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Wednesday, October 9, 2024

A reader question: Fiction or Non-Fiction?

 A "reader" question:

Dear Editor,

As an avid reader I found “Reader Question: What Books Belong in the Old New England Family House?” very interesting.  I was wondering what type of book most people read: fiction or non-fiction?  I had a neighbor who read biographies of all past American presidents.  I read non-fiction.  Maybe that has to do with my upbringing because my dad always read books about the American Civil War.

Thank you,

10 comments:

  1. Well, since you asked. Mostly fiction in the evenings at bedtime right now. Psychological crime thrillers by the likes of Jonathan Kellerman, John Sandford, et al. Used to read a lot of Nordic Noir, but teaching a course on it kind of took the wind out of those sails. Years ago, on the recommendation of my late mother, I enjoyed Sara Paretsky and Martha Grimes too. Went through a World War Two phase in high school 40-odd years ago, but that was pretty specialized reading. Mostly British and Australian POW accounts of tunneling and escape attempts (think Colditz Castle and other camps where allied prisoners were held by the Germans). Not so much accounts of battles or campaigns although Anthony Cave Brown's Bodyguard of Lies still stands out in my mind. A large and meticulously researched book on the allied deception ahead of the D-Day Invasion in June 1944. In more recent decades, various and sundry Scandinavian and Nordic literature between 1994-2004 in college and grad school, both in translation and (later) in the original languages. Not so much anymore. You reach your limit after a while. In more recent "adult" life, lots of research on pedagogical approaches on collaborative, high impact, and digital (including AI) learning. Admittedly, not always the most riveting stuff. More interesting are occasional works on the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years Way in Europe although much of that can be pretty dry too. To each, his/her/their own. But in general, I maintain a stack of books on the floor at my bedside and pick up whatever seizes my spirit each evening after retiring for the night. It's kind of a wonderful way to end the day and detach from the pressures of the world for a little while although that means it can take months to finally finish a book unless it's a real page-turner.

    Kind Regards,

    Heinz-Ulrich

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  2. Everything by H. P. Lovecraft.

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  3. I second John Sandford. Elmore Leonard, Walter Mosley, David Baldacci, Steve Berry, Karin Slaughter, are usually entertaining for traveling or killing a few hours. I mostly read fiction in my spare time. I spend all day, every day reading non-fiction - two newspapers, weekly New Yorker, and and a job that involves investigating people by reading reports, email, internal system notes, public database entries, news stories.....

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  4. Well, fiction is the lie that tells the truth, and non-fiction is the truth that tells the lie. I think it's important to read both to form a picture of the world. I mostly get non-fiction from newspapers (NYT, WSJ, Financial Times, etc.) and fiction from books. At the risk of sounding pedantic, the (fiction) classics are classics for a reason. I try to carve out time for Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, the Brontes, etc. I listen to them as audio books on my daily walk.

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    Replies
    1. In the opening pages of the novel a traveler asks Mr. Pickwick his occupation and he replies, "A student of human nature, sir!" If human nature is your bag the novel is the only form.

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  5. I usually prefer non-fiction (note to self: pick up Anthony Penrose's The Lives of Lee Miller, as I watched the eponymous movie Lee last night, which I thoroughly enjoyed); however, on occasion, I allow for a gripping fiction tome, and I am currently going through Daniel Mason's North Woods.

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  6. It is a mixture. I recently finished The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow, a bit of Amor Towles, the revisiting of some things from college like Joyce, Ellison, Yeats, Shakespeare histories, and Wallace Stevens, and staying current on my two subscriptions, The New Yorker and The Atlantic. When I want bedtime tranquility I often browse a cookbook. Recent ones include Chang, Hazan, and Kennedy. I also just had a wonderful diversion recently, Taste by Tucci.

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  7. A mixed bag is always a plus!

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  8. Relevant to common interests, I have The Big House and To the New Owners:A Martha’s Vineyard memoir on the shelf at our cottage. I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction and these two non-fiction books are worth re-reading.

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  9. Patrick O’Brian, followed by Allan Furst.

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