What Makes a Book Memorable

Oh, how I love summer. After doing a little house cleaning, a little shopping, a little weeding, I picked up the book I had started reading, my sunglasses and headed for the pool. I only had a few chapters left in the book so I finished it quickly. I had intended to leave the balmy water and start dinner when I finished the book. But I didn't.

You see, I do a lot of thinking in the pool. I retreat there when I'm stuck in a scene or even to plot out the next book I intend to write. So I finished reading this particular book and thought I was disappointed. It was a strange book, kind of a mystery, lots of sadness and not one light moment in the entire novel. At the end, the mystery was rather run of the mill but it was what was happening in the background that stayed with me. So I floated about in the pool and thought about it the story. Then I thought about what the writer had intended. Of course I don't know exactly what he intended, but if it was for the reader to wonder how they would have behaved in the situation he created in his novel, it certainly worked for me.

For an extra hour of sun that my skin does not need, I imagined how my family and I could survive physically and psychologically in that fictional scenario created by the author. I'm not going to forget that novel anytime soon. It was memorable to me because I couldn't help but insert myself into one of the fictional roles. I usually don't like books that are filled with hopelessness and where every character is flawed do deeply they need professional help. So this author did a lot of things right. And while I floated in that pool, I wondered if the books I write are memorable to readers even if only for a little while.

Speaking of memorable, don't forget to check out Jeffrey Beesler's blog tour for the release of his latest novel, Optical Osmosis.

What makes a book memorable for you? Have you ever had a book stick with you even though you weren't sure you even liked it? Have you visited Jeffrey?