I love the sound of words, in my head. The quality of the prose and the sound & rhythm of a book is the first thing that attracts me. (Hey, I'm Celtic - Scottish and Irish.) Then, even in literary fiction, I like story, plot, and good characters. I like drama, conflict, and action. I like books that evoke place, weather, and geography. On the other hand, there are people - Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy, for instance - who I can read just for the beauty of the words, and the incredible flow of the language....