The Lost Storyteller was cute, but reminded me why I rarely read fiction
Amanda Block’s debut novel is about a young woman trying to find out what happened to her father who vanished from her life as a child.
Why I read this book
My co-worker told me last year one of her friends had a novel just published, which I thought was very cool.
When she described the plot of The Lost Storyteller, it sounded intriguing. I wanted to read one fiction book for my 2023 reading goal, so I noted down the book’s title to give it a go.
Why this post
I thought The Lost Storyteller was a cute and well-told story. If you like fiction, I recommend it.
But this being my first fiction book in a while, it reminded me of why I rarely read fiction these days. This post sums up the reasons why.
I only like dialogue
I get so easily distracted while reading narrative in fiction. I just like to focus my attention on dialogue. I only care about what characters say to each other.
So if the narrative is advancing the plot in some way and it becomes apparent while reading I skipped over something important, I have to go back a few pages and reread what I didn’t take in.
I don’t visualize stories well
Not getting all the narrative leads to me not being able to visualize a story well. Especially how a character looks — if this is only described once, I end up just creating my own idea of the character.
For me, if I want to engage with a fictional story, film and television work so much better for my mind. I don’t have to translate words into a visual: the visuals are right there. And of course, I get my dialogue, too.
Books are my new school
I think there’s also an element of where I’m at in life at the moment that has made me move away from fiction.
Books are my source of education as an adult. I like learning things from them, whether it’s books about my profession or topics I’m interested in.
Film and television already fill up my need for escapism. Books, at least in this stage in life, are for educating myself.
Not that fiction can’t be educational, but combined with all the other reasons I mentioned, it just doesn’t work for me.
10 books in 2023
This is my ninth book recap as part of my 2023 goal to read 10 books this year.
Read my post on why I set this reading goal
Previous posts:
- 6 things I learned reading The 1619 Project
- 4 reflections after reading The Connected Campus
- 5 quotes I want to remember from Mating in Captivity
- Mental Models didn’t help me learn what I wanted to about mental models
- What I learned about Matthew McConaughey from reading Greenlights
- 10 things I want to return to in Leading Content Design
- Reflections on a quote from Hostile Environment
- 6 memories that came to mind while reading Content Transformation
Next book
My final book (that I’ll blog about) is Radical Candor by Kim Scott.
