What a book!

What differentiates a great book from a good one? I think it’s the degree to which the reader is engaged. While a good book is read, a great one is experienced.

Just finished reading ‘The Day Trader’ by Stephen Frey. My first of him and loved it immensely! It is a fictional account of an individual who takes to day trading on the stock market after his wife is murdered.

I am not the kind of reader who reads every word of what’s written [That privilege is reserved only for boss’ and wife’s emails!] so it is very difficult to keep a reader like me engaged. That’s why I am surprised a book could engage me so deeply. May be because it’s written simply, may be because it is written in first person, may be because some of the concepts of stock-market trading are explained lucidly, may be because I found the main protagonist thinking exactly the same as I would have at certain places –whatever the reason, this book seized me like anything! I could feel,see,think the book!

Of course, it has its flaws. Biggest being that some of the incidents are far-fetched and don’t seem realistic. But then, I would choose to overlook them! Also, the book isn’t a page-turner. Sometimes, it was disturbing to the point of being repulsive, but it made me think and I realized that this also can be one of the ways of engaging a reader. A book can linger onto the reader’s mind without being a page-turner!

Of course, one book is no way to judge an author but if his other books are equally good, this fellow will easily become my favourite author! A certain Mr Archer has tough competition!