Why I only read non-fiction

[Hugh]

Last week I picked up the mass market paperback version of Danielle Steel's book "A Good Woman". It was the first fiction book I had picked up in about twenty years. It reminded me about the real reasons I stay in the non-fiction section of book stores. Somewhere along the line I had started kidding myself that I stuck to non-fiction because fiction was a waste of time. I told myself that I could not possibly invest the time needed to read a book if I did not learn something from it. It was a pompous attitude and worse than that, it wasn't true. The real reason, as I re-discovered this week, is the emotional toll it takes on me. Today I finshed the last 1/4 of the book and I probably went through a whole box of kleenex. I went out to the cocktail lounge to support my friend who has a gig there, (it's a weeknight and there is never a large crowd there, so I make it a point to be there and patronize the lounge), but I had to leave early as I didn't want my depressed mood to spread like a virus to the others who had come for a good time. I had spent most of the afternoon sobbing prior to going out, and no matter how many drinks I had it was not going to cheer me up, I was only becoming more depressed.

It's the same reason I don't watch movies. Even though I tell myself that I can not allow myself to waste time sitting in a movie theater, the real reason is that I become too drawn in to the story, too sympathetic to the characters. The only movie I've seen since I was a child was the movie Brokeback Mountain. It hit so close to home for me, it was so sad, that I was in a depressed state for many days afterward.

Anyway, I'll start another book tommorrow, I may even buy a new one. I saw a book about a drag queen's diary in a window during my walk home from the cocktail lounge. Or maybe I'll re-read another one of the great stock market books I already have.

But no more goddam fiction. I'm not strong enough for it.

 

[Sin]

And what's wrong with having emotions?

 

[Eva]

Heh--Brokeback might not be the ideal movie for easing back into movie-watching (as excellent as it was). But I also wonder how you react to non-fiction books as well. It's possible to get very involved in them too--historical events, life stories, political issues. How can you read a book about the stock market without wanting to throw it (either the book or the stock market) across the room?

 

[Peder]

The books and movies that I rate highest are actually those that grip me emotionally and totally invest me in the story of their characters. Stories that don't do that by the time they are finished seem vary pale and uninteresting in comparison. And if the good ones cause tears to flow, well, that's part of my reason for seeking out good stories and reading them in the first place. I come away feeling that I have lived a part of life.

 

[Libra]

I sense that it has nothing to do with the stories,but your avoidance of "feeling" all together.

 

[Revised]

In my youth I preferred fiction but now my preference is non-fiction. If I do read fiction, then I like fiction that is written in first person as that holds my attention longer.

 

[SFG75]

I use to be just like you Hugh. I never read fiction. Would you be open to the consideration tha Turgenev and Nabokov are light years away from say....Danielle Steele?:whistling: Just saying.......

 

[Stewart]

Somewhere along the line I had started kidding myself that I stuck to non-fiction because fiction was a waste of time. I told myself that I could not possibly invest the time needed to read a book if I did not learn something from it.

"He asked her what book she was reading.
"The Idiot. Do you know it?"
"No. What's it about?"
"It's a novel."
"I'd rather read the truth."
"It is the truth."

The Assistant, Bernard Malamud​

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It was a pompous attitude and worse than that, it wasn't true. The real reason, as I re-discovered this week, is the emotional toll it takes on me.

If you are going to ge crying buckets over the sort of book written for middle aged women with no sense of adventure, and don't actually want to get emotionally invested then perhaps fictional games may be of interest to you. Try Mark Dunn's ella minnow pea. You couldn't possibly cry along to that, it'll no doubt evoke more smiles.
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