One of the characters in Joanna Scott’s novel Tourmaline writes to her son, “But I think it’s useful to note that at any particular point in our lives our minds are full not just of our own memories but of the experiences of characters from the books we’ve been reading.”
My reading life began early. I was your typical bookworm, collecting my favorite authors and borrowing larger books from my parents’ bookshelves when I wanted to try something new and feel grown-up. A wonderful trick that introduced me to Oliver Twist, Miss Marple, Long John Silver and Elizabeth Bennett. My family took long camping trips each summer and my sister and I were allowed two bags each. We took one bag of clothing and then both of us filled our other one with books. We’d get through our own bag and then swap. So some of my best memories come from sitting near a river or a lake in Oregon, fishing pole in one hand and a book in the other. Or hiking all morning and then stopping for lunch. Lunch included a break when all four of us would whip out our books and get through some more chapters before heading back onto the trail.
Yet, thinking about that quote above, my memories become double – I wasn’t just sitting by a lake and reading. I was sitting by a lake listening to ospreys screech from the treetops and helping Meg Murray find her missing father. I was traipsing a trail near the McKenzie River hunting fawnlilies and fiddlenecks with my mother and wondering how Holmes and Watson were going to figure out this whole Baskerville problem.
This double preoccupation certainly didn’t end with childhood. Yesterday, I started reading David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars and am enjoying learning about the experience of Japanese-Americans living on the Gulf Islands of the Puget Sound after WWII. I’m 99 pages in and invested in the characters. I want to find out what will happen but I’m also simply enjoying their reflections on their own experiences – which are very different from mine.
I have friends who reject fiction entirely and focus all their reading on biography, essay, history and the like. One friend even disdains fiction as mere make-believe and considers it not worth his time. I just can’t understand this position. Non-fiction certainly adds to our understanding of the world and people and I enjoy reading it as well but I get so much ‘life’ from fiction. Like the quote above, my life is full (rather bursting actually) with the experiences of characters from the books I read. Reading fiction gives me the opportunity to encounter life in stereo and I can’t imagine it another way.
8 responses so far ↓
S W // July 11, 2007 at 9:14 am |
“but I get so much ‘life’ from fiction” – is indeed a very true statement and I truly support you for I too believe that one gets a lot of knowledge about how people think and react to situations. We can learn a lot about the world surrounding us from fiction and we also tend to observe more.
Sharon M. // July 11, 2007 at 4:43 pm |
I’ve always felt that fiction saved my (emotional) life growing up in a rather harsh, military family. As a young girl it was exhilarating to discover there were other ways of thinking and being in the world than what I observed around me.
(Camping on the beautiful McKenzie River – now that’s a great memory!)
verbivore // July 11, 2007 at 4:59 pm |
Thank you, SW, and I agree that we pay attention when we’re reading fiction in a way that we sometimes don’t in our everyday life. I like how you’ve put this.
Sharon – how true! I think fiction can really open doors to other views and lives. And I certainly miss the beauty of the eastern Oregon I remember from my childhood. I consider myself very lucky for the times passed in that part of the country.
Melanie // July 11, 2007 at 10:48 pm |
Yes! This is exactly why I read fiction. Experiencing other ways of being/seeing and understanding them from a character’s personal viewpoint adds so much to life. I love your observation that “Reading fiction gives me the opportunity to encounter life in stereo”. That’s a perfect way to express this. I also like Yann Martel’s reasoning, that fiction-readers read to become “ontologically thicker”.
Matt // July 12, 2007 at 4:27 pm |
I agree with the comments above. I think I’ve learned more about life and people from fiction than I have from non-fiction. When I want to learn about a certain topic I turn to non-fiction, but when I want to escape from my life or, alternatively, when I want to feel what it’s like to really live I turn to fiction. I think your friend is missing out on a lot of good stuff!
verbivore // July 13, 2007 at 11:10 am |
Melanie – I’ve never read that Yann Martel quote and I love it! What a great observation. I suppose paying attention to life in general does the same thing but fiction is such an agreable medium.
Matt – I agree about my friend. He’s missing out. At the same time he has an appreciation for non-fiction that I don’t. And I suppose I’m missing out on that end although I’d never dismiss the experience entirely.
Heather // July 13, 2007 at 3:03 pm |
Your friend sounds a bit like he is shutting himself off from his imagination – how sad. I loved this post. Thank you so much for sharing this – I could picture a kid reading beside a river with a fishing pole.
verbivore // July 14, 2007 at 11:50 am |
I’m so happy to see you’re back online Heather. Looking forward to more of your posts at The Library Ladder.