Real, not real

School's out this week, which means that summer is here. Which means that there is more time for reading. I can't wait to read at the lake. At the park. In the car on long road trips. Pretty much anywhere and everywhere!

Last summer, this was my favorite read: 

There was this one thing that happened to one character (I'm being very careful to make this a spoiler-free post!) that I thought was intriguing. So someone was having problems separating fact from fallacy, and s/he would ask "Real or not real?" The bad guys in this book were so adroit at creating falsehoods that in some cases, it was impossible to know what was real and what was fictional.

We're not so far different here in our "real" world, are we? People are so amazingly talented that sometimes it's hard to tell what has been fabricated. For example:

And I'm not talking about Sarah Palin being amazing and talented, (although she is) I'm talking about the picture being a fake. The photoshoppers are so skilled that oftentimes we are duped.

Then there times when crafting reality falls short. Like when some plastic surgeons just aren't as good as the rest.
Exhibit A:

 

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Where am I headed with this? Well ... reading, of course! Sometimes you pick up a book that just doesn't do it for you. Typically, it's because the writer is like a bad plastic surgeon: their reality is too forced, making it obvious that "work" has been done. On the other hand, a good writer is invisible to the reader, making the story so seamless that the reader forgets there is an author pulling the strings.

I love getting lost in a book--when it seems so REAL that you laugh and cry right along with the characters. You know the author is good at their craft when you can't stop thinking about the book and the characters long after you set the book down.

So tell me--what books have done that to you? Which talented author can carry you away into a forged reality?

For me, I would have to say J.K. Rowling. I'm not much of a fantasy fan, but her world was REAL. I sobbed for days when ...(don't worry, like I said, this is a spoiler-free post). Now that's good writing!

Leave me a comment about your favorite book/author and one lucky winner will get a prize related to this post. So if you like to read, you're going to want to play along! Hint Hint.