This is one of those questions that’s phrased as an either/or, but in reality has a huge middle ground. As any of you who have been around here for a while know, I read both, usually in pretty equal measure I think. I’m reading more fiction this year as I’ve been assigned two fiction rounds for The BookTube Prize (I wanted to do non-fiction for the second round, but they needed judges for fiction), so this year will skew towards fiction because of that unless I get so sick of it I then read exclusively non-fiction for the rest of the year. I choose all my books based on the interest I have in that particular premise or subject. I read a lot of non-fiction about social issues – racism, sexism, women’s experiences, mental health, etc. I read fiction that grabs my attention. I enjoy both equally (of course assuming I like the particular book) and find that by reading both, I extend what I get from reading overall. I’ve had periods in my life when I read almost exclusively one or the other – for a long time I read young adult books most of the time – but now that I’m no longer in school, I seem to have settled into a comfortable balance between the two. Really it all comes down to interest and the skill of the author whether I’ll enjoy a particular book, not whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.
What about you guys? Do you read exclusively one or the other? If so which one and why? If you read both, do you tend to favour one over the other? Why do you find that you include both in your pleasure reading?
The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly blog link-up that gives participants a different book-related question to ponder each week, and allows them to share their thoughts, find new blogs to follow and connect with new readers. The Hop was originally created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and is now hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. To see a list of upcoming prompts go here.