are you talking about fiction?

I haven't seen a comment like this while going from bottom to top and I don't know if the times even 60 or 70 years before we existed were that great and they just keep getting worse and worse once you keep going down the line of history but It's totally interesting and I think that one of the only reasons that I don't read nonfiction is because I get too bored reading it

I just finished listening to Gerald’s Game and I loved it. Absolutely terrifying and claustrophobic. Recommended.

But that is pleasure for many people.

I wouldn't say that's dumb considering that you study other cultures for fun

the books is not a novel it’s a sketch, it’s a description. there’s no plot. all it does is establish an aesthetic and i don’t understand the hype. people probably like it because they dream of sleeping away their problems too but the book isn’t even well written (which is sad because i think moshfegh is a great writer)

an oversimplified version of what practically everybody says

I love linguistics a lot not so much psychology but they're both very interesting studies

Biographies didn't even cross my mind!

I suppose I was really thinking of nonfiction as textbooks of history and science but biographies are also something to consider when talking about nonfiction

also thanks a lot for taking the time to comment

Bible 2, we’ve taken the bits you like and made more of those and the bits you weren’t so fond of, out they went.

If you didn’t have religion basically beaten into you from your earliest days, no-one would fall for any of it.

when you put it like that I'm surprised I haven't read any nonfiction

I guess I've always just liked to think of escapism as a fictional world but time traveling (as reading a book for the effect) is a very creative way of escapism

Being on a very different level from the people around you (whether you're well above or well below) is going to be inherently isolating, so there's that. But as you say, other things factor in.

i like political books because they show different arguments and are culturally relevant

Ever heard of the saying that truth is stranger than fiction? That's the reason why.

Love to read history and biographies as it provides interesting insights on people and events. Want to read about politicians, start with Tacitus and discover that Roman politics is not very different from today. Wars and their causes are often repeated and rooted in a historical past.

that is a really good answer

I haven't ever thought of it like that. I always assumed that you would read nonfiction for the same reason as fiction (for the pleasure) but being genuinely curious about a topic like that totally makes sense

and thank you for your reply

I like to learn shit.

Same here. I'm the same age as Cline and got all but literally two of the references in the book. It was at the point that I actually felt bad for the characters, who live in a world where there is practically no original art.

But a lot of people enjoyed it and it got a little lot of people into reading, so that's a plus.

I read the book on recommendation from a co-worker who said it was so good, "it even made her cry". How? I guess I am a cold, unemotional reader because this story did absolutely nothing for me but I did finish it just to see how it ended. I agree about the dialogue and the actions of characters seem unrealistic. I haven't had the inclination to read any of her other books.

To learn about subjects I find interesting, theres much more than just history or science as well.

I have not read that but I will check it out. Thanks!

I HATED those classes. Thankfully the books we analyzed weren't ones I acutely liked to read so it didn't have a strong effect. They were mainly nonfiction or "realistic fiction" and I'm mainly a fantasy and scifi reader

I've just gifted this to my dad for Christmas. He loves the stage show and was thrilled to receive the book.

I love fiction. But you know, stranger than fiction is a real thing. Espionage books like The Quiet Americans, true crime novels like Wiseguy, memoirs like The Autobiography of Malcolm X all transport you to a different place and read like novels.And I honestly don't believe you can consider yourself well read if you haven't explored authors that changed the world. Marx, Marcuse, Keynes, Spinoza, etc are must reads in your early 20s. And if you like fantasy there are tons of well written science works that'll melt your face. Isaac Asimov described The Making of the Automic Bomb as “the best, the richest, and the deepest description of the development of physics in the first half of this century that I have yet read, and it is certainly the most enjoyable.” Reading Fiction and non-fiction doesn't have to be an either/ or proposition. Lastly (not necessarily non-fiction, but also def not fiction) if you haven't read Sylvia Plath you haven't lived.

I think my love for learning leads me to reading more nonfiction books. Going to college definitely played a role as well.