Do you read non-SF/F?

[Nerds_feather]

Curious. I read a decent amount of "literature," but about half of that consists of stuff that's borderline "speculative fiction." I also love good crime fiction, especially noir masters like Raymond Chandler or Richard Stark/Donald Westlake.

How about you?

[Extollager]

Yes, I read a lot of non-fantasy/sf.

Up till I graduated from high school, I read almost nothing that wasn't sf or fantasy, or related to them (e.g. biographies of their authors) except as required at school, but I branched out as a college freshman. Some of my favorite authors of fiction are non-sf/fantasy writers.

Among the fiction-writers who are not primarily known for sf and fantasy, but of whose books I have numerous volumes that I've enthusiastically read (not just backlog!): Evelyn Waugh, V. S. Naipaul, Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Dickens, Sergei Aksakov (A Russian Gentleman etc.), Chekhov, Tolstoy, Samuel Johnson, Hawthorne (who did contribute to fantasy, of course), Kipling (ditto), Kazuo Ishiguro (ditto), John Buchan (ditto), Hardy, Trollope, Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad, Elizabeth Gaskell, Dostoevsky...

I am sure that reading lots of non-sf/fantasy contributes to my enjoyment of the special qualities of sf and fantasy when I do read them. Conversely, I find in some of this non-sf/fantasy (I prefer not to call it "mundane") qualities akin to much in the best sf/fantasy. I think that much of what draws us to sf/fantasy is what Burke called The Sublime -- that which induces a pleasing imaginative horror, terror, or awe, and sometimes non-sf/fantasy authors evoke the sublime more compellingly than most sf/fantasy. Case in point -- Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." Of course the sublime is not the only thing I'm after when I read.

[Bugg]

I read a fair amount of thrillers and historical fiction as well as sf and fantasy

[Grunkins]

I read most of the classic literature before I ever read any SF/F, I came to genre in my early 30s. These days I mix in non-fiction with my fiction reading, mostly in the form of popular history and science books.

[pyan]

I'll read anything and everything* - the proverbial back of a cornflakes packet if that's all that's available...




*except Mills and Boon and "paranormal romance"...

[thaddeus6th]

I read lots of classical history, probably about the same amount that I read of fantasy.

[clovis-man]

I also read history and the occasional thriller. The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo is in my TBR pile. Just finished a biography of T.E. Lawrence. Currently reading an account of the British frigates during the Napoleonic wars. Fantasy would likely come up third or fourth on a list for me. SF is what I read first and foremost.

[nixie]

Like Pyan, I read anything. Can be embarrassing at times as I do find I try and read over peoples shoulders when I don't have a book. Historical fiction, thrillers, I even have a soft spot for Patrica Cornwell, there I've admitted it. I also like Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.

I don't like romance although I have occasionally been reduced to reading them if visiting my aunt and don't have a book with me.

[springs]

I read more non sff. I like some crime, horror, chick-lit, historical, if the story grabs me early, I'll generally keep going. I'm actually really getting to hate genre definitions, it's so narrowing. If it's good, I'll have a shot at it.

[Fried Egg]

Looks like I'm the only one (so far) who's voted for 'No' but I will qualify by saying that:

1) I'm including horror/weird fiction.
2) I define the genres in their widest sense so I'm including stuff that might be considered borderline or barely within those genres..
3) Even given the above I would say that it is more accurately: "rarely". I do very occasionally read stuff not even vaguely associated with these genres but such books are definitely in a tiny minority. To put it in perspective, probably about one or two a year (out of sixty to seventy).

[thaddeus6th]

Can't speak for others but I'd guess that the high 'yes' vote might be because there's a natural tendency, I would guess, for sci-fi and fantasy readers to enjoy science or history as well.

[SiobhanT]

I've been trying to puch myself recently, and read more challenging stuff, I used to mostly read classics because of uni but after finishing I read a lot of easy, light stuff because I felt a bit burned out. Now it's about half and half, I've been catching up on big stuff like Booker prize winners and stuff, reading a bit more non-fiction, especially popular science, and reading lots of young adult stuff which includes lots of history, adventure and 'problem' books.

[Abernovo]

If there are words printed on it, I'll read it. Soft spot for crime fiction, but I've read most genres, including literary fiction. The odd scientific journal crosses my desk as well.

[Nerds_feather]

Originally Posted by thaddeus6th

Can't speak for others but I'd guess that the high 'yes' vote might be because there's a natural tendency, I would guess, for sci-fi and fantasy readers to enjoy science or history as well.

er...yeah, you're right. i was actually thinking about fiction only, but did not make that clear at all.

i wonder how that might change things, if at all?

[j. d. worthington]

Tons of the stuff. Currently reading an edition of the complete Spectator papers, for example, with dips now and again into the short works of Henry James (though this also includes his occasional forays into the ghostly tale). I also read a fair amount of literary criticism (which, when done well, can be as challenging, and as poetic, as the best fiction... why on earth they give us the watered-down tripe from this field to read in school, I don't know) as well as various other types of genre fiction.

Fact is, I simply relish good writing, no matter the subject matter....