When people say " I don't read Fiction" what do they mean?

I’ve been guilty of using the phrase “I don’t read fiction” as an excuse to turn down someone’s recommendation of their favorite romance/conspiracy theory/existentialist melancholia novel, etc. Truth is, only about 5-10% of what I read is fiction, and mostly when I’m on vacation (especially in airplanes). There’s just so many things I like to learn about, rather than escape into some fictional character that I can’t identify with - except once in a great while, I do enjoy escaping.

But, I am a Doper. My husband, who is not a Doper, never reads fiction. He only reads to learn something directly related to his career or his life. The closest he comes to reading for “pleasure” is to ready biographies of people who interest him, and it can take him over a year to finish one of those.

Well you see, most of us don’t live in isolation and know lots and lots of people who aren’t dopers. Most of those people are actually literate too. :dubious: