What is to talk about literature?

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Before anything let me say that english isn't my 1st language, so this will probably be filled with mistakes but I think this is the best place to talk about this subject so here we go

I want to know, in your opinion, what makes a decent discussion about books? I mean, what kind of points really matter when talking (or writting) about a work?

See, imho, talking about the story should be a small part of what makes a good digest, I like when the focus is more on personal views about certains aspects of the work, like character/world/atmosphere building and points of irony/contradiction that deserves attention, so is talking about the style/form of the writting. Quoting good/bad passages and talking about why you think they are good/bad is also a must but how important is to talk about how influential the author is, or how he was influenced? This seens like the kind of information that shouldn't really be the focus in most cases, because these, most of the time, will be just copy-paste of wikipedia or a teacher's class.

I hope I'm being clear, basically I want to know what makes you to like a review? Objective information or subjective analysis? What elements are a must so a review isn't considered inane/vapid?