Fiction vs. Nonfiction
June 9, 2011 § 6 Comments
Despite my love for a good character-study (hooray for Henry James!) and my guilty pleasure of historical fiction, I gravitate toward non-fiction for my every-day reading.
You can keep your Pride & Prejudice, Harry Potter, and Twilight; I’d rather read a good memoir or biography any day. When I walk into a bookstore or a library, I head for the cookbooks or crafting books immediately. Then to the foreign-language section. Then to the biographies. Then to the sheet music section. Then to the children’s section.
We’re taught to read non-fiction at a young age – my first reports in school were on people (Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, etc.) and on places (Ohio, Louisiana, Austrailia). I read fiction in school, but all I did was take quizzes on the content until I was in junior high and had to write a book report. At age 12, I read Doris Day’s autobiography of my own free will. Twice.
That being said, my favorite book is definitely Little Women. I read it when I was about 13, and Meg became my hero. She learned about responsibility, good friends, and vanity – all issues I was dealing with. “What about Jo?” you say? I think Jo is annoying.
My picks for non-fiction pleasure reading:
Please Don’t Eat the Daisies by Jean Kerr
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
My Life in France by Julia Child
Puttin’ On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography by Peter Levinson
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
Clever Days 
You crack me up Sarah.
If I was a faithful reader, I would easily become a biography consumer.
I have to tell you though, I burst into laughter when I read your comments concerning “Little Women”. I have definitely taken the “Which Little Woman Are You?” quiz… more then once, and I always end up being Jo. Not to mention she is the character that I most relate to.Too funny!
At least we share the same favorite book, which makes me happy.
Cheers to the Sarahs’!
Yes, my sister and my mother both relate to Jo, and they definitely read Jo’s Boys and Little Men with vigor. I really couldn’t get into those two books. (Although, I love, love, love Louisa May Alcott. Remind me to let you borrow my anthology of her best novellas & short stories!)
I love Devil in the White City and My Life in France. I try to alternate fiction and non-ficiton when I’m reading, and Erik Larson is always a great choice.
Bethany, I may have recommended this to you already, but you should read Eiffel’s Tower by Jill Jonnes. I think you’d like it.
The more I read biographies, the more I want to read them. Have you ever read any of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s books? I think you would enjoy them. It’s been ages, but I read them when I was about your age.
I think my mom has Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea, but I’ve never read any of her stuff. Perhaps I shall borrow it when I visit Mom & Dad…. Thanks for the recommendation!