Thoughts on Reading Fiction Books

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One of my favorites when I was 13.

The author was 17 when she wrote it.

I’ve got a few of her other books for my children.

I like Tex and Rumble Fish.

The outsiders was the first film I went to on my own with my friends. We walked to the theater, and then walked to McDonald’s for lunch.
 
I’m not disputing that, but that might be the other poster’s experience and for the most part I’m cynical on whether or not it will produce effects that will make one closer to God in the path of sanctity.
 
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Doctor Sleep was surprisingly good, although the end was kind of “phoned in”. Stephen King has a problem with the end of many of his stories—it is like by the time comes to finish the story he loses interest or has already started something else or something. Like 11/22/63—great book, until the end. Doctor Sleep, not quite as abrupt, but the end didn’t match how good the book was.

His Bill Hodges books were really good (Mr Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch). The Outsider a new book that is tied into the earlier Bill Hodges books and was really good.
 
Doctor sleep did end kind of abruptly and I feel like I knew the characters to well to not know more of how they got on. I have not read 11/22/63 yet.
 
Canvas said:
Stephen King has a problem with the end of many of his stories—it is like by the time comes to finish the story he loses interest or has already started something else or something.
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Yes. This.

Tommyknockers ending just puzzled me.

And as much as I loved The Stand, I felt like he just lost the will to write by the last chapter.
 
I read mostly a combination of classic novels, memoirs, thrillers, and history. I think a balanced reading “diet” should include both quality fiction and non-fiction. 🙂
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
got about 1/4 through that. The part about the architect nearly put me to sleep. Not sure if I will finish. Mudgett is actually buried in the Catholic cemetery near Philly, in an unmarked grave. He converted before death.
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I am also about a quarter of the way through Devil in the White City! 🙂 I had to put it aside for now to finish another book in time for our book club but am planning to finish it, I hope. I didn’t know that Mudget converted before death, very interesting.
Tis_Bearself said:
I have also read that most of his story as told in that book is truly fiction, as in, at odds with actual facts investigated by researchers.
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Really? That is kind of disappointing to hear. I always thought Larsen’s books were so well-researched. Maybe I will research it a little myself; it is a fascinating topic.
 
Two of the issues I remember are that Holmes didn’t kill the couple who owned the drugstore, nor did they “vanish”. They both remained alive and lived well into the 20th century.

Also, the allegations that Holmes had torture equipment in his “castle” supposedly originated with a tabloid newspaper and then got picked up by someone who wrote a book in the 1940s and used the tabloids for sources. He did have secret rooms in his castle but was using them to hide unpaid-for construction materials so he wouldn’t have to pay the suppliers.

Adam Selzer wrote a whole investigative book on this called “H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil” in which he shows that a lot of the legends about Holmes were basically fake news.

Some reviewers have called “The Devil in the White City” more akin to “In Cold Blood” in that the author imagined a lot of unsourced stuff to make the story more interesting.

Edited to add, here’s an article I remembered from last year when relatives of the priest who visited Holmes in prison found a note from him in an old Bible where Holmes asked the priest to pray for his soul after death.

www.pennlive.com

Couple finds handwritten note from America's first serial killer in a family Bible

H. H. Holmes built a "Murder Castle" where he lured visitors to the World's Fair in Chicago to their death in the 19th century.
www.pennlive.com www.pennlive.com
 
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I love works of fiction, but I tend to stay away from anything marketed to people above the age of 15.

Young adult books are one of my favorite genres. And I have a nice collection of Newberry Award winners in my library as well.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorites of all time.

Anne of Green Gables

The Secret Garden

These works are classics for a reason, and their stories are full of hope and choices and morality. But they’re entertaining!

And works like these:

Mrs Frisby And the Rats of NIMH

Because of Winn Dixie

Jacob Have I Loved

… these books draw the reader in and cause them to think “What would I do in that situation?” Fictional stories are a way to get us to think about choices, about right and wrong, about concrete applications of morality, and so on.

There is a reason Our Lord taught the people in parables – because stories give us something to get inside of and live through, without having to actually live in those moments. They give us something to take back to our real lives and our real situation.

Just my two cents.
 
I agree with you about fiction targeted towards children and teens. It’s really good.

I mentioned Enright’s, The Saturdays in an earlier post. The entire Melendy family trilogy is a wonderful saga of growing up and learning to make good choices.
 
It should be noted that some of the older books that are now considered “young adult fiction” or “children’s classics” weren’t written for children. Young adult fiction as a genre didn’t even really emerge till the 1960s.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was written for adults - it definitely has what would have been considered adult themes for its time (and my mother said when she was young she was taught that it was an immoral book for Catholic teens to read), and was published in an Armed Services Edition and read by servicemen.

Anne of Green Gables was written for all ages. Its predecessor Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (which Anne’s author seems to have borrowed pretty liberally from) was written for adults, although a lot of children read it too. Grown men apparently wrote love letters to Rebecca. Seventeenth Summer is another book that was marketed to an adult audience when published.
 
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