The Old Book Debate

Fiction vs Non-Fiction. Does reading non fiction make you seem smarter? Is reading fiction an escape from reality? When someone asks if I like reading fiction or non fiction better, I never know how to answer. Sometimes I’m in the mood to read a non fiction story just to know that the people in the book are real and the story really happened to them. Other times I want to escape into fiction books where the happily ever after is usually hiding in the last few chapters.

I have tons of favorite fiction books and authors, but my most recent favorite non fiction read is Crazy by Pete Earley. This book just sticks with me. The tragedy of loss of options for treating the mentally ill is heartbreaking. The story told from the father’s perspective gives the reader insight on how hard the family’s situation is.

I guess I like non fiction because sometimes there isn’t a happy ending and nothing is really resolved, but the “characters” still have to move forward. It’s a little more real than fiction. However, sometimes after a long day, who wants to curl up with reality? Do you have strong preference for fiction or non fiction books? What do you like and dislike about each?

Current read: Murder by Family by Kent Whitaker

Murder, Magic and Madness

I don’t often read non-fiction. I much prefer the fantastic worlds of science fiction or fantasy. But occasionally a book will come along with writing so crisp and a story so engaging that it makes me read outside of my comfort zone just to see what it’s all about. Has there ever been a book that you were surprised to find yourself reading?

For me, one such book was The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. The story fully lives up to the “murder, magic and madness” it promises in its sub-title, and does it so well that it was the 2004 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the 2003 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction, and was on the shortlist for the 2003 CWA Gold Dagger award for non-fiction.

Larson frames his story around the lives of two men: Daniel Burnham, architect, and Herman Mudgett, otherwise known as Dr. H. H. Holmes, serial killer. As Burnham planned and constructed the towering “White City” that would hold the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Holmes was constructing his own legacy of death, culminating in the three-story high, block long “Murder Castle.”

The highlight of the book is definitely when the two stories meet during the six month run of the Exposition, but I was kept on the edge of my seat until the very end, anxious to find out how events wrapped up.

The Devil in the White City is not for the faint of heart. True crime rarely is: it hits too close to home, and it can be a shock when you realize the horrific things that you’re reading about are not the inventions of an author sitting at a computer, but the actions of a real person. It is a fascinating read for those who want a chill up their spine this summer.

Non-fiction That Reads Like Fiction

For the most part I think of myself as a fiction reader - but what I really am is a "good" story reader. Any good story! Give me a riveting, what-happens-next plot and I'm hooked. The following are non-fiction titles that 'read' like fiction. The kind you can't put down. Give these a try:

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
A Trip to the Beach by Melinda Blanchard
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Drinking a Love Story by Caroline Knapp
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Horatio's Drive by Dayton Duncan
Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury
Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen
Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan
Lucky by Alice Sebold
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

Do you have favorite non-fiction titles? Please share with us!