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Fact or Fiction


MeMeMeMeMe

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Mine are probably 90% fiction 10% non fiction. But I do like to read factual magazines like the New Scientist as well. I think I go through phases of wanting to read non-fiction but they are always strongly outweighed by my love of fiction.

I think I've become more fiction-oriented as I've got older. I used to read a lot more factual books as a youngster, especially science type ones.

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My bookshelf is around 70% fiction and 30% non-fiction. I read to relax, so fiction makes up the bulk of my collection but I have a lot of books about architecture and cities due to my degree and recently (after reading 3 of Philippa Gregory's Tudor novels) I've been drawn to non-fiction books about the Tudor court. :D

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Mine is about 80 percent non fiction, 20 percent fiction. It is only in recent years that I have started to read fiction again, after 5 years writing my own non fiction book. My library contains lots of different types of books - popular science, religion, mythology, alternative history, mind, body and spirit, travel books, cook books, reference books - dictionaries, thesaurus etc (essential for any writer) and of course books about writing.

 

I used to me like MMMM and read purely for knowledge - this is fine, but I got to the point where I had forgotten what it was to read simply for pleasure. I missed that, so it has been a joy to rediscover good novels.

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80% of mine is probably fiction. I like to relax and read and find fiction helps, particularly days when I read chick-lit just for the happy endings :D I do have a lot of books about child development though, caring for children, theories about childhood due to my uni work. I also have quite a few autobiographies and biographies of celebrities.

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I read more fiction than non-fiction books, but because I tend to spend longer over each non-fiction book, I'd think I probably spend about the same amount of time reading each.

 

But, although I read lots of non-fiction, it's almost never the kind described at the top. I'll rarely read reference or learning books, if ever - it will be travel writing, or history, or biography, or popularised science, or those grand-theme-economics books, or reportage, when I'm reading non-fiction. I just can't get grabbed by learning books.

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I couldn't even estimate percentages, but fiction wins by miles.

 

The non-fiction books are mostly the equivilant of 'dummies guide to' books in various areas of interest - quantum physics, astrophysics/astronomy, archaeoastronomy, the Incas & Aztec civilisations, paeleontology, philosohpy and various books on literature (like say 'vampires in fiction' and so on, which explore the development of various writing styles or themes in literature. Not sure what you call them) and autobiographies or biographies of artists and their works.

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At a guess I'd say a 60/40 split in favour of fiction.

 

For non-fiction I like humorous travel/lifestyle books (Bill Bryson, Danny Wallace, Gervase Phinn...) and I also like to read tie-ins of TV shows I've enjoyed such as Stephen Fry in America, What the Victorians did for us, Who Do You Think You Are? etc. :D

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I do think fictional books can teach you stuff as well, particularly fiction set in a historical backdrop.
May I go a step further and suggest that (good) books teach us so much more than just history? My favourites become my favourites because they have taight me life - to mention but two examples: at 11, The P
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I would honestly say that I read almost no non-fiction at all. I used to, and I have a substantial amount of non-fiction in storage. These are mostly made up of more spiritual books, such as those about Wicca, Paganism, Buddhism, Satanism (this one purely from a curiosity point of view, I assure you) and yoga.

 

I dig out the yoga ones fairly often, to check an asana or something. Other than that I have The Letters of JRR Tolkien which I go through frequently, and a few books about Tolkien to which I occasionally refer. That's about it.

 

Oh, there's the dictionary, and the thesaurus as well, but I'm pretty sure they don't count!

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I would honestly say that I read almost no non-fiction at all. I used to, and I have a substantial amount of non-fiction in storage. These are mostly made up of more spiritual books, such as those about Wicca, Paganism, Buddhism, Satanism (this one purely from a curiosity point of view, I assure you) and yoga.

Yes, but wouldn't a minion of Satan lie about her worship of the Father of Lies? :D

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Yes, but wouldn't a minion of Satan lie about her worship of the Father of Lies? :)

 

Gah, I'm soooo busted :D

 

I read the Satanist's Bible and another book about Satanic ritual. At the time I was interested in alsorts of occultist ideas and decided to look into this. I was actually much surprised at what I found.

 

An interesting spiritual path, but not the path for me. I care about the environment and other beings (animals and people) too much for that. But that's another thread I think and certainly not a debate for General Book Discussions. So much so infact that I just deleted about 100 words of this post and put "at what I found" instead :D

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My non-fictions are:

- a handful of auto/biographies

- a bunch of books on various aspects of Paganism, |Witchraft theory and practice, and herbalism

- natural remedies and essential oils

- nutrition, dietry and cook books

- a whole bunch of cross stitch books

 

Overall, they take up about 40% of my permanent collection. I'm actually surprised, now I come to tot them all up, that I have so much non-fiction in my permanent collection as I thoughtit would be far more fiction-heavy (don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of fiction books on my shelves too!).

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Ooo fiction for definate - and I totally agree that you can learn a huge amount from reading fiction from history to geography, psychology, sociology, life etc . . .

Sometimes I think you can learn more about history, psychology, sociology, and life by reading fiction than you can by reading non-fiction. Also, sometimes what is purported as fact is not.

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Gah, I'm soooo busted :welcome2:

 

I read the Satanist's Bible and another book about Satanic ritual. At the time I was interested in alsorts of occultist ideas and decided to look into this. I was actually much surprised at what I found.

 

An interesting spiritual path, but not the path for me. I care about the environment and other beings (animals and people) too much for that. But that's another thread I think and certainly not a debate for General Book Discussions. So much so infact that I just deleted about 100 words of this post and put "at what I found" instead :)

 

Are you referring to The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey? I think his 'modern' version of Satanism is a bit less OTT than the older traditional stuff, and actually encourages respect towards animals. Strip away some of the occult-related malarkey such as the enochian keys, and it's more about just releasing your potential and appreciating your individuality - a kind of new-age self-help manual, with some naughty bits thrown in to spice it up! :eek:

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Right now it's a fiction-streak for me, and I have a huge TBR pile waiting, but there was a time about 2 years ago when I was like you, and felt it was a 'waste' of time to read anything that didn't teach me something or 'enrich' the mind. It's the opposite now. I just want to be entertained! My tastes change all the time, though and I'm sure I'll revert back to 'education' mode sooner or later.

 

Looking at what's on my shelves I'd say I own about half & half.....? Though the fiction side is getting bigger all the time because I can't seem to stay off amazon!! :)

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