# I cannot read (and enjoy) fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604 "2005-09-08T01:51:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/21 "2005-09-08T06:50:54Z")
As an aside, Dave Eggers in _A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_ mentions in his introduction, _How To Read This Book_, that if you are one of those readers who doesn’t enjoy non-fiction you should simply pretend that the characters don’t exist and that the events never happened. Personally I will happily read anything that is well written fiction or non-fiction. I often find that non-fiction works are more “tedious” than fiction for several reasons. Many non-fiction writers seem to believe that because the story they are telling is true it is inherently entertaining and because they will only vist the subject matter once they are loathe to leave anything out. I must add that _Into Thin Air_ and _Seabiscuit_ are books I would recommend to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/22 "2005-09-08T08:05:04Z")
[Yoda] No difference–different only in your mind. [/Yoda] ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/23 "2005-09-08T08:07:36Z")
Try tricking yourself. _Memoirs of a Geisha_ by Arthur Golden is a fantastic fiction that reads like an autobiography. In fact, if I hadn’t known it was fictional, I would have thought it was completely true to life. Check it out. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/24 "2005-09-08T12:27:57Z")
If I recall correctly, the contemporaries of Herodotus were skeptical of the writing of history for edification. A history could only tell us of what happened; it takes myth or poetry to tell us what it means. To sound even more condescending, good fiction can illustrate more truths than mere facts can. (That being said, except for some Carl Hiassen and Corey Doctorow I read this summer, I cannot tell you the last fiction I enjoyed. Most of my recent reading has been of the “a terrible thing happened during the yacht race / fishing trip / naval excercise” genre.) ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/25 "2005-09-08T12:51:43Z")
So I’ve always wondered, when I hear of fiction avoiders like you, how did you get this way? Were you read to as a child…did you get a story before bed? Do you dream? Many of the fiction-haters I’ve run across or heard of have a fundamentalist religious background where they have been actively discouraged from enjoying fiction…though if they knew more about writing and religion they’d look a little more sceptically at the Bible…and I ay this as a devout Christian! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/26 "2005-09-08T13:01:41Z")
What if you don’t know it’s fiction? Can you xdistinguish between real accounts and fictional accounts that look real? If so, you can find work vetting books and discovering hoaxes like Clifford Irving’s “autobio” of Howard Hughes. Seriously, can’t you simply pretend that a fictional work is juast about someone who _might_ be real? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/27 "2005-09-08T13:13:11Z")
My reading probably consists of 90% newspapers and magazines 5% fiction 5% non-fiction 1. I only have so much time in a day to read and I generally enjoy newspapers and magazines more than fiction. 2. For every 5 works of fiction I start, I probably only finish 1. And then, when I do find something I like, I read it in a couple days so I don’t spend much absolute time reading fiction. If I don’t like it pretty soon after it starts and find myself wanting to get back to it, I’m not going to spend the time. When I was in high school and college, I read tons more fiction. I was always looking for something, always had a book with me. Sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, horror, literature, everything. I think it just took more and more to impress me until I was wasting so much time starting books I wouldn’t finish. Also, so much “fiction” nowadays seems to be about some poor Afghani or Bangladeshi or Peruvian who grew up in extraordinary circumstances. And that’s the book. The books that have really captured me over the last few years have been non-fiction but dramatic. That said, I am currently enjoying the _Sin City_ trades right now though. I borrowed them from a neighbor. And my wife just finished reading _Empire Falls_ which I’m going to try to start tonight. We’ll see how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/28 "2005-09-08T13:17:31Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > So I’ve always wondered, when I hear of fiction avoiders like you, how did you get this way? Were you read to as a child…did you get a story before bed? Do you dream? Many of the fiction-haters I’ve run across or heard of have a fundamentalist religious background where they have been actively discouraged from enjoying fiction…though if they knew more about writing and religion they’d look a little more sceptically at the Bible…and I ay this as a devout Christian! Actually I don’t remember being read to as a child. Although my childhood was a perfectly happy and “normal” one. I read to my kids though. I dream very much, thank you. I am NOT a religious person whatsoever. In fact I am an atheist. Look at the bible skeptically? You bet! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/29 "2005-09-08T13:23:07Z")
I’m a fiction avoider. I don’t like movies, either. I simply don’t have that suspension of belief mechanism that allows me to enjoy that sort of thing. But I can be riveted by a true story. I’ve read entire non-fiction books in one sitting. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/30 "2005-09-08T13:34:51Z")
I think you guys are nuts, in a nice way of course. Hating fiction is one of the things on my list of “do not date”. To me, it speaks that your imagination is damaged or lacking. As you say this yourself, I don’t think I’m being insulting, and I don’t mean to insult by simply stating how I feel. One of my most visceral requirements in a SO is reading at least some kind of fiction, and not romance novels either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/31 "2005-09-08T13:57:52Z")
I have no idea why people conflate “reading fiction” with “having a good imagination”. I think that’s a big myth. If anything, I’ve noticed the opposite. The most imaginative people I’ve ever known – those who “what if” the world, those who really challenge your ideas, those who see things a different way than the norm – were not those that very often had their noses buried in works of fiction. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/32 "2005-09-08T14:24:12Z")
For the OP… Does your inability to suspend belief span to other media? For example, do you find no suspense in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Did you not care about anyone while watching Casablanca? Do you find CNN more suspenseful than Saving Private Ryan? Do you laugh at the absurdity of Python’s Holy Grail or do you find it pointless? What about live theater? Can you enjoy Shakespeare? Cats? ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/33 "2005-09-08T14:38:54Z")
As I got older, I grew to prefer non-fiction. I don’t share the OP’s reason that I can’t get involved because some made it up. I don’t enjoy it as much because I cannot find the fiction that I enjoy. I simply ENJOY reading non-fiction more that fiction. It may have to do with my interests. I enjoy reading/learning about espionage, military legal and political subjects. Espionage/Military- I’d so much rather read _Ghost Wars_ or _The Main Enemy_ than something by Clancy or some campy Bond inspired novel. Legal- Why read a formulaic thriller entitled _The Brethren_ by John Grisham (ok, I occasionally still read Grisham because I can finish it in a weekend) when I can read _The Brethren_, an inside look at the US Supreme Court, by Woodward and Armstrong? Politics- Most political novels have an idealized president/candidate who always does the “right thing” (read: the author’s political preference) and yet bears no burden. In other words, implausible. Why read that when I can read about the Clinton presidency in _Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House_ by John F Harris? I’d estimate that my non-fiction to fiction ratio is 3 to 1. But I don’t object to fiction as a medium. I just like non-fiction BOOKS better. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/34 "2005-09-08T14:49:28Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > For the OP… > > Does your inability to suspend belief span to other media? > > For example, do you find no suspense in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Did you not care about anyone while watching Casablanca? Do you find CNN more suspenseful than Saving Private Ryan? Do you laugh at the absurdity of Python’s Holy Grail or do you find it pointless? > > What about live theater? Can you enjoy Shakespeare? Cats? I actually like Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was well done: with a comedic component. Star Wars too, originally, but I haven’t watched any of the “new” Star Wars movies. I didn’t like Saving Private Ryan. It wasn’t so much a movie, as it was a mockumentary. Why not watch some real WWII clips? Live Theatre … well my experience in live theatre is limited to Les Mis and Tommy. I liked them both. Of course Les Miserable is based upon a true story which I read as a kid. And I’m a huge Who fan, so that’s a no-brainer. Now, Monty Python, I love. In fact I love comedies in general. I guess my problem is watching, and reading, stories that are “supposed” to be real in nature. I can suspend my disbelief for the absurd, but not for the real-life dramas. Probably doesn’t make much sense, but there ya’ go. That’s me. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/35 "2005-09-08T15:00:14Z")
Sounds like your issue is with genres within fiction and not fiction itself. ---
**Author:** ![goitazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9a140/32.png) [@goitazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goitazi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/36 "2005-09-08T15:15:09Z")
I’d be rather curious as to how you’d react to Dave Eggers’ _A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius_, which **don’t ask** mentioned. The novel is essentially an autobigoraphy, except throughout the author repeatedly emphasizes that he has taken liberties with his account, and at times, it’s quite obvious that he is descending into wild fantasy. Would you be able to enjoy the work as an unusually written memoir, would you enjoy it until the blatantly fantastical situations arose, or would the air of uncertainty (did this actually happen or not?) pervading the entire work destroy your ability to enjoy it? I am guessing that your problem is not a lack of imagination, but simply that you seem excessively concerned with plot. Plot is a very basic thing that, outside of the hyper-fantastical (eg. Sci-fi, fantasy, etc.), is not very relevent to the substance of a piece of writing. If you did not know that _The Old Man and the Sea_, or _Catcher In The Rye_ or _The Great Gatsby_ were fictional, how could you tell? In each case, the reason the works are great comes from the author’s abilities to tell the story, and these abilities are equally applicable in works of non-fiction. Hemingway, for instance, worked as a journalist before he wrote fiction. How would _The Old Man and the Sea_ be improved if the narrated events were a real life account retold by Hemingway? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/37 "2005-09-08T15:21:43Z")
I, too, beg to differ with the not reading fiction=lack of imagination. I’m very creative; I write songs and can write a pretty good essay if I sit down to it. I’d say that, being a creative person, I’m more turned off because I can see what’s happening on the creative end of things and just go “meh”. Been there, done that. But I don’t _hate_ fiction. Good writing is good writing, and I can appreciate that. I just don’t pursue it, since the subject matter rarely interests me. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/38 "2005-09-08T18:03:35Z")
I’ll say that for me, even though I love crave and devour fiction of all genres with glee, it is rare for me to find anything of high enough quality for me to be immersed in. It is getting increasingly rare that I spend any time reading as a result. Frank Herbert was mentioned, and Tolkien. Both favorites of mine, but most other fiction or fantasy is either so poorly written or so unimaginative that I can’t get past the first chapter. I get into frequent arguments with my parents, who think The DaVinci Code is high literature, and I think is poorly written drivel. I can’t get far enough past the horribly simplistic writing and narrative style of Dan Brown to ever achieve enjoyment or any suspension of disbelief. So, that said, can the dislike of fiction that th OP and others have simply be very high standards? Can it just be you haven’t stumbled across the quality that your brain and imagination requires? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/39 "2005-09-08T18:26:22Z")
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with disliking fiction. You’re into what you’re into. I am completely unmoved by visual art. When I look at a Rembrandt or Picasso, I can understand why someone would like it in an abstract, intellectual level, but it doesn’t do anything for me personally. That said, a few words in defense of literature, or at least some reasons why I like lit, and think it’s worthwhile. 1.) **language** One reason I read is just for the pleasure of watching a master of prose riff on the english language. Prose, if done well, can be as beautiful as poetry. At it’s best it can make you see the world in a new way. You come on a passage and you say “Yes, I never thought of it like that but that’s exactly how it is!” 2.) **insight** A good fiction writer should have the same insight into human nature as a good psychologist, and can create characters with the same deep individuality as real people. This gives fiction freedom that non-fiction doesn’t and shouldn’t have. If I’m writing a history of the _Titanic_ I can only go as far into the heads of the people involved as the public record allows. But if I’m writing a novel, I can re-live the disaster as it was experienced by someone living through it. In _Lolita_ Nabokov convincingly takes us into the mind of a narcissistic pedophile. Humbert Humbert is a reprehensible person, but is fascinating to read about. Through him you gain insight into a certain character that you won’t gain from reading true crime stories. Updike’s character Harry “rabbit” Angstrom takes us through the past few decades of American life in a way that no social history could accomplish. 3.) **Escapisim** I read Science Fiction not to learn more about the world, but to get away from it for a while. (Though there is a lot of wisdom in the better science fiction books.) Dan Simmons’ _Hyperion_ series is a tapestry of marvels that takes me out of the tedium of my own life for a while, and leaves me with a sense of wonder and amazement. YMMV, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604/40 "2005-09-08T18:37:09Z")
> [@goitazi](#): > > I’d be rather curious as to how you’d react to Dave Eggers’ _A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius_, which **don’t ask** mentioned. The novel is essentially an autobigoraphy, except throughout the author repeatedly emphasizes that he has taken liberties with his account, and at times, it’s quite obvious that he is descending into wild fantasy. ? I couldn’t stand this book. It came highly recommended by an English professor but I could only read about 30 pages before throwing the damn thing across the room. It was way, way, _way_ too annoyingly self-aware and ‘cutesy’ for my tastes. I don’t even think Eggers was able to write the page number without some kind of clever and oh-so-precious comment. I understand the book was a huge hit and plenty of people loved it…but I couldn’t take it. I should point out here, though, that I have no problem at all with books of fiction. I do read them and enjoy them for the most part. And I have no problem with suspension of disbelief when it comes to movies. But when it comes to the written page, I simply prefer non-fiction. But in no way do I consider it a “this or that” type of argument. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-read-and-enjoy-fiction/320604.md?page=3)