Hello subscriber,
Welcome to this week’s edition of the ‘Weekly Review Newsletter’ by Aun. In this week’s review, I will be discussing ‘Fiction vs. Non-Fiction’ and why this debate needs more discussion.
I also released a podcast to support the Weekly Review Newsletter. In the podcast, I discuss the topics of the newsletter in more depth. Listen to a preview.
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Fiction vs. Non-Fiction… let’s discuss
Last week I released a new Book Talk Today podcast with Phil Bowne to discuss his book ‘Cows Can’t Jump’. During our conversation we discussed our shared interest of historical fiction. As we explored the topic in more depth, I was reminded of a writing project I started three years ago.
The project is a historical fiction piece based on the siege of Constantinople (now Istanbul), in 1453. As I was reminded of the project during our conversation, I wanted to see whether I could find the 20,000 words or so that I had written on a two day dreary accounting college course.
Finally, after rummaging through my hard-drive for fifteen minutes I came across the piece. Although slightly hesitant to read it, I mustered the courage to open the document to uncover my writings inside. What I discovered was fascinating.
As someone who reads mostly non-fiction, I’m almost always looking for ways to improve my life. Whether it is a new productivity skill or to understand artificial intelligence, most of my time is directed towards the objective world rather than the subjective world of storytelling.
This has its plus sides. I’ve seen a marked improvement in my ability to understand complex topics, distill the essence of them and then be able to communicate that. However, there is a part of my brain that feels incomplete with this habit of reading non-fiction exclusively. Much like playing an instrument (as I did with my guitar yesterday) your brain needs different stimuli in order to function in a heightened way. In comes my fascination with fiction.
From the outside I may seem as someone who doesn’t appreciate the literary genius of Orwell, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Shakespeare or Christie, to name a few. However, you would be wrong. My love of reading started with reading fiction, in particular coming of age stories and crime thrillers. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate the intricate storytelling abilities of Dostoevsky as his knowledge superseded the objective world and transcended into the subjective realm.
This is where I believe fiction and non-fiction have their place. Fiction to me is all about fundamental human truths. When you read ‘Othello’ by Shakespeare and you come to find out the deception of Lago you can see that being played out over history in many different situations. Whereas when you read ‘The Obstacle Is The Way’ by Ryan Holiday you understand the philosophy of overcoming obstacles in ones life and the importance of remaining persistent in your actions.
To debate whether ‘one is better than the other’ in my mind is a naive discussion. Rather, we should be celebrating the richness of understanding both genres alongside one another in order to learn as much as we can about what makes us human, and how we can act this out in the world to the best of our abilities.
I would love to know your thoughts. Email me at aun@oneminutebookreview.com.
Author Interview
Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Phil Bowne. Phil is a writer for the 'The Wombles', a children's entertainment brand. Phil and I discussed his debut novel 'Cows Can't Jump', our shared fascination of historical fiction and why I don’t like the term ‘self-help’.
Have a great week!
Aun.