This weeks question: What was the best book you read in September?
Although I did read some great books this month, this was an easy answer. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.
I've thought a lot lately about how agents/publishers are looking for the BEST. Your MS has to be perfect, impeccable, fabulous, new, different, amazing, PHENOMENAL. And thinking about some of the books I've read, I couldn't help but wonder, what was it the agent saw in such-a-such book? Because for me, it didn't quite make the cut. Not that it was a horrible book, but was it really all that amazing? What stood out? What did the agent or publisher think that was PHENOMENAL about it? I read those books and think, my book could make it.
And then there's the books that just are PHENOMENAL. A lot of times I can't pinpoint exactly why, they just ARE. Books that I finish and then think, I'll never be published because I'm not this amazing. Anna and the French Kiss was like that. I could not put it down. And even weeks later, I'm still randomly thinking about it. I want to read it again. That, to me, makes for a phenomenal book.
I loved this book! I can't wait yo read Lola and the Boy Next Door!
ReplyDeleteI wonder the same thing about books I don't find exceptional: What about this snagged an agent's or editor's attention? And, like you, I did not have to wonder that about ANNA at all. I adored that book, and I can't wait to read LOLA. (I've heard it's even better, if you can believe that!)
ReplyDeletegreat questions you're posing here! I think sometimes books may not be extraordinary, but more often it's the subjectivity of what makes a book phenomenal. Hope that makes sense!
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