Hey book-friends! So here’s a question that’s been playing on my mind. Why is it that most adults struggle to read fiction? Humour me and try this, go up and ask a random person over 25 what their favourite book is and 8/10 times you’ll hear something by the likes of Mark Manson, Roberte Greene or Robin Sharma. While these authors are great and inspire us to be our best selves, I find there’s a shame in looking at a bookshelf where most of the titles only start with “How-To.” It makes me wonder… Why do we love magic as children and struggle to believe in it as we grow older. What turns off the switch? I’ve decided to explore the possible reasons and provide counter-arguments to each. I hope that if you’re one of those “I only read non-fiction” types, then this blog will help you change your mind.
It’s a waste of time…
Why spend hours reading about a world so removed from your own when you can work on improving the one that surrounds you? Here’s why. Out of all the stories I’ve read in my life it’s the made up world that I remember. It’s Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter that taught me more about friendship than any “How to be a Good Friend” bestseller ever could. It’s Amerikanah that inspired me to write, to love my country, and to trust in the silent workings of time. It’s Detective Hercule Poirot who taught me to observe people closely and never take things for face value. It’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles that taught me that unplanned pregnancies is just not what I need in life. There’s always something to learn in fiction and if you find the right book, then how can those shared experiences be a waste of time?
Lukanyo, that’s just you. I frankly have learnt a lot from the 5-AM Club and 7 Habits for Highly Effective Adults. Granted, and hey, me too! From time to time we need wisdom to be clear. To be given a step by step roadmap. To work through little bites of anecdotes and tools that already make us feel like we can seize this short life because it is a short-life. How could dragons and/or love-triangles possibly help me out? Here’s how I see it. When you open a fiction book you are submitting yourself to a character, a life, a world that you don’t know. Values, actions, thoughts that may or may not be your own. But naturally (if the book is worth investing in), you form an alliance with them, you live through them, learn through them, feel with them. For hours, these characters and their experience carve their way into your heart and parts of them will always be left with you. Youtuber, Alice Capelle, explores this brilliantly in her video Fiction is Better than Self-Help Books.
But fiction doesn’t interest me…
This is another way of saying, I struggle to connect with it or I can’t concentrate when I read. This is normal. And trust me, there are lots of fiction books that make me feel this way. But there was a time when I used to say ‘I don’t like country or metal music.’ Then there was that one song that changed the game for me. That one song and a willingness to be open-minded. Now I’m singing along to banjos till the cows come home. It made me realize that it’s not about the genre. It’s about finding that one book that you connect with. Then exploring more books from that author or authors similar. I can guarantee you that there’s a book out there that’s for you. You just have to see what you like. If you don’t like it you don’t have to finish it. What was that? Okay, I’ll say it louder for the people at the back: if you don’t like it, you do not have to finish it, or else that’s actually a waste of time. But try to put yourself out there. It’s a matter of stepping out of your comfort zone until you feel at home with something. Wondering how to do that? My best advice is to start a Goodreads account. It’s thanks to Goodreads that I’ve been able to find so many new authors and books that are filtered to my own interests. Try it out!
“I’m not a child. I have a serious life. With serious concerns.”
Valid. And yet, you know who the best kind of adults are? The ones who have nurtured their inner-child. The ones that can tell stories, live in them and listen to them. No matter our age, stories is what draws us in the most. They invite everyone. We’re not children but we are still capable of imagining. I understand that the challenges of life grow exponentially as the years move past us, but it’s all of these experiences that should add colour and new depths to our imagination. Not build walls around it. For days, months and sometimes years authors paint vivid and dynamic images spilt in black ink. That’s some magical stuff. But you know where the real magic comes in? When we use those words to build our own unique images and then suddenly, the world we live in is just a little bit different.
So I challenge you…
If you’re a non-fiction type of lassie or lad, take this month to try read a novel that you’ve always wondered about or that you think you might enjoy. If you don’t have one, then find one! If you don’t enjoy it, pick up another one until you find one that you do. I’d really love you hear about it!
I wish you all the best on your adventure. Thank you so much for reading my blog!
2 responses to “Imagination Shouldn’t Age: Why do Adults Stop Reading Fiction?”
100%!!! Imagination is so powerful and important. Like we definitely can use it even as a tool for freedom, thinking is possibilities beyond the sobering realities that lie ahead. It can keep us going, and empower to change our realties. In fact, it gives us the strength to fight to change the status quo. People used to think that the divine right of kings was inescapable and everlasting, people didn’t ever dream that they would not be peasants under the thumb of their feudal lord. But the imagination, the hope borne out of it, that a few people had, is what drove societal transformation for the many. There are so many more examples, from the abolition of slavery, suffrage, civil rights, apartheid, marriage equality etc
Wow, Sylvie! I really couldn’t have said this better…I can’t wait to read your book!