I do believe that there are critical ways to assess a book, even down to the degrees of worth or defect, so that it is possible to distinguish between a good book and a great book, but I think a certain element of subjectivity enters the conversation when you want to prove that a book has *absolutely* no flaws. Another critic will always be able to take issue with something minor that'll prevent any book from being perfect, and so the only haven for perfection is an individual's opinion.

[@HannahsBooks]

I’ve been realizing recently that I don’t instinctively read critically. Instead I tend to read analytically-thinking about what makes a book tick without always thinking specifically about whether it is abstractly “good” or not. I have to concentrate on that kind of evaluation when I’m writing a review. If I were ever to throw around “perfect,” I would probably be thinking more about the reading context: a perfect book for a snowy day, etc.

[@Wilsonn_esquire]

The best book is the one you’re writing now and the perfect book is the one you’ve just finished! Unfortunately, by the time any book hits the shelves, it will be so humiliatingly imperfect as to haunt you for the rest of your natural life! If I like a book enough, I can start to like it /because/ of its flaws. “Oh, he’s going on one of his old tangents about the weather again! This should be delicious!”

[@JanetWertman]

Shogun!!! Well, except for those tiny remnants Clavell left when he moved yabu’s submission….sigh.

[@Jasper-Antonelli]

The novel I've found closest to perfection, or my platonic ideal of a novel, is The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor! It's so brilliant. For nonfiction, Hiroshima by John Hersey might be the perfect, for me.

[@HannahsBooks]

I haven’t read Hiroshima since the 7th grade but still think about that book very frequently. I really must reread it!

[@monaedoyle3631]

In my opinion the perfect book has to have dual points of view, a romance, good banter, spice, humor, angst, a bully or two, redemption of the hero in the story, a hero with flaws and not always a runway model hero and a really really good HEA with an epilogue.

[@kevintowle9665]

Thanks for pointing out my lack of Non-Fiction…I would like to say you are wrong, but once again you are not (ugh). And your take about the non-fiction genre…I feel I must step up in your esteemed cache and read a Non-Fiction in November just for you Steve! Any recommendations for a good NF about Pearl Harbor? As always thanks for playing along. Your take on this topic, especially given your profession brings oodles of experience and insight. Well done good sir, well done!

[@saintdonoghue]

I strongly recommend "At Dawn We Slept"!

[@kevintowle9665]

@@saintdonoghuethank you!!!!

[@saintdonoghue]

@@kevintowle9665 Happy to send you a copy, if you read e-books!

[@kevintowle9665]

@@saintdonoghue thanks Steve. I order a used copy, and several others from your Non Fiction starter video you did several years ago. Ordered five or six NF books, which sounded great. And a Davici book you talked about on a radio show (CPL?) I think it was called…need to get my reading rep up! Thanks for everything, and enjoy your weekend Steve.

[@constancecampbell4610]

Hi. When I heard Steve talking about your preference for fiction, I immediately wanted you to know about the non-fiction work, “Lost in Shangri-La”. It was so well done and the people (characters) were extremely vivid. I loved reading it. Good luck!

[@mindok1572]

The best book I have read so far is Earth Abides, but I can't say it's perfect, even if I can edit out some minor flaws in my imagination.

[@eddybedder2865]

Humans by nature are Flawed therefore things they produce are "Flawed" !!!!

[@chuckmoss7414]

Can a critical reviewer ever find the "perfect book"? A critic, doing the job of criticism, must discuss the good and bad of the product. I am currently reading V, the story of Henry V. I like it, but I am not a critic. I am incapable (without deep dives) of seeing the good and the bad. For me, I watch this channel to find the good and the bad. So, devil in the details, keep on keeping on.