The Cozy Book Corner No. 5: Balancing Fiction and Nonfiction

Welcome to my Monday feature!

Note

I have moved this feature

from Friday to Monday.

In each weekly post, I explore 

my thoughts on several 

book-related topics.

Note

This post might sound a bit 

like the one from last week.

Please bear with me. I think my 

subconscious mind simply decided to

expand upon the topic presented in 

the previous post.   

Book blogging is such a delightful venture! All of us who blog about books do so because we love to write book reviews, post other kinds of book articles, and, of course, also love to meet other passionate bookworms. 

Most book bloggers, I've noticed, blog about fiction, and prefer specific fiction genres, as well. However, there's a number of book bloggers who also, or even exclusively, blog about nonfiction. The first example that comes to mind is that of Brian Joseph, whose blog, Babbling Books, contains fascinating posts about both fiction and nonfiction books. I'm not sure whether he consciously strives to keep a balance between these two broad categories, but I do see a nice mix of the two on his blog.

In the years since I began to blog about books (2010), I have often resisted specializing in one specific genre or category, preferring to have an eclectic blog, instead. However, I have also noticed that, whenever I have posted a review about a nonfiction book, I usually got very few or no comments. This was very discouraging, as I wanted -- and still want -- to be able to read and review all the genres I love, and these definitely include nonfiction books. 

One day, I decided to start a blog specifically for classics, literary fiction, adult fantasy, science fiction, and nonfiction. I also wanted to include Christian fiction. Thus, MindSpirit Journeys was born, in 2012. Meanwhile, I decided to dedicate my first blog, A Night's Dream of Books, exclusively to the Young Adult Fiction genre, with perhaps an occasional adult title (historical romance, for instance) every so often.

I soon began to feel the pressure of having two blogs, so I abandoned MindSpirit Book Journeys for quite some time. I didn't think I'd ever return to it, but eventually, I did, for the simple reason that I wanted to review books I knew my YA audience wouldn't be interested in. Most of these were nonfiction books.

Then the tug-of-war began.....it took me a long time to actually acknowledge it, but now I am doing so. Both fiction and nonfiction are interesting to me; both draw me in, and there are times I prefer to read one more than the other. So it's quite impossible for me to attempt to make sure I read an equal number of books in each category, much as I would love to! I simply "go with the flow", at least most of the time.

Even when I begin reading a novel that keeps me turning pages, there are times when I fall into certain moods, or some topic catches my interest. At such times, I frequently will abandon or "leave for later" whatever novel I happen to be reading, and reach for a nonfiction book.

A case in point: for several days now, I've had the novel Water For Elephants in my sidebar, posted as the next book I'll read. Well, sure enough, a nonfiction book has caught my attention, and this is the book I'm actually reading.... I'm not sure why I got into it, except that the topic involved -- the Kaballah -- has been an interest of mine for quite some time, even though I haven't read about it consistently, or extensively. The reason for this, ironically, is that I've been pulled away by either other nonfiction books, or some very compelling novels! Now I'm feeling a pull in the opposite direction, and so I have started (I'm currently in the middle) Kaballah: Key to Your Inner Power, by Elizabeth Clare Prophet.

I have already changed the picture in the sidebar to reflect my real current read. So now I'm feeling somewhat "guilty" for not reading the other book at this time, when I was "supposed to". I almost feel as if I have to make it up to this book, as if its feelings had been hurt.... Kinda funny, right?

I do want to read Water For Elephants. I will probably do so after I finish the Kaballah book. Well, that will happen unless another nonfiction book happens to catch my eye.... Could there possibly be such a thing as "fickleness" and "unfaithfulness" in reading?

I wonder if other book bloggers also experience this tension between reading fiction and nonfiction. I wonder if any of my fellow bookworms agonize over their decisions to read one or the other of these two categories...

Compounding the problem, in my particular case, is the fact that I do have two blogs, AND, on top of that, am a pretty slow reader, usually managing to finish 2 or 3 books a month. This means that, if I read a book that I know I will review on one of my two blogs, that's time I cannot spend reading a book that I will review on the other blog, because of the different target audiences.

What to do?! I'm seriously thinking of flipping a coin the next time I get ready to start reading something!  I consider myself a fairly intelligent person. I should be asle to decide, in a logical, non-emotional manner, which book -- as well as genre -- I should read next. Well, perhaps Mr. Spock would calmly be able to do so, but I have emotions, and it's frequently my emotions that influence my choice of fiction vs. nonfiction. On the other hand, intellectual interests do influence my decision to read nonfiction (although these interests are tinged with emotion, as well, albeit one of intellectual fascination). There are many topics that utterly fascinate me. Most of them have to do with psychology, art, literary criticism, theology, and even some philosophy and science. History is another topic I want to read more about, as well.

The thing is, when I am caught by the pull of a particular interest, I am unable to ignore it, and stick with the book I had previously chosen to read. Whether the pull is an emotional or intellectual one (or a mixture of the two), actually doesn't matter at all. I feel compelled to abandon my previous reading plan, and go with the one that has unexpectedly presented itself....

Meanwhile, my mind and emotions are usually torn; I want to go on with my original intent. But there are other times in which I feel no regrets whatsoever, and happily go on with my revised reading plan.

So the struggle continues.... As I look over my bookshelves, here in our living room, my eyes lovingly caress all those fascinating book spines, and I sigh with a mixture of love nd despair.....I love all of these books, and want to read them all, but don't know if I'll EVER be able to, especially when there are times I can't decide between reading fiction or nonfiction, and, even when I make a choice, I still look longingly at the book I have "left behind" for later, wondering if perhaps I never will get back to it....               

What are your thoughts 
on this subject?
How do you balance fiction and nonfiction in 
your reading life?

The Cozy Book Corner No. 3: How do I choose which book to read next?

Welcome to my Monday feature!

Note

I have moved this feature

from Friday to Monday.

In each weekly post, I explore 

my thoughts on several 

book-related topics.

For the longest time now, I've been wondering just what, if anything, influences people's choices of books to read and blog about. There are book bloggers who blog only about a specific genre or type of book. For instance, I've seen a lot of blogs totally dedicated to Young Adult books. Others only cover Christian books, while still others stick with classics, or science fiction and fantasy (these two usually go together), or mostly nonfiction. Then there are others, like me, who tend to be more eclectic, but I've noticed that eclectic bloggers are not as common as those who prefer one particular genre or type of book. This is why I decided to start this blog, which is only for classics, literary fiction, and nonfiction. My other blog, A Night's Dream of Books, is mostly for Young Adult Fiction (I will occasionally feature an adult book from time to time).

In my case, I've noticed that it's one of two factors that influence what I will most likely read next: either my emotional state, or my preoccupation with certain intellectual or spiritual matters. 

The first became very apparent when I fell head over heels in love for the very first time. Not that I hadn't been in love before that, but that particular time, it was especially strong. How did this affect my choice of books to read? Well, I completely lost interest in the types of books I had read until then -- science fiction, fantasy, classics, and nonfiction. (Hmmm, I guess I've always been a little eclectic.) Instead, I started reading romance novels. Once my appetite was whetted, I began obsessively buying and reading them! I was living in a rosy, romantic haze..... The funny thing is, I had previously looked down my nose at these books. I hate to admit that I even thought that women who read this genre were silly and shallow. How ironic, then, to find myself abandoning my loftier subject matters for this fluffy stuff! The irony hit me even then, but I still couldn't stop myself from reading the genre. I read mostly historical romances back then. I still read a lot of romance novels nowadays, but my preferred sub-genre now is paranormal romance. 

I'm now making a concerted effort to read weightier material. I don't want to stop reading romance novels, though. I came to realize that these books fulfill a need for women, a need that no other type of literature can possibly satisfy, and that it's something uniquely ours. I consider myself an intellectual person, but I still have this need for romance, in common with all other women. it's the need to read beautiful, romantic language, to feel the sexual tension in a new relationship, to immerse myself in the plot twists that seem to separate the lovers, but that will bring them together for that all-important 'happily ever after'. These are feminine emotional needs. However, I do want all of these plot elements to be balanced by others. The female protagonist must be a strong character on her own, not 'a female in distress'. She must be willing to assert herself with the male protagonist. Furthermore, it's great when SHE rescues HIM at times!

On other occasions, I feel the need to read other things like science fiction and fantasy, or nonfiction. These are the times that I've come across something interesting on the Internet, which stimulates my mind, and therefore, I need to delve into it further. For instance, I'm currently preoccupied with certain intellectual/spiritual concerns, such as what to accept or reject from New Age philosophy, researching contradictions I have found in the Bible, and exploring the influence of culture, temperament, genetics, and upbringing on a person's individual moral code.

Last year, I read and reviewed The Psychology of Twilight for my other blog. Some people might scoff at this seemingly frivolous reading material. This is not true at all, however. I've found that this book deals with such fascinating things as attachment theory manifesting in the way the main characters in the Twilight books relate to each other. There's also a fascinating discussion of prejudice in the book, and another section, titled "Gestalt and Twilight" goes into depth on this school of psychology, which "...tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world." (Gestalt Psychology:Wikipedia)

Interestingly, while reading this book, I delved briefly into other books dealing with the concerns I've mentioned above.  

One of the books I've delved into is titled Myths of the Bible, by Gary Greenberg. Another is titled Awakening Your Inner Light, by Aeoliah. And then there's A Kabbalah for the Modern World, by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, which is the book that started me wondering about Biblical myths and contradictions. In this book, Gonzalez-Wippler claims that the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament) contains the stories of Adam, Eve, and the serpent, whereas the original Hebrew version does not. So now I need to research this topic. In relation to this, I have yet another book somewhere in this condo, titled Biblical Nonsense, by Dr. Jason Long. And then I also want to read The Battlefield of the Mind, by Joyce Meyer, as well as Shattering Your Strongholds, by Liberty Savard. These last two are Christian authors, and they have both inserted a bit of psychology into their books, which makes them even more interesting to me!

Sometimes, I might be in the middle of some exciting novel, only to get pulled away from it because an emotional state demanding some other type of reading interrupts. If I've been having problems at work, for example, I will suddenly want to pick up a book on how to deal with bullying by either bosses or co-workers. If I have an argument with my husband, I will suddenly want to read a book on how to improve communication in marriage. If I'm feeling down, I will suddenly want to pick up a book on  dealing with the blues. And, if I'm feeling inadequate, I will suddenly want to pick up a book on bolstering one's self-esteem, or one dealing with positive affirmations.

In short, I look to books for answers to emotional issues, as well as for answers to intellectual and spiritual concerns. Of course, there are times I simply want to be entertained, to escape. Then I will turn to some type of romance. If I want to escape this planet, I will then turn  to science fiction, and if it's reality altogether, I will seek out fantasy, although paranormal romance and urban fantasy also serve the purpose quite well.

So it seems that, in my case, as well as most likely in the case of many other readers, it's really moods that drive my selection  of reading matter. I would imagine, however, that this is especially true of eclectic readers and book bloggers. We're kind of 'a breed apart', sampling here and there, like hummingbirds flitting from one flower to another. It's not always easy to balance different genres, as well as the constant battle between fiction and nonfiction.

While writing this post, I remembered a book I bought some years ago, and haven't gotten around to reading. It's titled Reading To Heal: How To Use Bibliotherapy To Improve Your Life. The author's name is Jacqueline D. Stanley. This book actually recommends certain books to read, based on emotional issues one needs to heal. Some of these books are fiction, while others are nonfiction. I'm not sure where I put this book (perhaps it's in storage), but I want to get it and discover the books recommended by the author. Unfortunately, Amazon does not offer a preview of this book, so I am unable to check out the Table of Contents.
 

Another such book I want to read is titled Bibliotherapy: The Girl's Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives, by Beverly West and Nancy Peske. A preview of this particular book is available on Amazon, so I was able to take a look at the Table of Contents. Some of the chapter titles are actually hilarious! Here are some samples: Chapter 3: When You Still Think You Can Change Him - Bad Boy Books, Chapter 4: When You're Ready To Make Your Own Kind of Music -- Hearing-Your-Inner-Voice Books, Chapter 5: When You're Wallowing In A Sullen Perennial Adolescence -- Coming-of-Age Books, Chapter 9: When Your Biological Alarm Clock Is Ringing and You Can't Find the Snooze Button -- Midlife Crisis Books, and so on. 

I'm feeling a very strong need to order these books from Amazon right this very minute! I have to reign in this impulse, though.....I might be able to find the first book, Reading to Heal, somewhere on my shelves...... As for the second one, I'll have to grit my teeth and get it as a Kindle edition, since I can't fill our new apartment with books....That's the reason I had to put so many in storage when we moved.

Wrapping up....I'm feeling the need to read something right now, as of this writing. And what book will I be picking up? Well, I had already decided to read Water For Elephants next. But is that what I would REALLY like to read right now? I do have this compulsion to read something about the Kabbalah. Or should I pick up one of my Star Trek TOS novels, instead? Hmmm...


NOTE: All of the books mentioned in this post are available on Amazon, and are listed on Goodreads, as well.
    



 

What are your thoughts on
 this subject?
What factors influence 
your own choice of books 
to read at any given moment?