Why We Read: 70 Writers on Non-Fiction
by Edited by Josephine Greywoode
Published by Penguin
ISBN 9781802060959
It’s no secret that I love books and reading, both fiction and non-fiction. It’s an integral part of who I am and has been for as long as I can remember. I like reading books about books and books about people’s relationships with books. I like reading what their favourite books are and why. So when I saw this book, I figured it’d be right up my street. And it was! It's a great read. As I was reading the short essays on why these writers read non-fiction and what they get out of it, I was thinking about why I read non-fiction. Sometimes I seek out a book because I am interested in the topic already and want to learn more about it. At other times, I come across a book about something that I never thought about before or that I didn’t think I was particularly interested in, but that seems compelling enough to read. Since I grew up a misfit in US suburban culture, I’ve always been interested in understanding how other people live, memoir, life story, biography, and autobiography provide me with a wealth of choice. I am a generally curious person and books are the best way for me to learn. Beyond all of these reasons why though, there is one that contains them all. I have always been fascinated by people’s passions in life—the things that make them light up, dig deeper, spend time stuck in, and get excited. Non-fiction provides a window into this. To write a good non-fiction book, writers have to be willing to spend a very long time researching, thinking, and following sometimes obscure information where it leads. They have to be passionate about their topic to do all that and then spend the time turning what they’ve learned into a book that will enlighten others and possibly set readers off on new voyages of discovery. One of the writers in this book, Ananyo Bhattacharya, wrote this:
‘The only pattern I can find in all that ceaseless reading is that one book invariably led to another, and I never felt that there would be the time to read all that I wanted and needed to. And perhaps that is why we read; because it is a habit, an addiction, a compulsion, an affliction and a necessity. Like drawing breath.’ (p 15, italics in original)
What do you like to read and why?
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this e-galley in return for a review.
8 comments:
I love reading and also reading about what other people read. This sounds really interesting. Thanks for sharing.
It was a fun and enjoyable read! So many interesting viewpoints! :-)
Dear Shari,
I read pretty much everything "all over the place", but non-fiction is rarely among them, unless they are particularly exciting or amusingly written like Stephen Hawking's books or e.g. Breakfast with Kangaroos or other books by Bill Bryson. And I think some biographies are great too, whether it's Stefan Zweig's about Marie Antoinette or Keith Richards' autobiography. Like you, I like to learn and am curious. But I also like crime fiction, fictional stories - preferably set against a real historical background, novels that deal with psychology like Irvin D. Yalom's, well-written love stories - and I really like fantasy books, both for children and adults . For example, my husband and I love the Potter universe, and we both love the Otherland saga and other Tad Williams stories because they cleverly wrap real-world problems into a compelling story set in a fascinating fantastic world.
All the best and Happy May, Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/05/wanderlust-blogparade-der-u30blogger.html
I go back and forth between fiction and non-fiction or I have one of each going at the same time. Lately (for the past couple years) a good chunk of my fiction has been classics and I am in love with the Queens of Crime and enjoy other Golden Age of detective fiction authors as well. I also love a good dystopia. Never have been able to get into fantasy and while I did get through the first Harry Potter, I didn't go on to the rest. I'm not familiar with Tad Williams and Otherland, but it sounds like it might be a series and those are fun (but it's a bit sad when getting to the end!) I was always an oddball in my anthropology departments because I was the only one who was not into sci fi/fantasy and had no idea what my colleagues were talking about when they would reference such works! I think they liked the world building and the cultures the authors created. :-D
How wonderful it is that there are books to feed the hearts and minds of people with wildly different tastes! Hurray for books! :-) Happy reading.
Dear Shari,
yes, Tad Williams mainly writes series - the Otherland Saga consists of four books with about 1000 pages each (in German, English is shorter ;-)) - and it's true, the worlds that Williams is creating, are one important point that is special and fascinating about it.
And Edi and I became "friends" of the often very unusual protagonists [a boy with progeria who is a strong hero in a computer game, a very clever San (Bushman), an Australian Aborigines policewoman, etc.]. Their fate is interwoven in the story in an unusual way - through a computer game that holds a dangerous secret. You take them to heart and have a fever with them that they survive their adventure - and at the same time you learn so much about the lives of these people / cultures. There is also a lot of social criticism in it, because there are greedy rich adversaries (like they exist in the real world) who walk over corpses (is that how you say it in English?) - ruthless, selfish to the extreme. You are right, when this series was finished, it was difficult to say goodbye - I have already read this series 3 times to meet my friends again ;-))
When I read the first Potter book, I thought to myself: This is THE book I missed when I was a kid! And the child in me also loved the following books. By the fourth Potter book at the latest, however, the adult Traude also felt addressed :-)
You're absolutely right, it's wonderful that there are books for every taste!
Best wishes,
Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/05/monatsruckblick-auf-den-april-teil-1.html
I think I know what you mean about walking over corpses--maybe exploitation describes it?
Exploitation is definitely part of it, when we say "jemand geht über Leichen". But it also means general unscrupulousness. Such people are completely indifferent to the consequences for others, e.g. even if they poison land or water to make a profit, if they eliminate competitors and destroy them, at least in economic terms, etc. I found the following translation options on the Internet: to sell one's own grandmother, to stick at nothing... But I think that's not strong enough to translate the term.
Ich verstehe! I think walking over corpses is definitely an apt description!
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