Getting Back to Fiction

I'm not quite sure how it started, but one day I just stopped reading fiction. Perhaps it was all the English classes that I had taken. After being forced to read piles of fiction for school–-and even now I can hardly remember any of the titles–-I could only pick up non-fiction titles, stories about real people, to fill my leisure reading time.

Figures it took an Irishman to get me back into story-telling.

When the movie Angela's Ashes came out, I decided to read the book before seeing it. Frank McCourt's story was based very much on true fact, but in some ways the writing style and the development of characters infected me with a desire to read more story-based books than biographies. The way he wrote in the mind of his young self fascinated me and drew me in. I loved the way he was able to change the character's voice depending on his age. He was telling me a story –- a true story, but one that made me want to disappear into the characters.

With my renewed interest in good story-telling, I started to read more than one novel by the same person. I started out with Margaret Atwood. Being Canadian I thought I should try and get into someone from the good old red and white. Alias Grace was first up. Again, there was still a bit of reality as part of the story and characters are based on real people in Toronto, but the emphasis was on the story. This book served as a stepping stone to get me back to my love of tales.

So now, I stick to novels. I read many pre-publication, non-fiction manuscripts for my work, but when I want to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea, it's the make-believe that I enjoy.

There is nothing better than snuggling into bed at the end of a long day and simply stepping into another world for awhile. Going into someone else's life before drifting off to sleep is a great way to relax. Now that I'm into fiction again, I find myself in bookshops more than I used to. I love looking at the covers, reading the blurbs, trying to find out which book to disappear into next. I like to think about the authors, as well, and about how they slaved over the keyboard, writing version after version after version to get it just right.

Like many book lovers, I find that finishing a good book is bittersweet. It's an accomplishment to have gotten through it, but leaving the characters behind can be painful. Until, of course, the movie comes out. But really, can the movie ever be as good as the book?