How funny that you say that you've felt slightly ashamed to say that you prefer fiction - I feel the same saying that I prefer non-fiction these days. After taking novels apart for my PhD (memory and imagination in Proust and Flaubert), I felt absolutely done with fiction and turned to non-fiction as if hungry to make up my lack of education in areas such as history, social history, geography, geology, exploration (and yes, lots of massive male egos). Never self-help books tho! Now, many years later, I still read more non-fiction, especially history and social history, but I make honourable exceptions for eg Ursula Le Guin, the Persephone Books offerings (but please not The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield. It's the first book I've ever literally thrown I was so annoyed by it, tho I did leave Great Expectations behind on a beach in Californa), and the great writers of the Golden Age of British children's writing, including Rosemary Sutcliff, Peter Dickinson and Alan Garner.
As for the different memories of witnesses, I received my PhD at the same ceremony as Julian Boon, of the Mills and Boon family, who had also written a PhD on memory, but from the psychology discipline. Unsurprisingly, he now advises police investigations.
Our brains are wonderful and often times damaging things! The stories we tell ourselves are often the worst!! I salute you for taking novels apart, I got put off that at school. I've not read any Proust and only one Flaubert - Madame Bovary - which I really enjoyed. I wasn't expecting and I was surprised at how well he 'handled' the female perspective. I do read self-help/development but I couldn't do a book club on it - people can get a bit evangelical saying this is the 'one way' to do it! I have not read any Rosemary Sutcliff, Peter Dickinson or Alan Garner, so I will look them up as I love well written children's books.
That's fascinating about Julian Boon - from what I've seen & read about crime dramas, they want to separate witnesses as soon as possible to check for inconsistencies in stories, because even if there is no ill-intent, once the witnesses speak to each other the story blurs.
Just read the books you want! If it's fiction one month and non-fiction the other month that should be fine? I get it though, just like someone else mentioned here in the comments I'm the opposite. I always felt a little bad for wanting non-fiction more, as if you're only a true reader if you read fiction. But really, it shouldn't matter!
I totally agree and these days am happy reading what I want … although book club doesn’t always allow that!
I don’t expect such a big discussion on this post and am surprised how many of us have had these thoughts at some point about whether what we’re reading is ‘good enough’ And yes it really doesn’t matter & if anyone judges us for it, then that is on them!
Exactly! Let other people judge. Honestly, these days I’m proud of myself grabbing any kind of book - anything that reduces screen time should be a good thing!
It's such a big discussion between non fiction and fiction isn't it, but then also between different types of fiction. My reading very much depends on how I'm feeling. For huge parts of the last 6 years I've either only been able to read nature writing, sometimes light-hearted contemporary women's fiction (but only a very specific type) and then my book club had forced me to at least try some others and it's been good for me and I've found some absolutely wonderful reads. I don't see/think any less or more of each genre, nature writing is my escape, just like it is in real life, whereas stories can sometimes work me up too much or I end up reading too late to see what happens!
And in terms of autobiography/memoir- I did a course on memoir last year. Autobiography is more a retelling of the events of a person's life, often in chronological order. Memoir is often about a certain aspect/theme or time period (simple version).
It is isn't it and for me it's really about what I'm in the mood for. If I am completely absorbed by a book then I won't stop until it's finished but otherwise I can have several books on the go at the same time. I think some people are quite snobby about reading and what they perceive to be worthy. I listened to podcast recently and the person being interviewed said something along the lines of, someone who reads Jilly Cooper wouldn't be my kind of person, but Elif Shafak yes...and I thought...can't you like both? I know quite a few well rounded, intelligent, articulate & well read people who love to dive into Jilly!
I haven't read much nature writing I don't think, two books do come to mind though Running Hare by John Lewis Stempel and The Snow Geese by William Fiennes, I'm naturally drawn to wildlife. What would you recommend as a good nature read?
Thanks for the info about memoir/auto - did you enjoy the course? Are you writing a memoir?
Oh, and yes, I really enjoyed the course, always like writing workshops but this was really well structured and led. I guess I might some day write a memoir book but it was more because the way I write generally I feel leans towards memoir.
Oh yes, you can definitely like Jilly Cooper and Elif Shafak!
I have a huge list of wonderful nature books, partly what I'd call straight nature writing (very little of the author's voice) and then nature memoir - ones where the writer and their life is woven into it. I have a bookshop shop/list, though I need to add lots more to it. I'm currently reading Black Ops and Beaver Bombing by Fiona Matthews and Tim Kendall which is both funny and informative.
Great post! When I was a kid, at one point (age 9-11) I read only biographies of young famous people (George Washington, Crazy Horse, Joan of Arc) and the dog stories of Albert Payson Terhune (Lad A Dog was his most famous, and his stories were published in the Saturday Evening Post). It was literally 50-50 fiction and non-fiction.
From my observation, an autobiography is a person’s accounting of their life from birth to the moment they are writing. A memoir is often focused on a specific event in one’s life. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an example of Autobiography, and an incredible story of how a person can change and grow through years of experience if they are willing to do so. A recent memoir is Dame Judi Dench’s book, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, which comes out of her vast acting experience in playing Shakespeare roles.
I love that you read Georgette Heyer’s An Infamous Army, though I totally understand why you didn’t love it. The detail of the Battle of Waterloo is due to her impeccable research - so much so that Sandhurst taught the Battle of Waterloo using her book for many years (don’t know if they still do)! An Infamous Army is the confluence of three earlier books - Regency Buck, These Old Shades, and Devil’s Cub. These Old Shades was the first, and was the story of Charles Audley’s great-grandparents, Leonie and Justin. It is one of her early books, and Leonie is one of her best characters in my opinion. Leonie and Justin’s son, Dominic, and his eventual wife, Mary are Charles’ grandparents and make an appearance at the end of An Infamous Army. And Regency Buck is her quintessential Regency novel (Beau Brummel is actually in it) with the story of Judith and Peregrine Taverner and their guardian, Lord Worth (who Judith marries). They are all in An Infamous Army.
Her books are wonderful, and quite varied. If you really do want to read another of hers, I’d suggest either Friday’s Child or Frederica. The heroine of Friday’s Child, Hero, is a younger, naive heroine. Frederica (in the book of the same name) is slightly older and in charge of her younger brothers and sister. They are two of her most enjoyable stories and each is a much easier read than An Infamous Army (which is considered more historical because of Waterloo). There are even a couple of biographies written about her because she was such a popular writer.
And Maeve BInchy is one of my favorite authors too! When I went to Ireland in 2019, one of my favorite moments was going into Bewley’s for a bite to eat. Although I knew better, I couldn’t help looking around, hoping to see Eve and Benny from Circle of Friends. 😊 I think I’ve read every one, though it’s possible I’ve missed some along the way. The worlds she builds in every book draw me in, and I feel like so many of the characters are friends or family. Oddly enough, the character who is my favorite isn’t even a main character - it’s Muttie Scarlet from Scarlet Feather and several other books. Just love him!
Enjoy your reading, whatever you read! And take care,
That’s wild to me only reading autobiographies at such a young age. My first autobiog/memoirs were Maya Angelou’s in my early teens, I inhaled them.
You are well versed in Georgette Heyer! Her research is phenomenal, how she wrote so many books I’ve no idea, just that one would’ve taken me a lifetime! And amazing about Sandhurst using her book - I must tell book club. Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll definitely check out Frederica.
Maeve Binchy is fab, lovely to hear she’s one of your favourites too. My mum adored her & introduced her to me - it started with Light a Penny Candle. She really does draw you into their worlds and families doesn’t she?
Yes, Maeve invites you in like few other writers. My first book of hers was Evening Class. I still remember where I was when I read it - it was a visceral and wonderful experience. I was heartbroken when she died in 2012, because it meant no more new books, though her husband had enough of her material to get her final ones out after she died.
And just to be clear, it was biographies I read as a kid, not autobiographies. There were a couple of series of biographies of famous people as children, and I just ate them up!
If you are dipping into Rosemary Sutcliffe, the best (I think) is The Rider of the White Horse. I grew up reading, and was allowed anything. I read this at a very young age and always use it as the example for my assertion that 'I learnt everything I know from fiction, school was a waste of my time...'
From it I learnt, at far too young an age, that love comes in many forms and guises, and at its own pace. I also learnt far more about the Civil War from this book than I ever learnt in a history lesson 🙄
On another subject, I THINK 'autobiography' is your own story, 'memoir' can cover much longer family history, 'auto-fiction' the fictionalised version of your story, and I guess 'fictionalised memoir' the new genre of your longer family history ...but I could well be wrong 😊
Thanks Janey, I’ll start with The Rider of the White Horse. I think I was allowed to read anything to be honest but that pretty much meant bingeing my mums favourites. I agree fiction had taught me a lot lore about history than the text books ever have.
Since my wife and I own well over five thousand books, I am confronted every week or so with the choice of what to read next. A lot of my books are off limits for reading because they are vintage paperbacks printed as much as eighty-five years ago and if they start falling apart from being handled their value as collectibles is destroyed. At my age (sixty-seven) I am pretty quick to abandon a book if it’s dull or just not working for me. Instead of mentioning my favorite authors, I’ll warn you about the late Elmore Leonard, a number of whose novels have been made into films. I’ve tried to read three or four of his books and I can never get very far in before I put it down because I just can’t swallow the motivations of his main characters. I don’t mind if a story is far-fetched, so long as it’s internally consistent. Another guy I can’t read is J. Randy Taraborelli, who managed to write a boring biography of Marilyn Monroe (!). I think book clubs are great but not for cranky old insomniacs like me who are in chronic pain and getting short on time. On another note, you were curious about what was blooming here in Upstate New York. Well, the only things green around here are the grass and coniferous trees. The deciduous trees are still bare and there’s nothing budding or blooming that I can see. If you’ve made it this far through my little encyclical, thank you for starting your club and bringing people and books together. As a person who’s read about a book per week since I was eight years old, I congratulate you for helping to keep the love of reading alive!
A book a week since you were eight, that’s impressive. I go through waves of reading & non reading & can go months without reading. Thanks for the tips on Elmore Leonard & J Randy Taraborelli, I’ll avoid - fancy writing a boring biography of Marilyn Monroe, how’s that possible?
In terms of what’s not budding - wow! You must have quite a short growing season?
Can we join book club if we don’t live on Orkney? Could a Hebridean island count?
I don’t see why not - it wouldn’t take too long to get here for meetings! 😆
How funny that you say that you've felt slightly ashamed to say that you prefer fiction - I feel the same saying that I prefer non-fiction these days. After taking novels apart for my PhD (memory and imagination in Proust and Flaubert), I felt absolutely done with fiction and turned to non-fiction as if hungry to make up my lack of education in areas such as history, social history, geography, geology, exploration (and yes, lots of massive male egos). Never self-help books tho! Now, many years later, I still read more non-fiction, especially history and social history, but I make honourable exceptions for eg Ursula Le Guin, the Persephone Books offerings (but please not The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield. It's the first book I've ever literally thrown I was so annoyed by it, tho I did leave Great Expectations behind on a beach in Californa), and the great writers of the Golden Age of British children's writing, including Rosemary Sutcliff, Peter Dickinson and Alan Garner.
As for the different memories of witnesses, I received my PhD at the same ceremony as Julian Boon, of the Mills and Boon family, who had also written a PhD on memory, but from the psychology discipline. Unsurprisingly, he now advises police investigations.
Our brains are wonderful and often times damaging things! The stories we tell ourselves are often the worst!! I salute you for taking novels apart, I got put off that at school. I've not read any Proust and only one Flaubert - Madame Bovary - which I really enjoyed. I wasn't expecting and I was surprised at how well he 'handled' the female perspective. I do read self-help/development but I couldn't do a book club on it - people can get a bit evangelical saying this is the 'one way' to do it! I have not read any Rosemary Sutcliff, Peter Dickinson or Alan Garner, so I will look them up as I love well written children's books.
That's fascinating about Julian Boon - from what I've seen & read about crime dramas, they want to separate witnesses as soon as possible to check for inconsistencies in stories, because even if there is no ill-intent, once the witnesses speak to each other the story blurs.
Just read the books you want! If it's fiction one month and non-fiction the other month that should be fine? I get it though, just like someone else mentioned here in the comments I'm the opposite. I always felt a little bad for wanting non-fiction more, as if you're only a true reader if you read fiction. But really, it shouldn't matter!
I totally agree and these days am happy reading what I want … although book club doesn’t always allow that!
I don’t expect such a big discussion on this post and am surprised how many of us have had these thoughts at some point about whether what we’re reading is ‘good enough’ And yes it really doesn’t matter & if anyone judges us for it, then that is on them!
Exactly! Let other people judge. Honestly, these days I’m proud of myself grabbing any kind of book - anything that reduces screen time should be a good thing!
It's such a big discussion between non fiction and fiction isn't it, but then also between different types of fiction. My reading very much depends on how I'm feeling. For huge parts of the last 6 years I've either only been able to read nature writing, sometimes light-hearted contemporary women's fiction (but only a very specific type) and then my book club had forced me to at least try some others and it's been good for me and I've found some absolutely wonderful reads. I don't see/think any less or more of each genre, nature writing is my escape, just like it is in real life, whereas stories can sometimes work me up too much or I end up reading too late to see what happens!
And in terms of autobiography/memoir- I did a course on memoir last year. Autobiography is more a retelling of the events of a person's life, often in chronological order. Memoir is often about a certain aspect/theme or time period (simple version).
It is isn't it and for me it's really about what I'm in the mood for. If I am completely absorbed by a book then I won't stop until it's finished but otherwise I can have several books on the go at the same time. I think some people are quite snobby about reading and what they perceive to be worthy. I listened to podcast recently and the person being interviewed said something along the lines of, someone who reads Jilly Cooper wouldn't be my kind of person, but Elif Shafak yes...and I thought...can't you like both? I know quite a few well rounded, intelligent, articulate & well read people who love to dive into Jilly!
I haven't read much nature writing I don't think, two books do come to mind though Running Hare by John Lewis Stempel and The Snow Geese by William Fiennes, I'm naturally drawn to wildlife. What would you recommend as a good nature read?
Thanks for the info about memoir/auto - did you enjoy the course? Are you writing a memoir?
Oh, and yes, I really enjoyed the course, always like writing workshops but this was really well structured and led. I guess I might some day write a memoir book but it was more because the way I write generally I feel leans towards memoir.
Oh yes, you can definitely like Jilly Cooper and Elif Shafak!
I have a huge list of wonderful nature books, partly what I'd call straight nature writing (very little of the author's voice) and then nature memoir - ones where the writer and their life is woven into it. I have a bookshop shop/list, though I need to add lots more to it. I'm currently reading Black Ops and Beaver Bombing by Fiona Matthews and Tim Kendall which is both funny and informative.
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/rachelgoddard
Great post! When I was a kid, at one point (age 9-11) I read only biographies of young famous people (George Washington, Crazy Horse, Joan of Arc) and the dog stories of Albert Payson Terhune (Lad A Dog was his most famous, and his stories were published in the Saturday Evening Post). It was literally 50-50 fiction and non-fiction.
From my observation, an autobiography is a person’s accounting of their life from birth to the moment they are writing. A memoir is often focused on a specific event in one’s life. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an example of Autobiography, and an incredible story of how a person can change and grow through years of experience if they are willing to do so. A recent memoir is Dame Judi Dench’s book, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, which comes out of her vast acting experience in playing Shakespeare roles.
I love that you read Georgette Heyer’s An Infamous Army, though I totally understand why you didn’t love it. The detail of the Battle of Waterloo is due to her impeccable research - so much so that Sandhurst taught the Battle of Waterloo using her book for many years (don’t know if they still do)! An Infamous Army is the confluence of three earlier books - Regency Buck, These Old Shades, and Devil’s Cub. These Old Shades was the first, and was the story of Charles Audley’s great-grandparents, Leonie and Justin. It is one of her early books, and Leonie is one of her best characters in my opinion. Leonie and Justin’s son, Dominic, and his eventual wife, Mary are Charles’ grandparents and make an appearance at the end of An Infamous Army. And Regency Buck is her quintessential Regency novel (Beau Brummel is actually in it) with the story of Judith and Peregrine Taverner and their guardian, Lord Worth (who Judith marries). They are all in An Infamous Army.
Her books are wonderful, and quite varied. If you really do want to read another of hers, I’d suggest either Friday’s Child or Frederica. The heroine of Friday’s Child, Hero, is a younger, naive heroine. Frederica (in the book of the same name) is slightly older and in charge of her younger brothers and sister. They are two of her most enjoyable stories and each is a much easier read than An Infamous Army (which is considered more historical because of Waterloo). There are even a couple of biographies written about her because she was such a popular writer.
And Maeve BInchy is one of my favorite authors too! When I went to Ireland in 2019, one of my favorite moments was going into Bewley’s for a bite to eat. Although I knew better, I couldn’t help looking around, hoping to see Eve and Benny from Circle of Friends. 😊 I think I’ve read every one, though it’s possible I’ve missed some along the way. The worlds she builds in every book draw me in, and I feel like so many of the characters are friends or family. Oddly enough, the character who is my favorite isn’t even a main character - it’s Muttie Scarlet from Scarlet Feather and several other books. Just love him!
Enjoy your reading, whatever you read! And take care,
That’s wild to me only reading autobiographies at such a young age. My first autobiog/memoirs were Maya Angelou’s in my early teens, I inhaled them.
You are well versed in Georgette Heyer! Her research is phenomenal, how she wrote so many books I’ve no idea, just that one would’ve taken me a lifetime! And amazing about Sandhurst using her book - I must tell book club. Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll definitely check out Frederica.
Maeve Binchy is fab, lovely to hear she’s one of your favourites too. My mum adored her & introduced her to me - it started with Light a Penny Candle. She really does draw you into their worlds and families doesn’t she?
Yes, Maeve invites you in like few other writers. My first book of hers was Evening Class. I still remember where I was when I read it - it was a visceral and wonderful experience. I was heartbroken when she died in 2012, because it meant no more new books, though her husband had enough of her material to get her final ones out after she died.
And just to be clear, it was biographies I read as a kid, not autobiographies. There were a couple of series of biographies of famous people as children, and I just ate them up!
Oops, just realized I didn’t say that Dominic and Mary were the main characters in Devil’s Cub - sorry.
If you are dipping into Rosemary Sutcliffe, the best (I think) is The Rider of the White Horse. I grew up reading, and was allowed anything. I read this at a very young age and always use it as the example for my assertion that 'I learnt everything I know from fiction, school was a waste of my time...'
From it I learnt, at far too young an age, that love comes in many forms and guises, and at its own pace. I also learnt far more about the Civil War from this book than I ever learnt in a history lesson 🙄
On another subject, I THINK 'autobiography' is your own story, 'memoir' can cover much longer family history, 'auto-fiction' the fictionalised version of your story, and I guess 'fictionalised memoir' the new genre of your longer family history ...but I could well be wrong 😊
Thanks Janey, I’ll start with The Rider of the White Horse. I think I was allowed to read anything to be honest but that pretty much meant bingeing my mums favourites. I agree fiction had taught me a lot lore about history than the text books ever have.
Since my wife and I own well over five thousand books, I am confronted every week or so with the choice of what to read next. A lot of my books are off limits for reading because they are vintage paperbacks printed as much as eighty-five years ago and if they start falling apart from being handled their value as collectibles is destroyed. At my age (sixty-seven) I am pretty quick to abandon a book if it’s dull or just not working for me. Instead of mentioning my favorite authors, I’ll warn you about the late Elmore Leonard, a number of whose novels have been made into films. I’ve tried to read three or four of his books and I can never get very far in before I put it down because I just can’t swallow the motivations of his main characters. I don’t mind if a story is far-fetched, so long as it’s internally consistent. Another guy I can’t read is J. Randy Taraborelli, who managed to write a boring biography of Marilyn Monroe (!). I think book clubs are great but not for cranky old insomniacs like me who are in chronic pain and getting short on time. On another note, you were curious about what was blooming here in Upstate New York. Well, the only things green around here are the grass and coniferous trees. The deciduous trees are still bare and there’s nothing budding or blooming that I can see. If you’ve made it this far through my little encyclical, thank you for starting your club and bringing people and books together. As a person who’s read about a book per week since I was eight years old, I congratulate you for helping to keep the love of reading alive!
A book a week since you were eight, that’s impressive. I go through waves of reading & non reading & can go months without reading. Thanks for the tips on Elmore Leonard & J Randy Taraborelli, I’ll avoid - fancy writing a boring biography of Marilyn Monroe, how’s that possible?
In terms of what’s not budding - wow! You must have quite a short growing season?