Wow! (How my brief gush about PotE transformed into a manifesto for non-fic reading)

I just finished Pillars of the Earth, and I already have one of the most effusive reviews I’ve ever written swirling around my mind (do other people review like that?  As I’m reading, various sentences/themes will pop up, and by the end of the book, the review is usually just sitting in my head waiting to be typed out).  But, I’m going to give it a bit more time to settle.  (Perhaps there’ll be a post later today as well, since that’ll help me catch up the days that I’ve missed blogging).

In the mean time, I thought I’d talk a little more about non-fiction, since in rereading that meme below, I realise I must have been a bit grumpier than I thought I was!  (I have an illness that, when it flares up, loves to deprive me of sleep, so that’s certainly a part of it)  And, my present love of non-fiction is the culmination of an arduous, year-long journey, which didn’t really come out much in that meme.  And, I’d love to see further discussion of it around the blogosphere, since as CJ Hill pointed out, it’s not talked about much.  And, I’m trying to see how many sentences I can begin with the same word in one paragraph. ;)

So, flashback to January 1st, 2007.  Little newbie blogger Eva has decided that one of her reading resolutions ought to be to keep her fic:nonfic ratio at 3:2.  This is actually what it was at for 2006, when I only read around 100 books, so the  goal didn’t seem unrealistic.  (Little did I know that somehow, I’d read crazy amounts of fiction in 2007, which severely affected the ratio, lol)  I made a bit of an effort that winter to seek out great non-fiction: I got together a big long list and made a personal challenge so I could have the satisfaction of striking through titles.  That worked for awhile, but by August I realised I was nowhere near my ratio goal.  So I set a new rule (and personal challenge) for myself, that I figured would at least keep me at 3:1: for the rest of the year I had to read seven non-fic books a month (later, I changed it to six plus The Economist, which at about 100 pgs/wk equaled a 400 pg book every month).  At first, it was incredibly painful.  I would put it all of until the end of the month, and then race through books feeling guilty.  But soon, I realised something: although I always expected the non-fiction to be ‘burdensome’ somehow (because it’s not like people ever really procrastinate on pleasures, lol), I usually ended up enjoying the books a lot.  By December, it was becoming natural for me to reach for a non-fic book, and I often had several from different genres going at once, just like my fiction reading.

And by this year, I’ve pretty much developed the non-fic habit.  Out of the thirty-four books I’ve read, eleven have been non-fic (and I’m sooo close to finishing The Looming Tower).  Not only that, I no longer think of non-fic as a chore: instead, I look forward to the books and savour them as a I read them. 

This post has turned into such an exercise of navel-gazing, lol.  But here’s what I learned from four-five months of effort, which I’m sharing in case it helps other people’s quest for great non-fic (note the desperate attempt to make this seem less egocentric): I enjoy the kind of non-fiction that comes with fifty to a hundred pages of endnotes/bibliographies/further reading suggestions/etc.  The works, in my experience, are deeper, the authors are more invested, and I feel like I’m getting something out of my reading (I have a tendency to rage at flimsily-supported nonfiction).  That’s one of my litmus tests for grabbing non-fic out of the library, actually, and it works.  (Except, of course, for memoirs.)  The more specific the book’s nominal focus, the more interesting it’s likely to be (this kind of focus allows me to become a mini-expert in some field, and the author usually puts it in larger context as well)-for example, I never would have expected to love a book all about Patrick Henry, a newly founded Evangelical private college.  But it was just fascinating!  So be willing to look for books discussing topics outside of your usual interest.  I really like reading books about contemporary American society written by journalists (and, to be even more specific, the Washington Post writers and I are BFF-I’ve read works by three of them and loved them all).  For me, there is nothing more satisfying that curling up with an advanced/technical-ish book on my non-fic ‘expertise’ (international relations), so while exploring new topics, don’t forget to ground yourself in your favourite field! I also think that there should be more non-fic reading challenges out there, but that’s just because I enjoy challenges so much!  (And on that note, I’m working on one centered around international relations, but don’t worry-it won’t be a for awhile)  Reading great non-fiction critically reminds me of having one-on-one conversations with some of my favourite professors: regardless of whether I agree with the author, s/he expands my views and sharpens my personal beliefs.  Really, and at the risk of sounding corny, I’ve begun to look upon my non-fic reading as way to continue the ‘liberal arts’ philosophy throughout my life; by examining various viewpoints in a certain field, I can get the equivalent of at least an introductory course to a wide range of topics at a price that can’t be beat!  Finally, it is possible to incorporate great works of non-fic into your life, although it may take awhile and be difficult at the beginning.  I realise that my way probably won’t work for a lot of people (I’m highly motivated by lists, quotas, concrete goals like that), but for those who want to try out some more non-fic, check out the second of my “Lists of 2007” page, entitled “Page Turning Non-Fiction.”

What about all of you?  Do you wish you read more non-fic?  Do you ever set ‘rules’ for yourself to try to make that happen?  Have some favourite authors or books to recommend?  Which reminded me-any suggestions for essayists?  I’d love to expand my experience in that genre this year (currently, I pretty much worship at George Orwell’s feet).  Anything else you’d like to add to the discussion?