What Makes This Book So Great

Jo Walton’s What Makes This Book So Great is a collection of some of her posts on Tor.com between 2008 and 2011. If you haven't read them before you might be forgiven for thinking they're just a bunch of book reviews, but actually they're more than that. Walton writes about books like they're old friends, describing them in warm and enthusiastic tones.

She points out, and often forgives, their flaws preferring instead to see the glass half full, and of course she revels in their strengths. In fact that's one the most appealing things about this collection. Walton comes across as a fan rather than a critic, someone who's talking to you about her favourite books and inviting you to try them out, in fact you rather get the impression that if you were in the room with her she'd thrust them into your arms insisting you take them and read them.

We we're lucky enough to catch up with Jo and ask her about the book, and the thinking around it.

SFL: Okay, apart from the Hugo and Nebula awards and the John W Campbell award and the World Fantasy award, what Makes Jo Walton so great? More importantly why should I listen to word she says?

JW: I don't think you want to listen to me talk about books because I'm an award-winning writer. You want to listen because I'm a reader who loves books. I read a lot and I have thoughts about books, and this is a collection of those thoughts. I think it would be really cool if every thoughtful reader put together a collection of their thoughts like this.

SFL: I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of books I've re-read, not because I didn't love them but because there's always something new on the TBR pile. You on the other hand seem to re-read a lot. Am I missing out by not having a second read? Do you think there are elements of stories, and of the telling of stories, that I'm not getting first time round?

JW: I don't know about you, but certainly I don't get everything I can out of a book the first time I read it. If I only read a book once, I feel as if I've hardly read it at all. I think of my second reading as completing my reading. That's when I pick up the subtleties and nuances I missed the first time around because I was so busy concentrating on the story. Even when reading a book for the tenth time I can find new things to appreciate about it. But maybe you are different, maybe you do extract everything out of a book on your first read.

SFL: The next obvious question is, well, aren't you just retreating into the warm and cosy by constantly re-reading older books or re-reading entire series before you start on new instalment? Surely you're missing out by not constantly seeking out new authors, new stories and importantly new ideas?

JW: I'm reading for fun, not as a self-improvement project. Obviously, I don't read everything that's published -- and equally obviously, you don't either. There's too much for either of us to attempt that. And if I only read fifty new books a year instead of two hundred, yes, I am missing out on those other books and their ideas in favour of books I already know are good and want to explore more deeply. But even if I read two hundred new books, I'd be missing out on thousands more. I can't humanly do All The Things. So I do come back to books I love.

SFL: You obviously write about these books from a place of great affection, but while a lot of these books introduced fresh, new elements to the genre when they came out, those same elements have become - in some cases - hackneyed old tropes. Do you think that modern audiences have the ability to get past that and appreciate them in that context?

JW: Sometimes a modern reader has to forgive a book for being written in 1961. Other times, a modern reader might be amazed that a book written in 1915 has so little to forgive. I don't think "hackneyed old tropes" are much of a problem. Science fiction and fantasy are genres surprisingly lacking in that kind of thing -- at least in the books that are still worth reading. The books like that, valuable only because they introduced something that later became commonplace, are the kind of thing nobody much bothers with, they only have academic interest. The much more common problem is books having attitudes of the past -- sexism and racism that were casually normal when the book was written and which are teeth-grittingly problematic today. That can be painful for a modern reader. There are times when I can get over something like that with a little eye-rolling and other times when it gets to be too much and it can spoil any possibility of enjoyment. But there are a lot of great older things without these issues. If Samuel Delany's SF novels of the sixties were to be published today as new books, we'd still be excited about them. They haven't dated at all.

SFL: Each of these short essays feel like they're coming from a very personal place, with each revealing a little bit about you as a person. Is that a fair comment, and have you thought how your comments and critique will allow people to judge you in that way?

JW: Every opinion is personal. If people read the essays and know specifically how I love Ursula Le Guin and Lois McMaster Bujold, the way I care about characters and all of my thoughts on the ethics of time travel, then that's great. I don't think they'll judge me -- judge me for what, loving books? Thinking they're important? Reading on the bus? If anyone wants to judge me for these kinds of things then I admit upfront that I'm guilty. Of course, people may disagree with my opinions. They may want to jump up and down passionately and tell me how they love something I hate and hate something I love, and if so that's great too. These pieces were originally written as blog posts, they have the expectation of engagement, that the reader will want to continue the conversation, whether with me on line or with friends in person. The possibility of engaging online is still there -- all the posts are still up on Tor.com.

SFL: There's a huge range of books in here, a couple of them usually considered to be pretty flawed, and yet you're happy to fight a corner for them still being valid and enjoyable reads. Why is that? Surely it would be more beneficial to move on to something better or do you think you have to read bad books to better appreciate the good ones?

JW: If I didn't think there was something valuable about them, I wouldn't be defending them. This is a book about books I love, and finding the great things even in flawed books. I certainly don't think people have to read bad books -- though there's a difference between bad books and unenjoyable books. There are books I can acknowledge as bad but still enjoyable. I don't think people ought to eat their literary vitamins -- or their literary roughage -- if they're not enjoying it. But most people who are at all adventurous and step outside their comfort zone for reading will naturally come across bad books from time to time. Considering what makes a book good or bad, and enjoyable or not enjoyable, can be interesting.

SFL: What do you hope this collection of essays will ultimately achieve? Are you trying to introduce new readers to the classics or get older readers to re-read, re-evaluate and better appreciate these books.

JW: I'm hoping it will encourage people to have conversations about books. I love reading, and I love talking about books. I'm interested in talking about older books here because new books tend to get much more attention.

So there you have it, the perfect way to discover some of the classic science-fiction and fantasy novels that deserve a new audience, and you get to do it in the company of a truly knowledgeable book lover, a reader who can point you in the direction of something that'll be right for you. It's not a book you'll read from cover to cover, it's more something that you'll dip in and out of as and when you're looking for something new to read, and alongside the re-examination of those classics you'll find other topics to enjoy like what to say when you meet an author whose books you've never read, whether profanity in genre novels is a good idea or not, and why you should re-read. Each essay is short, usually 2 or 3 pages - the legacy of their blog origins - but they're insightful and beautifully written.

I found at least a dozen things to try out that I haven't read before, how many will you find?

What Makes This Book So Great is published by Corsair and is available with free delivery from The Book Depository or on the high street from Blackwell and all good book stores.

Jo Walton has a blog.

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