I was thinking about this question this morning while driving to work, in preparation for a class this afternoon. What are the elements of a good read?

First of all, would have to be plot: an ongoing series of questions raised and eventually answered in the reader's mind. Plot can be quite crude or basic, I'd say, but only plot can keep the reader reading very long in the absence of other good-read qualities.

What qualities are those? Character for one. Character that should be complex and likeable. Or else relatable (yes, I know people like that). Or just simple but satisfyingly detestable.

Insights: ideas that hadn't struck you before or that you've never seen so nicely phrased.

Setting: can the book take you to a place or time where you've never been? Sitting under the guillotine--or lying there with your neck stretched!

Sheer quality of writing, in prose or poetry. Though that might not keep the reader going for long, especially the fiction-reader.

Let's see what else comes up in class.