Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

As a wee lad, I spent countless hours reading fiction. I enjoyed some fantasy novels such as "The Chronicles of Narnia" and the "Black Cauldron" series. "Choose Your Own Adventure" was a favorite series of mine, as was anything concerning baseball. In junior high and high school, I was able to pick up more of the "classics": "The Old Man and the Sea", "Pride and Prejudice", "The Catcher in the Rye", etc.

In college, there wasn't much time to do reading outside of what's assigned for each of my classes. "War and Peace" had to give way to the "Norton Anthology of Western Music." Once I finished school, I rarely read much fiction anymore.

I did, however, read quite a bit of non-fiction, and I still do. As I became more interested in my Catholic faith after we were married, I devoured numerous volumes dealing with church issues. To further my professional career, I also read about more focused topics on music, specifically Gregorian chant and music of the Renaissance era (two of my great loves).

There is other stuff, of course, but what I've noticed is that I can hardly trudge through any fiction anymore. I forced myself last summer to read "The Great Gatsby", but that's been about it. I tried reading "No Country for Old Men" a couple weeks ago, as I greatly enjoyed the movie, but I only got through a chapter before I was bored with it. The same with a book called, "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" which the movie, "A Christmas Story" was based on (one of our favorites). After pages and pages of descriptive language, I finally thought to myself, "Geez, just get to the point!"

I don't have any extensive theories to why I am this way now, but a few popped into my mind recently:

1) With a job and a family, I don't have much time to read, so when I do read, I want it to be "productive", that is, something that will further my quest for knowledge. This can be done with fiction, but in a round-about way.

2) I get my fill of fiction through movies. Nearly all of my television-watching is on fictional topics (minus sports), and it seems a better use of time to get through a novel-turned-movie in two hours or less than to commit 10+ hours to get through the novel itself.

I wish I wasn't this way. I'd love to be able to immerse myself in a good novel, curled up on the couch with a glass of wine, but I just don't have it in me anymore. One source of hope: I'm sure I'll be forced to read some stories when my children are a bit older. Maybe I can also force myself to enjoy them!