Do you ever read fiction?

[Pendrench]

To be honest, because there are so many great non-fiction books that I want to read (and reading time can be limited) I hardly (if ever) read any fiction. In fact, when I do read fiction, it's usually something like "The Killer Angels" (which I guess would be considered "historical fiction").

Tim

[madame defarge]

1. Short stories in noted magazines...

like the New Yorker are good sometimes. But I'm with you; I hardly ever get to true fiction anymore. Reading "Mao" now. Man, if you think Clueless George was bad...

[acmejack]

2. Not for the last four years.

I used to love fiction, I would escape in a wonderful work of fiction for entertainment. Now, "Greenspan's Fraud" or "American Theocracy" have a much greater sense of immediacy for me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. I tend to read Fuckstick's presidential speeches.

Those are always fiction.

But also I love fiction novels. Especially good ones (though that seems to go without saying). But I don't get enough time for it that I would like.

[skids]

4. Not often.

Just whenever William Gibson writes a new novel, and maybe another one or two a year.

[Poppyseedman]

5. Do you ever read fiction?............Like Free Republic

Yes, I do manage to lurk over there once in a while

[dipsydoodle]

6. Every single day

it's called news.

[BOSSHOG]

7. I never miss a James Lee Burke Book

His next one is out in July. He writes about an alcoholic, Vietnam Vet who fights crime and internal demons in and around New Orleans. I also keep an eye out for military fiction; but non-fiction books about the Navy are at the top of my to get list.

If you like bookstores, New Orleans is chock full of them. You could spend days in the ones in and around the Frency Quarter. I'm not talking chain stores, but honest to goodness book stores.

[lindisfarne]

8. All the time. Aside from much of the "news", I also read fiction in the

form of books.

[Kiouni]

9. i know what you

mean but i tend to pick an author and read all his work. I was reading all of Jared Diamonds books and got alittle burned out so i read a Kurt Vonnegut to help things along.

[NJCher]

10. cat mysteries

and fiction that focuses on the garden.




Cher

[NMMNG]

11. Yes

Classics, utopian/dystopian stories, time travel stories, stories of the ice-age, etc.

[Jim__]

12. Yes.

Good fiction can get at the truth better than non-fiction. It doesn't have to be concerned about getting superficial details correct.

[CrispyQ]

13. I agree with the poster above about the immediacy of works like

American Theocracy. I've read 99% non-fiction the past 4 years. Gasp! I never read non-fiction before unless it was a text book.

I have started It Can't Happen Here & I want to re-read The Handmaid's Tale & Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower series. All are relevant today.

I love sci fi, but don't source out new stuff very often.

[NMMNG]

15. American Theocracy

I'm on the waiting list for that at the library. As soon as a copy is available in the county system they'll ship it to my local branch and alert me. I'm dying to read it.

A book I just read that scared me was The Hijacking of Jesus:How The Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice and Hate. It describes the RR's ascension from the mid-sixties to the present and their entire agenda. As I feared it goes deeper than what they've declared thus far.

[MountainLaurel]

20. Thank you for that suggestion

I grew up attending a fundamentalist church, so I know what these folks are capable of. However, I've noticed that too many people think they're just harmless fringe members.

[niccolos_smile]

14. Yes, I just finished the Simarillion not too long ago

[Bullwinkle925]

16. I love books - period. Fiction, Non-Fiction - doesn't matter.

Finished "The Devil Wears Prada" a few weeks ago and the current readings are non-fiction. "TDWP" was a fast, escapist, comic-relief reading vacation for me.

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. of courseI read fiction--

variety is the spice of life (they say)

[cynatnite]

18. Yeah, but I'm finding non-fiction more interesting now...

I wind up buying books on discount and if I sort through the cheap stack at a bookstore the fiction doesn't sound all that interesting. Non-fiction has really grabbed a hold of me in the last year or so.

[ramapo]

19. Not so much anymore

I now have a hard time finding fiction books that don't seem like a rehash of something that I've already read. And there are just so many fascinating non-fiction books to read.

I've always enjoyed Stephen King, realistic sci-fi, Grishom, the adventures of Dirk Pitt,
and many, many others. There've been many great fiction reads, favorites like Atlas Shrugged.

I have a stack of non-fiction to get through but maybe my next bookstore trip should include a look down the fiction aisles.

[shimmergal]

21. Yes...They're two quite different

kinds of reading. I read fiction mostly for vicarious experience, I guess, so I can "live other lives", and in other places, besides my own. A bit simplistic, maybe, but I think that's why I can get so absorbed in a novel, in a way that even the most interesting and enlightening nonfiction book doesn't make happen for me.

[terrya]

22. Of course.

It's a balance of 50/50 between fiction and non-fiction for me.

[bhikkhu]

23. Umberto Ecco, though he hardly qualifies...

I am often given a hard time by my wife for never reading fiction, but the world of "fact" and history can be so fascinating.

Actually I read with my children often. The Harry Potter series is a recent (and pleasing) accomplishment, as is "Dragonrider" by Cornelia Funke, and a re-reading of the Earthsea books by Le Guin.