Week Eight: Nonfiction Appeal

In Borderlands: Crossing between Fiction and Nonfiction in Readers' Advisory crossover between fiction and narrative nonfiction is highlighted. I find that for myself, I tend to stick to narrative nonfiction more often than not. I am particularly drawn to memoirs, often covering topics that I wouldn't find particularly appealing in fiction (such as the emotional journey of Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love). Why is that? I guess I like the "this happened to a real person!" factor, but without that factor I need some other appealing hook to pique my interest.

Catherine Sheldrick Ross, in her article Reading Nonfiction for Pleasure: What Motivates Readers?, poses the question: "Do [readers] experience the two kinds of reading very differently, for example, by turning to fiction when they want a pleasurable experience but choosing nonfiction when they want to find out facts about the real world?" For myself, at least, it's almost always both. Even in the humorous farce of a Carl Hiaasen novel, I enjoy learning about Floridian culture. And gems like Awkward Family Pet Photos provide some measure of truth (mostly about how weird people are, especially those who take portraits with their pets...) but at the same time it's a laugh riot, certainly a pleasurable experience.

 

I suppose you could say that the pace is different, and the degree of continuity can also be different (following the plot of a novel vs. digesting sometimes only loosely related bits of information). But I like my fiction and nonfiction reads to be pleasurable and informative, and I think there are a lot of other readers who feel the same.