So, the other day my friend (and coworker) Kip passed this transcript on to me. It embodies three of my favorites--NPR, Ian McEwen (though I didn't like his last book much), and fiction.
But first a little background. I have been noticing of late that the men in my office, with maybe one exception, hardly ever read fiction! This is also true of Josh. It's all non-fiction all the time. Now don't get me wrong, I too love non-fiction (good ones I'm reading or have recently read include The Omnivore's Dilemma and Traveling Mercies), but it's just not the same. And I couldn't figure out why the men in my life don't give fiction a chance.
Well, according to the transcript above, it apparently could be because they lack empathy and a broad emotional range. But really? Is that old gender stereotype that women are interested in relationships and men in facts so true? Say it ain't so!
So, here's an informal poll to all two men out there who read this blog. What's the last book you read and what made you choose it?
(To see what I've been reading, go here).
5 comments:
OK, the very last book I read was yesterday (start to finish), but it doesn't count because it was in preparation for a seminar I'm teaching in semantics.
But just two days before that I finished _The Ionian Mission_ by Patrick O'Brian. This is the eighth book in a series I have read over the last few months. They are all fiction. I warrant that they are kind of adventure novels, but human relationships are not completely ignored.
In the last year I have read probably a dozen novels.
Funny you should ask this right now. Last couple of years I have been reading only non-fiction. However, last 5 books, knowing that you only asked for one, have been fiction. Here they are starting from the most recent one.
Milan Kundera: Slowness
Tove Jansson: Moominpappa at Sea.
Tove Jansson: Moominland in Midwinter
J.W. Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Kalevala (the national epic of Finland).
To be honest I'm also currently reading Honour & Fleming A World History of Art (non-fiction). I'm studying art history...
The last book I read that was not for school or work was Cesar’s way by Cesar Millan nonfiction. The one before that was Marley and Me by John Grogan also nonfiction which was a great book I highly recommend it.
I am the Kip whereof Rachel speaks. While I admit to reading non-fiction more than fiction these days, I do read fiction. In fact, the last book I read was A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I picked up because I liked The Kite Runner. During the past year, I've read other novels such as Gilead, Wicked, and The Namesake. That's not a ton of fiction, certainly, but I'm a slow reader. Furthermore, if I were to look at the literature I've read throughout my life, I've read far more fiction than non-fiction. But for some reason, in the past couple of years, I've been drawn more to non-fiction.
I don't know that I have a particularly clear idea why I've read less fiction of late. I'm pretty certain that it isn't because I'm less empathetic ;-) Some of it is just coincidence. I've read what has been recommended to me or what I've heard about on the radio or on tv. And for some reason, that has seemed to lead me to non-fiction.
Part of it may be that it's easier to know what a non-fiction work is about before you read it. So if I have an interest in a particular topic such as food or genocide or birds or immigration, it's a lot easier to find non-fiction works on these topics than to find a novel that deals with them.
And I'm sure there are other less conscious reasons as well. Maybe some are elucidated in the article Rachel refers to. Who knows?
In any case, this discussion with Rachel has made me realize that I need to get back to reading more fiction as well as reading just in general. I hope that I like good writing regardless of whether it is fiction or non-fiction.
Finally, I'm curious why women aren't drawn more to non-fiction. But then this isn't my blog :-)
Hi, I'm a friend of Rachael Bailey's and linked over here from her blog. Interesting discussion! My husband loves fiction actually, but he doesn't fit the male sterotypes most of the time either. ;-) We both loved reading all the Stephanie Meyer books (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse). He devours a good fiction book. But we both enjoy non-fiction too. We've read several memoirs together. Right now it's Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge. And we just started Richard Bushman's Joseph Smith Biography too.
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