Why it takes me so long to read nonfiction
Nov. 1st, 2009 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonI've always got several books going at once. Generally, one (maybe two) fiction books, and a trail of nonfiction. Some nonfiction I read for the pure pleasure of it—so no note-taking is required. Those books I can usually work my way through in a decent amount of time. But not always. I'm a flibbertigibbet, I guess. Mind. Makes. Many. Jumps.
Most of the nonfiction books I read, though, are working for their supper: I'm doing research for something I'm writing, or something I'm doing, or something I'm in the process of becoming. In those cases, I have to stop several times a page and jot things down. I still jot things down rather than key them directly into the laptop because otherwise (I've learned through painful experience) the note-taking gets totally out of hand. If I have to write it out, I'm much more circumspect and concise. Still, it's not uncommon for me to wind up with forty or fifty pages of notes for a 400-500 page book. In my own defense, some of those notes also include story ideas that the book has generated, or other kinds of ideas generated, and yes, I will admit it, the occasional snarky comment. Example:
p. 45 - Dreams of headless horsemen riding through pumpkin patches are not uncommon.
[a good story here: a headless horseman who replaces his head with a Jack o'Lantern]*
[though perhaps my dreams of pumpkin-headed men have more meaning than I thought: what is the deeper significance of pumpkin-headedness?]
[pumpkin-headed horseman reminds me a lot of X's last boyfriend]
Go ahead, laugh. I laugh at myself all the time.
And if I'm honest, a great deal of these notes are just hyperactive, nervous energy note-taking. Still, the act of writing things down has always made ideas penetrate deeper into my unconscious. Years later when I need to refresh my memory about what I learned while reading these books they're invaluable. Much easier to read forty pages of notes than to reread a 400 page book, and sometimes I don't get around to actually using this stuff in my writing for a long, long time.
I've read a great deal of nonfiction this month. That kind of month. I've been working my way alternately through The Philosopher's Secret Fire by Patrick Harpur (for general interest, research, and enlightenment all three—though I have some problems with it. But that's another post.); Meeting with the Other Crowd by Eddie Lenihan (mostly research, but a fun read nonetheless); Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (enlightenment, mostly, but it's generating a hell of a lot of story ideas and deeper insights into characters, so ftw all the way around); and Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman (just because I'm interested and Colette had an amazing life).
I didn't get through much fiction this month. Nor did I finish any of that nonfiction. I finished one book then started reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. Dudes, I read over 400 pages and still wasn't halfway through, so it's gone on hiatus for awhile. Good, but I needed a rest.
Finished in October:
1. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews - new
Begun in October:
1. Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook – new
2. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon – TBR
3. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman - new
4. Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris - new
Purchased in October (ahem, something of a binge month):
1. Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn - QPB
2. Passing Strange: A Guilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line by Martha A. Sandweiss - QPB
3. Child of Fire by Harry Connolly - B&N
4. Soulless by Gail Carriger - B&N
5. Demon Forged by Meljean Brook - B&N
6. Bone Dance by Emma Bull - B&N
7. Crafting Personal Shrines: Using Photos, Mementos, and Treasures to Create Artful Displays by Carol Owen - Amazon
8. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman - Amazon
9. Labyrinths: Ancient Myths and Modern Uses by Sig Lonegren - Amazon seller
10. Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore and Healing by Stephen Pollington - B&N online
11. Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris - B& N
12. The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip - B&N
13. In a Strange City by Laura Lippmann - B&N
*Yeah, I know this has been done before. It's a seasonal hypothetical, dude.
Most of the nonfiction books I read, though, are working for their supper: I'm doing research for something I'm writing, or something I'm doing, or something I'm in the process of becoming. In those cases, I have to stop several times a page and jot things down. I still jot things down rather than key them directly into the laptop because otherwise (I've learned through painful experience) the note-taking gets totally out of hand. If I have to write it out, I'm much more circumspect and concise. Still, it's not uncommon for me to wind up with forty or fifty pages of notes for a 400-500 page book. In my own defense, some of those notes also include story ideas that the book has generated, or other kinds of ideas generated, and yes, I will admit it, the occasional snarky comment. Example:
p. 45 - Dreams of headless horsemen riding through pumpkin patches are not uncommon.
[a good story here: a headless horseman who replaces his head with a Jack o'Lantern]*
[though perhaps my dreams of pumpkin-headed men have more meaning than I thought: what is the deeper significance of pumpkin-headedness?]
[pumpkin-headed horseman reminds me a lot of X's last boyfriend]
Go ahead, laugh. I laugh at myself all the time.
And if I'm honest, a great deal of these notes are just hyperactive, nervous energy note-taking. Still, the act of writing things down has always made ideas penetrate deeper into my unconscious. Years later when I need to refresh my memory about what I learned while reading these books they're invaluable. Much easier to read forty pages of notes than to reread a 400 page book, and sometimes I don't get around to actually using this stuff in my writing for a long, long time.
I've read a great deal of nonfiction this month. That kind of month. I've been working my way alternately through The Philosopher's Secret Fire by Patrick Harpur (for general interest, research, and enlightenment all three—though I have some problems with it. But that's another post.); Meeting with the Other Crowd by Eddie Lenihan (mostly research, but a fun read nonetheless); Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (enlightenment, mostly, but it's generating a hell of a lot of story ideas and deeper insights into characters, so ftw all the way around); and Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman (just because I'm interested and Colette had an amazing life).
I didn't get through much fiction this month. Nor did I finish any of that nonfiction. I finished one book then started reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. Dudes, I read over 400 pages and still wasn't halfway through, so it's gone on hiatus for awhile. Good, but I needed a rest.
Finished in October:
1. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews - new
Begun in October:
1. Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook – new
2. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon – TBR
3. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman - new
4. Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris - new
Purchased in October (ahem, something of a binge month):
1. Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn - QPB
2. Passing Strange: A Guilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line by Martha A. Sandweiss - QPB
3. Child of Fire by Harry Connolly - B&N
4. Soulless by Gail Carriger - B&N
5. Demon Forged by Meljean Brook - B&N
6. Bone Dance by Emma Bull - B&N
7. Crafting Personal Shrines: Using Photos, Mementos, and Treasures to Create Artful Displays by Carol Owen - Amazon
8. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman - Amazon
9. Labyrinths: Ancient Myths and Modern Uses by Sig Lonegren - Amazon seller
10. Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore and Healing by Stephen Pollington - B&N online
11. Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris - B& N
12. The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip - B&N
13. In a Strange City by Laura Lippmann - B&N
*Yeah, I know this has been done before. It's a seasonal hypothetical, dude.