Please just read some fiction bro

I love that people are reading more today than a decade ago. With the ever increasing digital presence in our lives, everyone is looking for a way to escape. However whenever someone tells me they like to read, it’s always the same fucking shit.

Listen, there’s nothing wrong with reading self-help books. I get it. It’s easy to digest and feels more personal. But I just can’t stand people who live and die by Atomic Habits or 48 Laws of Power.

Please just read some fiction bro. I feel like the most common argument I see against reading fiction is that it’s so “fake” to the point that it doesn’t teach people anything. Or that there is no inherent lesson that can be learned from reading fiction. Sometimes the moral of the story is more subtle. And that’s a good thing.

My issue with self help is that the lesson is too clear. Most of the time authors are very explicit on what can be taken from their writing. But that’s the problem. When the message is so clear, it just doesn’t stick. Remember the last time you read a self help book? What was the most important lesson it taught? Hard to remember right?

The easiest memories to remember are the ones you felt the heaviest emotions in. You know you’re reading good fiction when you can feel what the characters are going through. When you’re just as sad as them when they experience a loss, or just as happy when they achieved something they’ve been working towards. Take for example Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. You may not remember everything that happened in the book, but you definitely remember feeling pissed when Tom Robinson was wrongfully convicted even with evidence of his innocence. Without reading this book, you probably would forget learning about the Jim Crow laws in school.

The most powerful lessons taught are ones that make you feel a certain way. If you wanted to learn something taught in self-help books, just watch a youtube video bro. Saves you some time and money.

With that being said, here are some great fiction to read:

• Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

• Butcher’s Crossing - John Williams

• The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

• The Brother’s Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

• The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

• My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh

• The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

• Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

• Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

• The World According to Garp - John Irving