Topic: Do you find yourself drawn to fiction or non-fiction books?

Cindy Thinks

Ally Thinks

I need to preface this whole post with the disclaimer that I am not a big reader.  Ally is a voracious reader…but I’m not.  I love to read when I travel…or at the beach…or on a rainy/snowy Sunday with a hot cup of French vanilla coffee by my side.  But I don’t read every day.

It takes a really good story to get me hooked on a book, and then once I’m hooked, I don’t put it down.

So when I do think about reading a book…I’m totally drawn to fiction, as I love a good story.

Not that true life can’t be turned into a good story, but I guess I prefer the made-up version of life when I curl up with a book.

Interestingly – even though I’m a sporadic reader – I’m particularly drawn to novels in a series.  I guess I like to know that when I start a book, I’ll be able to follow the characters through different times, places and experiences…taking multiple books to complete the saga.

(Or maybe I’m just lazy and like the idea of having my next few books all laid out for me)

And I’m not at all particular about the genre of the books/series I choose.  In fact…I’ve read and totally enjoyed…

  • “Young adult” fiction like The Hunger Games series and The Twilight books;
  • Books that deal with espionage, terrorism and political intrigue like The Bourne series, Vince Flynn’s series featuring the super good guy assassin Mitch Rapp and anything by David Baldacci;
  • Stories about prehistoric times like Jean Auel’s the Earth’s Children series (Ally and I just went to a book signing last week and heard the author talk about her latest book and each got a signed copy!);
  • Quirky stories about weird people in Sweden (yep…I got hooked on the whole Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series);
  • And most recently, a story about a woman who steps through a group of large rocks in the 1940’s only to get sent back in time to Scotland in the 1700’s where she falls in love with a hunk of a Scottish man who rescues her about 20 times from danger in the first two books alone (the Outlander series)!  LOVING IT!

I think I like historical novels a lot…but I can’t seem to get through a nonfiction book about a historical figure or event.   I’ve tried to read about several of our Presidents, various wars, and even the civil rights movement.  But honestly…I haven’t finished any of them.

I love to read stories about strong and interesting women, but when I’ve tried to read about real women (who I thought were role models) like Hillary Clinton or Jane Fonda, I found that I don’t really care all that much about their lives once I got into their books.  They’re still role models…but just not as authors.

I’ve tried to read about how to better my health, my mind and my body…but I lose interest quickly and end up sitting in front of the TV eating a big ham and cheese sandwich.

But oddly enough, I like to read cookbooks.   I know it sounds silly…but I can read through an entire cookbook, learning different techniques, food and spice combinations and serving ideas, and walk away feeling totally fulfilled…but not feeling like I just read a book.

Weird.

So I guess I do like some types of non-fiction.

And as I think about it…I think I read more than I think I read.

So I guess I’ll go finish up the 2nd book in the Outlander series right now.  I’ve already got the next two in the series waiting for me.

I’m a total fiction fan.  I love stories, whether they be love stories or fantasy stories or scary stories or stories written for pre-teens.  I love them.

(OK, especially the ones written for pre-teens.)

I have a hard time with non-fiction.  I get bored very easily.  I drift off.  I don’t find it very exciting or enthralling.

I just don’t connect.

And that’s what I really want from a book.  Connection.  And by connection, I don’t mean that I have to necessarily relate to it.  I just like feeling connected to a character or a plot and interested in what happens next.

And I don’t really get that from (most) non-fiction.

(There are always exceptions.  For example: humor.  (Enter Mary Roach, Jen Lancaster, David Sedaris, and – most recently –  Tina Fey.)  That’s because I’m connecting to the funny.  But even that’s not always enough if there’s no plot.)

I once read in (ironically) a non-fiction book that life is too short to read books that you don’t enjoy.  So I don’t read a lot of non-fiction because I just don’t enjoy it very much.

Honestly, I thought that everyone read mostly fiction, because I’ve always equated “reading” WITH “fiction”.  And then I started working in a bookstore.

Oh, the things you learn working in a bookstore!

I won’t go into it all now (because I’m compiling a list that will someday make a very long short story and probably a wildly popular film), but one of the biggest lessons has been that non-fiction is the popular choice for many, if not most, people.

(This is where I will ask that you refrain from going into a large bookstore and asking where the “non-fiction section” is.  Odds are that the WHOLE FREAKING BOOKSTORE is non-fiction, with a row of novels.)

(This is also the part where I ask you to refrain from saying some rude comment to your local bookseller when we point this fact out.  I understand that you’re scoffing and rolling your eyes at me because you realize that you asked an idiotic question, but still…)

(Moving on…)

I honestly didn’t realize that people read so! many! self-help books and religious books and new age books and history books and biographies.  For entertainment!  I hear the statement “I don’t really read fiction” far more than “I don’t really read non-fiction”.

(Probably because us fiction lovers are embarrassed that we prefer fantasy over books that, you know, might teach us something.)

My bread and butter is fiction.  My love of reading is for fiction.  When I walk into a bookstore, I make a mad dash for the fiction section.

Since starting at the bookstore, I’ve tried to expand my horizons.  But really?  If I find the time to sit and read, I’d rather read some epic love story than a self-improvement book about how to “be a better me”.

(Snore.)

I just loose interest reading about the same thing over and over, without a plot moving me forward.  When I read, I want characters and secrets and imagination.

I want escape.

I crave (fictional) connection.

It’s my comfort zone, and reading should be about being comfortable, no matter what genre makes you feel that way…

(PS: I truly believe that there’s no “better” preference.  I just think you should read, no matter what it is…)

Cindy and Ally posted this the week of April 18th, 2011

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  • Pat R

    I am an avid reader-always have been. This is a good thing since I do not lilke TV other than news and (I confess), Dancing With the Stars! I love fiction and agree with Cindy that reading series or same authors makes choosing easy. I’ve also been waiting years for this last Jean Auel book and can’t wait to get it. Long live libraries! Pat

  • Nancy

    I am drawn mostly to writers who can really make history come alive. Some of my favorite books, historical, but NOT BORING follows. The first one, Cindy, you would LOVE, is called “As always, Julia” edited by Joan Reardon. It’s a book of letters between Julia Child and her friend Avis DeVoto while Julia was writing and testing recipes for SOOO many years for “The Art of French Cooking.” It’s about food, cooking, friendship AND the most brilliant discussions of politics. You will be amazed how they mirror our own times with stupid holier-than-thou rightwingers, etc. Can’t recommend enough. I also loved “The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession” by Andrea Wulf. Wonderful. Also, “Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance by Deborah Jowitt.”

  • Bricarr

    Ally, self help, religious and new age books ARE fiction. And you know I love both fiction and non. Men tend to read non fiction more than fiction.

  • Arin Amanda

    Well, Ally, where are the paperbacks kept, then, if there’s no non-fiction section?

  • Karen

    Being a newly retired high school English teacher, I had not read much except for research papers, student essays, novels that I taught to 9th through 12th grade students, fantasy, science fiction, and Shakespeare. In doing so, however, I enjoyed researching information to include in my teaching of these novels and plays. The best part during my research was unraveling the author’s rationale for writing the story. Now, my personal reading, when I got a chance, was centered more on exciting detective stories that were based on true events or those written so beautifully, that it appeared to be so true. My next favorite would be well written (“well written” to me is EXCITING) historical novels and biographical or autobiographical stories about really interesting people. I dislike those stupid tell-all books unless they are written by someone who, first, knows how to write, and second, has had a complex and truly interesting life. I am, actually, kind of interested in reading Shirley MacLaine’s book because I just find her smart, interesting, and full of ideas, and not the “run of the mill” ideas.

  • Nancy

    Karen, try “Sin in the Second City” by Karen Abbott or “Devil in the White City”

  • Glabec

    Cindy, I too love cook books ….strange for someone who barely cooks anymore. I have so much to read professionally that it leaves almost no time for other reading. I like short novels so I can get through them to the end. But answer this, why do I feel guilty for not reading more?

  2. Do you find yourself drawn to fiction or non-fiction books?