in class 2

A real book, other than the obvious of being pages with a bound cover, is the culmination of someone else's dream. They had the idea and took it from this seed through the stages to where it has become this vehicle that can transport one from what maybe a mundane place in their life or a boring day to someplace exotic.

Through a book you can gain an insight into the lives of those not just doing the writing but the ones being written about, through the worlds of sci-fi (which baffles me) and into places and times long past.

It requires one to sit, concentrate, think, even feel and yet it doesn't tell the reader how or what they  should think or feel. It can be an escape, a resource,or whatever the reader so chooses for that experience to be.

A real book holds more than just the plot and characters, but it's what we choose to make of it.

Are some books so chock full of the author that they become tedious- oh God yes!, but that is why we usually have the choice to put that book aside and pick up another. They can be big thick things that would make a great door stop, or something you can stuff in a back pocket, I do not believe that it takes thousands of pages to be a great read. I do believe it takes the careful weaving of the elements by the writer to make you want to know more...that is where the difference lies. For me, a book, a really good book will have this.