Fiction or Non-Fiction

As those who know me well know, I am a ferocious reader. I am fortunate to be able to read even technical information at a fast pace, which allows me to read many books and other things in a year. As a general rule, not counting the classics, I prefer non-fiction books, since real life struggles and history to me are much more interesting than fantasy worlds, magic wands, vampires, dwarfs, etc. (sorry Abe, Susan, Caitlyn, the U.K., USA, all western teenage girls, everyone else, sorry) Fiction, generally, just doesn't do it for me and seems a waste of time since there is so many non-fiction things to read of such great value.

Anyway, I recently saw the movie "No Country, For Old Men" and really, thought it was a very intelligent and different movie, it also won the Academy Award for best picture. So I went out to my favorite mall ( a virtual one, Amazon.com) to purchase the book. While I was there I saw that the author had recently won a Pulitzer Prize f0r another novel titled 'The Road'. It caught my eye, and was less than $10 dollars with free shipping. I love Amazon Prime so I purchased it.

I read "No Country...." over the holidays, it was good, not great but good, and then started to work on 'The Road'. It took me about four days to find the time to complete this novel. This is a great book. The author Cormac McCarthy sets his novel, in a post-apocalyptic, dark burning world (no vampires, but a lot of cannibal's). The book is about a father, his nine year old son, their struggle to survive, and their struggle to remain the 'good ones'. The love between the two, and the impact of the purity and innocence of the son is pretty amazing. I would like to express a lot more of my thoughts about this book, but I think a lot of its greatness is, the reader decoding the messages of the author, themselves. If you have the time and desire, I would highly recommend that you give it a read.

Interestingly, this book has been made into a motion picture starring Viggo Mortensen. For what ever reason, they have delayed its release. I have read, some feel it is the case, because it is too sad of a plot and setting for the country to deal with right now. Anyway, I will travel to the theaters when it comes out.

Fiction or non-fiction? This book definitely 'wobbled' my current paradigm on this. If you know of others that would do the same, I might give them a try also.