Read More Fiction

Sometimes I get together with friends or colleagues and the discussion turns to reading. What have you been reading lately? Got any recommendations? What are your favorite books?

And in most cases, all people mention are non-fiction books. It could be pop-science like Thinking Fast and Slow, or policy books like Abundance, or memoirs like Shoe Dog, or maybe more rarely something like The Power Broker. And this always makes me very sad.

Non-fiction is fine. But I already read non-fiction constantly! Every day I read texts, emails, social media, blogs, presentations, code, websites, junk mail, menus, road signs, warning labels... and all of it is non-fiction. The last thing I want to do with my spare reading time is read even more non-fiction!

Narrative non-fiction is all right by me — books like The Right Stuff that are suffused with human stories. My real pet peeve is modern "idea books" — pop-psych, business writing, anything that takes 200+ pages to communicate a simple core thesis. Technology has completely obliterated this format. Any time I pick up one of these books, I get the sense it could have been a blog post. The authors just repeat themselves over and over, telling one anecdote after another that try to make the same points again and again.

On the plus side (I guess), you don't have to read very much of the book to get the point or to have an opinion. You can just glance at it and then bring it up in conversation when someone asks you if you've read anything good lately.

And I think the publishers must know all this! There are even services that give you drastically condensed versions of these books with just the key ideas. Why bother reading the whole thing? (As I was writing this, Tim Ferriss shared that sales for his books are cratering, so the market seems to be catching up.)

So, if you find you're mostly reading these kinds of "idea" books (or not reading much at all), might I recommend you...

Read More Fiction!

Fiction expands our sense of the world around us. It teaches its lessons more subtly, by example, rather than hitting you over the head with the same core idea for 200 pages. It exposes us to different ways of thinking, communicating, and living.

But maybe you don't know what to read. In that case, allow me to make some suggestions!

Here are nine of my favorite books, roughly in order from lighter to more challenging:

Watership Down

by Richard Adams

This was my favorite book for years. It might seem like a children's story, but on re-reading I've found it's just as entertaining as an adult, too. I love the beautiful depictions of leadership, friendship, and cleverness.

Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

Perhaps the great romantic comedy. The characters are nuanced enough to be interesting, but satirical enough to be funny. I never read this in school, but found it to be an absolute page-turner when I did finally pick it up.

17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future

by Jon Bois

If you like sports and science fiction, or if you like the internet, you should definitely read this. It's a creative multimedia experience about football, immortality, and the meaning of life. Plus, it's free online, so there's no excuse not to at least check out the first chapter.

Cat's Cradle

by Kurt Vonnegut

I love Vonnegut, and if you haven't read him, I would recommend almost any of his books or short stories. This isn't as emotional as Slaughterhouse-Five, but it still packs a pretty mean punch, and the lighter subject matter adds another layer.

Fleishman Is In Trouble

by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

As you will see from this list, I mostly read older books, but I'll gladly make an exception for Taffy Brodesser-Akner — I'd read anything she writes. This is her first novel, and the prose sings just as much as in her essays and journalism.

The Left Hand of Darkness

by Ursula K. Le Guin

The middle third of this book left me absolutely floored. Le Guin builds intricate, fantastical worlds that still somehow feel real and lived-in. (If you're looking for something shorter by her, you could also check out The Lathe of Heaven.)

One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel García Márquez

A beautiful and sublime work of art. Marquez plays with time

Pale Fire

by Vladimir Nabokov

I am not nearly smart enough to understand everything going on in this book, but I still find it spellbinding. It's so uniquely self-contained, balancing gorgeous writing, several layers of mystery, and more laughs than you'd think.

Infinite Jest

by David Foster Wallace

Okay, so I'm officially that guy. But there's a reason this book is such a meme. Once you get past the first 100 pages and immerse in the characters and plot lines, each chapter hits you like a ton of bricks. I think there's more truth in this book than any non-fiction I've read.

Hate one of these recommendations? Want to suggest another book? Let me know and maybe I'll update with your feedback:

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