Whew. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at some of your (excellent) questions.

1: Paperback all the way. Hardcover books are vanity pieces and consumer traps for people who can’t wait to read a new book from their favorite author and are coerced by an archaic system to shell out more bucks for a brick they can’t even fit in their carry-on luggage. Hardcover is bourgeois, paperback is proletarian–in this instance let’s spring for utility, knowing that the marrow of the stuff is the same.

2: There are a few things that separate my books into two piles: “books that I have finished” and “books that I intend to finish on a later date but let’s be honest that will probably never happen.” The first is a sense of mystery, and not in a strictly whodunnit kinda sense. Most–if not all–of my favorite novels have a strong narrative pull, leaving the reader hungrily reading to find out how events will unfold. This can occur in a weighty sort of book (How will Harry defeat Voldemort?) or it can occur in the most mundane setting (What’s going to happen to Mrs. Dalloway?)–the subject matter isn’t so much important as the quality of characters and the overall storytelling skills of the author.

That being said, there are individual elements that make me truly love a book. I think humor is vastly underrated and absolutely essential to all but the most dour and solemn of stories. Any novel that neglects humor is missing one piece of the human experience and can never feel entirely true (that’s true in the converse as well, though it’s rarer to encounter stories with no drama than no humor).

My other favorite element of a novel is dialogue–you can describe all you want, but the true essence of a character and a relationship comes out in the words they speak. Good dialogue covers a multitude of sins.

3: I think the most important thing in a writer’s style is clarity, a virtue I think can be achieved in any number of styles. I think contemporary literary style has certainly swung toward the minimalist end of the spectrum for the past two decades (thanks, Raymond Carver), and when this is done well it can be quite beautiful and clear. Of course, it’s just as possible to be obscure and difficult with a few words as it is with a lot, so I’m not sure that there’s any one style that lays claim to “good writing.” My favorite authors (Salinger, Rushdie, Chabon, Foer) write incredibly differently but are each totally lucid, and every sentence is a thrill to read, whether it’s in the stark, funny dialogue of Salinger or the labyrinthine, kinetically charged prose of Rushdie.

4: Long, overwrought descriptive passages. BO-OR-RING. This is probably just a poor reflection of myself and my immersion in our ADD visual culture, but hey–I is what I is. Also, attempts at profundity (here’s the message, kids!) that haven’t earned it.

Character development is my big draw. Sure I’m a sucker for the love story, but I won’t care about the love story if I can’t find a way to connect with the characters. Dialogue falls under this as well; if the characters are properly developed by the author, they will say the right things to each other.

I like a mix of styles, but prefer less “literature-y” writing. I appreciate it when older books are written this way, but when a book that is “inside” our time attempts that feel, it seems fake.

What I love about a book is also what I can hate: humor/wit/sarcasm. Yes these things are wonderful when executed well. However, when an author *attempts* humor but fails, it undoes everything for me.

My BIL writes books and I harass him enough so that he lets me read them and critique them for him before he sends them in for his thesis or turns them in places, etc. The last one I was really pushing him for more details. I like knowing the little details of things, houses - what they look like, people, what they are doing, etc. To much detail is not good for me. I don’t like very wordy wordy - literature stuff. I do like it if it’s interesting though. Like the Phillipa Gregory books (The Other Boleyn, and her other ones) those are historically accurate but fantastic for the relationships behind them.

Romance, definitely. Murder mysteries with love stories connected, contemporary romance. CIA thrillers, SEAL, Navy stuff. Computer things. I liked all of the Dan Brown early stuff, John Grisham. I can only read so many of the thrillers though before I want some romance mixed in! Relationship, gooey stuff
What drives me crazy… Hmmm. If I just can’t connect. I don’t like the really wishy-washy stuff, poetry… If I’m not interested in it in real life, I’m not gonna read about it. If it’s not believable. I don’t know. I just know if I don’t like it

There is this one romance chick who writes these WACKY Scotland stories and it’s almost to silly. Can’t read it. I love seeing the interaction between the people.

Ok, baby on lap now and driving me batty Have you written every day for November? Where is your story? I wanna read it!

On my phone so will have to come back to the rest of the questions