Fiction and nonfiction

[Merflerher]

Do you ever find that reading a novel takes you to nonfiction books about the same topic, or vice versa? Earlier this year I reread Gone with the Wind, and ever since then I've been reading books about the American civil war, both novels and history. The best ones have been Confederates in the Attic, which is a Brysonesque journey around the southern states looking at the monuments to the war, etc and The Killer Angels which is a novel about the battle of Gettysburg.

This obsessing with a theme has happened to me several times, most notably when I read The Quincunx by Charles Palliser which is a pastiche of Dickens and Wilkie Collins - I spent the next year perusing old maps of London and reading Victorian memoirs, as well as rereading Bleak House. Anyone else get obsessed like this?

[Kell]

Sometimes. I remember when I first read an abridged version of Dracula, I did HEAPS of research afterwards on Vlad Tepes, who was the inspiration for the Count, and it was intriguing. I also did loads of follow-up reading about Jack the Ripper after he briefly appeared in a novel I read years ago. I've since read several novels that feature him either as a major or minor character, and I always end up reading something else factual about him too - I find him a fascinating person.

[Freewheeling Andy]

It sometimes happens to me: I read Adam Zamoyski's 1812 earlier this year, and all the history of the Russian side of the Napoeonic wars finally pushed me to read War and Peace. And I guess it was reading The Bridge Over the Drina that led me to read the various bit of Albanian, and then Ottoman and then Byzantine history, as well as the Albanian books by Ismael Kadare.

[Oblomov]

Very much so. Only yesterday, I was browsing through some chapters in A A Hoehling's excellent book The Hindenburg, a well researched work of non-fiction on the disaster. Afterwards, I felt tempted to watch the fictionalised film of that event, starring George C Scott.

 

Likewise, I have a historical interest in WW2 and often follow-up a bit of research with a relaxing work of fiction on the same subject. For example, after reading J McGovern's well researched book Matin Bormann, I went and read The Bormann Brief, a very well written, but completely fictionalised account about the enigmatic Nazi.

[wrathofkublakhan]

Oh my, I read an excellent Louis L'Amour novel about a wagon train crossing the desert to California in the Old West.

There is some really great stuff out there - many of the older maps had California as an island and some old legends had large ships found east of California where there are some dry lake beds and maybe just a hint of possibility. The evidence of the long trade routes up and down the Americas (seashells found in Walnut Canyon in Arizona) made me re-think my ideas of civilization in that whole entire region.

I've been lucky enough to have now visited the cliff dwellings in Walnut Canyon, wonder where the Lost Dutchman Mine might be, and fly down the interstate at 80 mph knowing that a wagon train was lucky to make 12 miles a day!

[SteffieB]

After Maisie Dobbs I stepped right over to the library and researched WWI. Love that book for so many reasons.

[Mels_bells]

I know I do! Like I will start with abook and if I like it i will go on to read anything else that author has written or I can easily become obssessed with a topic.

[Icecream]

I want to read up more on the background of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox,.I love Tolkien's world and want to know more about him and the language he has written. Some books make me dip into my religious textbooks too..I am sure that there are lot's more. I just can't think.

[Nici]

After reading the Earths Children series I started becoming really interested in the Ice Age and I also reasearched some of the places mentioned in the books. My friend (she introduced me to the books) has gone one better and has actually visited the caves in France!

[JudyB]

Anyone else get obsessed like this?

 

 

Yes! It's one of the best aspects of literature.

 

This year alone I've researched New York architecture after reading The Interpretation of Murder

 

The Spanish Civil War after reading Shadow of the Wind

 

Nigeria after reading Half of a Yellow Sun

 

Brookwood Cemetary in Surrey after starting but not finishing The Necropolis Railway.

 

A train robbery during the Victorian era after reading Kept: A Victorian Mystery.

 

Plus there are all the new things you learn just from reading the books and finding out about the people who wrote them.

[Kell]

More recently, I ended up researching a little about Freud and his cronies after reading The Interpretation of Murder, and following on from that, I went a little further and ended up checking out slightly later crimes, such as the Leopold and Loeb case - I now have a bit of an interest in the jazz era because of it...

[JudyB]

Yes The Interpretation of Murder was brilliant for sparking interest as it was so connected with real life events, things, people etc.

[Kylie]

Reading about Australia has given me much more of an interest in learning about the early settlers and the colony. I've bought a few books on this subject now. I've also been driven to look up more info on different places that I've read about in Dracula and The Count of Monte Cristo.

 

After reading A Tale of Two Cities, I realised how little I knew about the storming of the Bastille, so I looked that up too. I tend not to go hunting for more books on the subject though (I have too many already!) Usually I'm just after a bit of further information, and I find that wikipedia will satiate my appetite.

[NiceguyEddie]

Not so much reading books, as browsing on the net. I did so recently after reading The Confessions of Nat Tate.

[Polka Dot Rock]

Reading about Australia has given me much more of an interest in learning about the early settlers and the colony.

 

This is a subject that really interests me - what novels did you read that sparked your research off, Kylie? I want to read more fiction set in Australia, so I'd be grateful for any tips!

[JudyB]

This is a subject that really interests me - what novels did you read that sparked your research off, Kylie? I want to read more fiction set in Australia, so I'd be grateful for any tips!

 

I think The Secret River by Kate Grenville is about early settlers in Australia and if I remember correctly is inspired by her own family's past roots.

[Kylie]

This is a subject that really interests me - what novels did you read that sparked your research off, Kylie? I want to read more fiction set in Australia, so I'd be grateful for any tips!

 

There's a great Australian classic called For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke. It's a brilliant book and really sad. It's out of copyright so can be downloaded here, although it's a fairly long read. There are a lot of historical writings on that page that might interest you.

 

There's also another one I loved called The Men that God Forgot by Richard Butler. An intriguing point to note is that both books are based, in certain parts, on actual events, and the content overlaps just a little in the books (it's interesting to see the differences in the minute details).

 

I think they're really the only two fiction books I've read regarding the early settlers. Since then I've read two non-fiction books consisting of diary entries and letters from a variety of people; I reviewed both on my reading thread (posts #14 and #16). I also have a non-fiction work called The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes on my TBR pile, which is supposed to be really good (although it's very lengthy!)

[Polka Dot Rock]

Kylie & Judy - Thank you both I'll be seeking out your recommendations.

 

(I'm expecting a copy of Peter Cary's The True History of the Kelly Gang soon so that'll be interesting)

[samgrosser]

I think The Secret River by Kate Grenville is about early settlers in Australia and if I remember correctly is inspired by her own family's past roots.

 

I've just read The Secret River and thought it was brilliant - she writes the way that I would like to, wonderfully evocative descriptions (without being wordy), beautifully drawn characters, an amazing sense of place. But I warn you now, it's not a cheerful read!

 

Illywhacker by Peter Carey is another one, although it's a very long time since I read it. I remember that I liked it at the time though.

[pontalba]

This is a subject that really interests me - what novels did you read that sparked your research off, Kylie? I want to read more fiction set in Australia, so I'd be grateful for any tips!

Have you read A Town Called Alice ?

 

Takes place during and after WWII, quite intense in places. Excellent read though.

[Merflerher]

I went a little further and ended up checking out slightly later crimes, such as the Leopold and Loeb case

 

Have you read Compulsion by Meyer Levin? - very good novelisation of Leopold/Loeb case. Out of print I think but I managed to track down a copy via amazon and you can probably find it in libraries.

[~Andrea~]

The classic vampire reading did inspire me to look up the vampire myth on wikipedia. That's generally the level of my non fiction reading though, a quick internet search. Was very interesting though.

[Kylie]

The classic vampire reading did inspire me to look up the vampire myth on wikipedia.

 

I did the exact same thing I also looked up vampire literature because I'm interested in reading more, particularly other stuff written around the same time as Dracula and Carmilla.