speaking of books

[pantryslut]

I found out this holiday that while my uncle and my father (related by marriage, not blood) are both avid readers, they read hardly any fiction.

They couldn't really articulate why it was that fiction doesn't appeal to them. So I am left at somewhat of a loss.

I do notice (and did discuss with them, plus my mother) that narrative nonfiction seems to be increasingly popular. And I figured out that as a fiction writer, I distrust it. Memoirs excepted, interestingly enough.

For example, I do not like reading most biographies. People's lives rarely follow a satisfying narrative arc, and when an author attempts to impose/uncover/draw out such an arc in a biography, I get suspicious. And if they don't have a narrative, the book can become quite dull.

These are not particularly organized thoughts at the moment. Still mulling.

Comments

[dryadgrl]

I read mostly nonfiction as well.

I find that for me I want to learn something and I was raised that fiction is mind candy. My mom reads tons of science fiction, but I don't think my dad approves. It's odd that with such a learned/well-read family I have a thing about fiction. It's "a time-waster", "you don't learn that way" and such come into my head. I feel like I should be doing something else so I have a hard time enjoying it, unless I can justify it.

But that may totally be my nuerosis.

But I also find it in some ways easier to read things like boks about reiki or history or things where I can trust the information. Uh huh, and you can trust everything you see on TV too. I'm in the habit of reading technical manuals from cover to cover and things like that (talk about time waster!!).

Or maybe I have ADD. Heh.

[gerardp.livejournal.com]

How are the current flurry of political essay/commentary books such as those by Michael Moore, Al Franken, Ann Coulter, Arianna Huffington, etc. characterized? Are these "narrative nonfiction" as you're talking about? Just curious.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think of those as narrative nonfiction, but then again I haven't read many of them myself. On the other hand, my family tends not to read these sorts of books either, so they were outside the scope of the original discussion.

But they're definitely a genre to consider when talking about the popularity of nonfiction over fiction. It's interesting, because *these* are the books that *I* consider mind candy.

[felicks.livejournal.com]

i used to read tons of fiction. now for some reason i am hyper critical and although i love some fiction, i can't get past chapter 1 of most books.