Rate A Story

     You’ve just finished reading a novel and you loved it. Marvelous doesn’t begin to express how good this story is. So, if you were going to recommend it to a friend, what would you say? How would you rate it? Would you give it five stars? Or five roses?

      I rate the stories I read a little differently. There are no teacups (with five being the best). There are sighs. If a story has made me sigh while reading, it’s worth its weight in gold. There are no pairs of lips….there are chuckles. A book that makes me laugh out loud is definitely worth my time (and yours). There are no lightening bolts, but there are tears.

     A book that makes me cry is a book I’ll read over and over again. Cathy Cash Spellman’s Paint the Wind comes to mind. I’ve read this novel probably ten times (or more…I’ve lost count) and yet, I still cry in the same place EVERY time….even though I know the scene is coming up, even though I’ve cried over it before. Heck, I’ll head for the box of tissues long before I hit that chapter because I know I’ll end up in tears anyway and I might as well have that tissue handy. Believe it or not, this is a GOOD thing…but I digress so let me finish my rating system.

     For the occasional spooky thriller, there are shivers and lastly, there are gasps. Yes. I wrote gasps….because there are stories out there that have made me suck in my breath and whisper “Oh my!” while my heart pounded in my chest. Sometimes I’ll be laughing at the same time. Or crying.

            So, how do you rate the stories you read? Roses? Daisies? Or do you just hand the book to a friend and say, “You gotta read this!”

    
As always, happy reading!

Marie

My Favorite Book?

Someone asked me not long ago to name my favorite book….and I stood there, like a deer in the headlights, stunned, shocked and unresponsive, for like twenty minutes, while I opened and closed my mouth several times and uttered “Ummmm.”

                 

Now, I’m going to digress for a moment so please bear with me. Stephen King, in his book Dream Catcher, compared the brain/mind of one of his characters with a large, dusty, kinda/sorta warehouse/attic filled with boxes and file cabinets of memories. I have taken this concept (because I loved it) and now have neat rows (in my brain) of memories in file cabinets with the drawers labeled so I pulled open the drawer titled books and….well, there were so many…we’re not talking hundreds, we’re talking thousands…how can I possibly choose?

                

For number of times I’ve read the same book? Well, that’s a toss up between The Kadin by Bertrice Small, Paint the Wind by Cathy Cash Spellman (and don’t I always cry in the same place? Every time?), and The Stand by Stephen King (all of which have been read at least ten times). Reading the same book over and over again, however, does not make it my favorite book. It’s one I love, one I choose to read again, one that I will never give up (except for Paint the Wind, which I loaned to someone and never got back), but not necessarily my favorite.

                

Is it one I’ve recommended to others? Well, I recommend books all the time so that didn’t help with my answer.

               

The poor person who asked me the question will probably never ask me another question again because I could not answer her (and still can’t). How can I? There are just too many to choose from! Can you name yours?

As always, happy reading!

Marie