Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction?Results (total votes = 13):Fiction&nbsp7 / 53.8%&nbsp Nonfiction&nbsp2 / 15.4%&nbsp I like them both about equally&nbsp4 / 30.8%&nbsp 

Which I'll pick just depends on what I'm interested in reading at the time. I find myself reading much more non-fiction lately, but mostly because of the various projects I've taken on in the past few years. But I have a pretty highly developed sense of what fiction is good for, so I can't see myself ever really dispensing with fiction, save when there's simply nothing good to read. I'm finding new stuff all the time, so I don't think that's likely to happen any time soon. Besides, I'm an aspiring writer myself, so if it ever comes down to not being able to find a worthwhile work of fiction to read, I can always just follow Orwell's advice and write the books that I would want to find on the library shelves.

i enjoy both equally but enjoy one or the other more at different times. i generally can't read more than three of either in a row without a break. especially non-fiction, after three non-fiction books, i really enjoy something fun and not serious to mix things up a bit.if i had to pick just one though, it would be non-fiction since it is not strictly for entertainment purposes (though a LOT of pop culture/recent events books are almost entirely entertainment driven, especially political opinion titles, yuck! most just preach to the choir and don't have their facts straight or manipulate facts to suit their purposes). with non-fiction, i can engage my mind, challlenge beliefs, increase knowledge, and learn new things. fiction is just for entertainment and enjoyment, which non-fiction almost always is as well. but thankfully i don't have to pick one and voted for both

I have to disagree w/your 2nd paragraph, especially "With non-fiction, i can engage my mind, challenge beliefs, increase knowledge, and learn new things."I can say the exact same things about the fiction I read. Books have opened my mind to so many new ideas & ways of thinking that I most likely would not have found anywhere else, & I read 95% fiction. Edited by: bitter79 at: 3/9/06 4:15 pm

I am always reading at least one fiction and one non-fiction at any given time. Sometimes I try to have them correlate, but sometimes not.I believe that both serve a purpose and you cannot have one without the other...well, I guess you CAN, but...I like em both equally.When I first joined Booktalk, my reading habits were not great. I would read one book over the course of a month if even that. Being that the community focused on non-fiction, I was only reading non-fiction. I was getting bored of that quick. Then I decided to push myself and start reading one of each at the same time. I can now read about 6 times my old speed. I read about 6 books a month now, equal between fiction and non.My hiatus from posting so much here helped increase the time I have available to read as well...I was addicted to this place. Some say that now I am just a dict.Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

fiction

MisterpessimisticWow! That's quite a dramatic improvement in both quantity of reading and speed of reading. And I think I can safely say that your quality is doing well too, as we tend to read good books around here.I've been primarily a nonfiction reader all my life, but adding fiction here on BookTalk has been fun and rewarding. Fiction relaxes me more than nonfiction, and I find it a better choice right before bed.

I'm definately a fiction person. I've tried picking some nonfiction books, most recently one on the Knights Templar, but it never hols my interest. It just feels more personal in fiction than nonfiction.

i prefer fiction. fiction is more entertaining, in my opinion. i will read nonfiction if i wanna learn something, though.

I prefer fiction as an allegory of non fiction, sometimes non fiction is too repetitive and some fiction give the same treatment in a non repetitive and lightweight way, and you have total freedom in fiction.