Fix some bad coffee and prepare for a group hug- I fell off the fiction wagon this week.
Though I read a lot, I don't read much fiction. Especially genre fiction. There are a few exceptions and I'll allow myself a few of my favorite fluff authors a year. Sometimes I'll read something like the Twilight series because my children want to read it and I want to check it out first.
In general, fiction is a bit of a no-no for me. Not because I'm a snob but because I have this tiny little problem. When life is hard, or decisions have to be made, or I'm stressed, and I accidently end up with a book of fiction in my hand....
Well- just picture a housewife lying in a gutter clutching a novel, waiting for the library to open. It can start innocently enough. I'll reread a Jane Austin novel to relax one evening. Next, The Count of Monte Cristo. Then I'll go into harder things- a Carl Hiassen murder mystery. From there my library card can access Robert Jordan's sci-fi fantasies...
If things are really bad, really really bad, horrid romances might even call my name. The ones with close-up shots of flowers on the front covers. The romances with remarkably stupid heroines who always manage to spend several chapters shopping for clothing that Target most certainly doesn't carry.
After a few books I don't even enjoy them anymore. It's all about the escape. It's about not living my life but living a life that has everything written in black and white. Living a life with an ending that I can sneak-a-peak at anytime I want.
Except, I like my life. Actually, I love it. It's just the not knowing the endings that gets to me sometimes.
My life has an omniscient narrator. I need to trust the Novelist and stop trying to flip to the end.
Excellent! Fiction as heroin. I like the analogy. I've spent more hours than I care to count reading mysteries, crime novels, etc. Pure escapism. A little can be fun; a lot can steal your life!
ReplyDeleteIf fiction is heroin, classics must be a gateway drug.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I love to read. I love, love, love that my children love to read- but like you said, "a lot can steal your life!"
I struggle with this too! I love that in a book I can get away from all the medical yuck, but there definitely is such a thing as too much. I think I was at that point this winter when I was a prisoner in my home thanks to the cold and snow.
ReplyDeleteI love reading, too...sooo much! I don't just read a lot, I read quite quickly (and get comments, "You couldn't have finished that already)...and it IS an escape, one that I sometimes have to remind myself to snap out of every once in a while.
ReplyDeleteUmmm. I love reading. I love the classics, and I love Nancy Drew (unfortunately). I think Jane Eyre can make life extremely dissatisfying, so I know what you're talking about...I've just never confessed it. I had to stop reading because I couldn't stop. If it was something I liked, or hadn't read...I would read for an entire day, because stopping in the middle really, really, really, kills me.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Leslie and I'm a book-a-holic.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Leslie!!!
ReplyDeleteSusan,
This post really got me thinking and uh, reading is all about the escape. I AM ASHAMED! ;)
Leslie, you always make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, if I want to feel dissatisfied with myself I read a Tom Clancy. All his books are populated by driven over-achievers with Phd's who can also kill people with their bare hands.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I guess I'm more of a sucker for romance. How embarrassing!
ReplyDeleteNancy Drew is very upsetting when you think that by the time you are eighteen you will have a boyfriend on the football team named Ned, adventure at every turn, no responsibilities, and a blue convertible. I still haven't completely gotten over it.
I love Louis L'Amour westerns. Does that make you feel better? Oh, and I have to admit Twilight grew on me, which is actual home school heresy.
ReplyDeleteAs to Nancy, I still yearn to wear white gloves and a hat....
HA! "Picture a housewife lying in a gutter clutching a novel..."! That really spoke to me.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your post -- as a mom, and as a writer. Come on over for some mom inspiration and encouragement.
I love reading - and used to be an avid reader until I had kids - and then found blogging. ;)
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!!
ReplyDeleteYou have a gift.
Humor, wisdom, and perspective.
Just wonderful.
Glad I found this.
great post...loved this! SOOOOO true.
ReplyDeleteI loved this one too. I go back and forth between light mysteries, bio, books on the mafia and a little chic lit. Sadly though, I used to read a book a week and now not so much :-(
ReplyDelete