Dubai Diaries: What makes a great book?

In my occasional interactions with like-minded bibliophiles, the question of a favourite literary genre has often come up. Some have a clear choice — it could be horror, romance, fantasy, science fiction or one of the many other categories that the world of books divides itself into. Whenever we engage in such conversations — I find myself thinking, if I had to pick a favourite, what would it be?

You see, I’m the kind of person whose love for the written word extends beyond a particular genre or time frame. I’ve sat up many nights engrossed in classics such as Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and the over 1000-page epic War and Peace. Copious tears have been shed following a poignant love story in a seemingly nondescript little novel picked up from a second-hand bookstore on a whim.

Dracula by Bram Stoker is the most terrifying book I’ve ever read. Harry Potter themed Lego has me swooning because l loved all 7 novels so much that I’ve devoured them multiple times. Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar — a semi-autobiographical account of the tragic author’s early work life and mental health — was both disconcerting and inspiring.

Considering the range of novels I’ve read and aspire to read in my lifetime, any question of a favourite genre tends to remain rhetorical. Just like the music lover in me alternates between pop and rock, retro and contemporary, easy listening and upbeat and much more — I sway to the rhythm of my moods as far as books are concerned.

A recent spell of nostalgia and homesickness coincided perfectly with the title I happened to pick up from my bookshelf — Celestial Bodies, by Omani author Jokha Alharthi, the first Arabic novel to win the International Booker Prize.