Blog Post #7

Is It Non-Fiction?

In order for a book to be considered non-fiction, I think that 99% of what the writer says happened, actually needs to have happened. When readers pick up a book that looks good then notice that the book is also non-fiction, they are probably more likely to read it because it’s neat to think that the events in the story were once reality. I say 99% because it’s probably next to impossible to get every little detail about an event perfectly correct. Half the time, I don’t even remember what I did yesterday. So, I would give a little leeway to writers in that perspective knowing that the facts aren’t going to be 100% accurate. For me, I can apply the non-fiction to fiction aspect to movies that I watch as well. I think non-fiction movies are more interesting and intriguing if I know that the story is real. Also, I think we do need fiction and non-fiction genre labels. Many readers rely on genre labels alone to make their decisions, and if you take them away, those people wouldn’t have the guidance they need when choosing a book. If I were an author, I too would want the distinction of my book between fiction and non-fiction. A novel that is written and labeled as non-fiction comes across as somewhat more sophisticated for some reason. As you read, you take the events more seriously and for me, I can better analyze the book if I can play it out easily in my head, which is usually the case for non-fiction books. Also, most non-fiction books can have a fiction label put on them and no one could tell the difference, because they easily could have been made up. It’s important to distinguish between what’s a true story and what’s not.

Blog Post 6

Readicide

In my opinion, exclusively teaching literary fiction in the curriculum during grade school shouldn’t be the standard. Even though books from our history that may be considered “great” are beneficial to students’ understanding of literature, who’s to say that books written in the present aren’t just as helpful? We need to realize as a society that kids these days don’t always enjoy reading the books they are assigned in school, and half the time use Spark Notes in place of reading the book at all. I agree with Gallagher’s idea to teach some literary fiction novels in class as well as some genre fiction ones. This way, students will want to read more of the books assigned to them in the classroom. They might also have an easier time breaking down the true meaning of the book if they are able to compare it to something much easier to understand. Comparing “Romeo and Juliet” to “Rebecca” would be hard because a high school student may not fully grasp one or both of the books. If you compared “Romeo and Juliet” to “Twilight” on the other hand, you would be comparing a rather easy to comprehend book to a more difficult read. In other words, it would be easier to digest the meaning of older, more difficult novels if they were to be put in terms of today’s literature. Schools should definitely not cut out literary fiction in its entirety. Students gain important knowledge from them that they wouldn’t get from today’s popular culture. The main goal of English class though, should be to gain student’s interest in reading, so that they will continue to read throughout their lives. I personally consider English as my least favorite subject because of all the critical thinking we do with each novel that we have to read. I’m positive I would enjoy the class much more if I could look forward to the novels in class, and say I get to read it, not I have to.

"The Help" Book Trailer