Have read only 2 fiction books in 20 years, prefer to learn from travel, sports, biog's etc., any comments?

Answer 1

I dela in hard factual reading all day; I prefer fiction to relax.

To each their own.

Answer 2

Sounds great. Just because nine zillion novels exist doesn't mean that's the only reason to read a book. Wish I knew some good biogs to read.

The best place I've found to get fiction recommendations is from the "favorites" shelf at Barnes & Noble, where employees display their favorite books. Another suggestion, sometimes young-adult fiction can be a lot more interesting than the stuff written for regular grownups. Ask around about what is hot right now.

Answer 3

I have possibly read a few more fiction books than you in this time but the majority of my reading has been factual or historical. I especially like reading the histories and anecdotes of places that I know reasonably well as I find that more interesting than reading about places that I have never seen. I suppose ones mind is making a mental picture of the differences between the ages depicted in the book and one's own memories.This type of literature is more instructive and educative than most fiction,although some of the classic authors can be very informative , Dickens for example.Most fiction is escapist in the same way as the majority of TV programmes and while they afford moments of relaxation they do nothing to improve knowledge or awareness of the world we are living in.

Answer 4

I read anything I can lay my hands on. As far as fiction goes, I tend to read works about places where I have lived or visited. These days, such books would probably come under the heading 'faction', but, as opposed to travelogues they give a deeper insight into the countries. For instance; Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. This book reflects life in Mumbai (Bombay) and much more besides; Snow, by Orhan Pamuk tells me more about eastern Turkey than I could get from a travel guide; The Emperor's Bones by Adam Williams is a fascinating insight into China.
Comment: I think, by not reading fiction you're missing out. Facts are fine, but bare facts only give you a skeleton. Books, such as those I have mentioned put the flesh on the skeleton.

Answer 5

In my late teens and early twenties, I read fiction until it came out of my ears - frankly I was posing but I was extremely well read in all that postmodernist/magic realist nonsense. I can't say in the last ten years I have read that much fiction of any consequence - it just doesn't grab me any more. It may be to do with age and personal life experience. I just don't need a pasty faced twenty something telling me how sad and dangerous the world can be or conversely some middle-aged pseudo-psychologist/
sociologist/historian telling me how strange and vibrant the world is if only I left my prejudices behind and looked at everything with fresh eyes. If you can get your kicks from fiction, good for you I say - but as for me, 9 times out of 10 the only book I'm guaranteed to read from cover to cover is a non-fiction one. But why do I still feel bad about this? Perhaps Zadie Smith (yawn) or Martin Amis (double yawn and slight coma) have the answer....remind me not to check.

Answer 6

Well, I traveled to over 80 countries before I was 35. I am now 59. I read fictional novels to see how much the author's know about the places they write about and to see how their locations fit into the scenarios the have scripted in the novels.

Answer 7

sounds very similar to what my husband used to be like...was busy reading reports etc at work all day and missed out on a whole world of story telling. I knew he would like Dan Browns the Da Vinci Code especially with all the controversy surrounding it, but also knew he would never read the book. I bought him the audio version and loaded it into his car for him. He listened to it all on his commute to & from work in the mornings and evenings and really enjoyed it too. I thought this would kick start him into either reading or buying more audiobooks......this did not happen, but every audiobook that I buy for him he listens to and enjoys!!! I suspect you may be the same as he is. He does enjoy them but wouldn't go out and buy them for some reason...too busy I guess. I will say though that the audio books I have bought have a historical/ partial fact background to them....ps ...are you an avid watcher of the History channel and Discovery too???...xx

Answer 8

Do you ever go to the movies? Watch tv for entertainment only? Fiction can do the same, entertain, amuse, shock, excite - books don't have to just inform, they can give you a jolly good time.

And you may learn something about the way us humans relate to each other.

Answer 9

I have read a few fiction books because I like the Discworld series - a real hoot and recommended, but mostly I read non-fiction because I am a glutton for knowledge. Nice to learn, eh?!

Answer 10

Here are a few novels based on real events and people.

"All the Kings Men" by Robert Penn Warren. Closely based on Louisiana governor Huey Long

"A Town Like Alice" aka "The Legacy" by Nevil Shute, based fairly loosely on separate stories of two prisoners of the Japanese in SE-Asia in WW2 and later.

"Malafrena" by Ursula K. le Guin, based on nationalist movements in central/eastern Europe in the first half of the 19th century.

"The Timeless Land" by Eleanor Dark, very closely researched novel with mainly real historical figures in the earliest settlement of Australia from 1788 on.

"V" by Thomas Pynchon is rather peculiar but many of the events described in it are authentic such as Malta during the war and some of the "whole sick crew" in late 50s New York can be identified with real people.

James A Michener's stuff is closely researched but the later work I find rather dull. However his "Tales of the South Pacific" appears to be utterly authentic and I'd say only a few names have been changed.

Many incidents in novels are based on reality. The woman jilted on her wedding day who left everything on the wedding breakfast table for years (Miss Havisham in ACharles Dickens "Great Expectations") sounds like a pure invention. but truth is stranger than fiction and it really happened, in Sydney, Australia and somehow Dickens heard about it.

Answer 11

The only fiction books I have read in my life are Wind in the Willows and the Bible.

I find fiction boring and usually predictable. I prefer biography's and documentaries.