Good Books and Books

C. S. Lewis commented on a library which divided its books into two categories.

Good Books.
Books.

Famous Five would certainly be books, and so would P. G. Woodehouse. But not Tristram Shandy.

Good Books was more elusive. What quality is it that some books have at once (Ulysses or Finegan's Wake by James Joyce) and others acquire by age?

Difficulty.

This is the reverse of an observation on Homer, by Honor Cargill-Martin:

Who really wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad? Ancient historian answers your questions about Homer
Honor Cargill-Martin | 10 Aug. 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk4TTFJJDfo

Once upon a time, Homer would have been "Books" ... or in her words:

So people are literally being raised on this stuff and that means that the texts are very familiar to them. They're not intimidated by them.

CSL intended to get people to stop frowning on popular literature (provided it isn't unchaste or over the top cruel), and Honor Cargill-Martin's observation comes in pretty handy in this context.
/HGL