Great point... On Sword and Laser (a book club/podcast) the idea of different types of reader is often discussed; i.e. what's the main driver behind liking a book:

  - Plot
  - World Building
  - Character
  - etc (There's a specific list mentioned, but I can't recall it)

That's the simpler classification side of things, so easier to code up... Your example of the canoe trip would be significanlty more complex; but definitely more a scenario worthy of AI over basic heuristics... and something that would need a conversation to drill down into (i.e. did the story evoke the scenery of their trip, or was it reflecting the relationship between the people, etc).