blog post 7

In my mind a book has to be over mostly true to be considered non-fiction only a little sliver of it should be not true. Non-fiction means it’s supposed to be factual and if most of the book is not true then why call it non-fiction. I understand some writers might have to embellish the truth a little bit to make it more interesting and add more the story but they shouldn’t embellish it to the point where it’s far out there.  I’m sure tons of authors have exaggerated the truth a little bit in their books. Half-truth for me wouldn’t be enough to call it non-fiction. Maybe they should create a new genre like half truth-fiction.  It does matter that they bent the truth because Frey bent the truth a lot and he’s advertising that this stuff really happened to him and it really didn’t. I do not believe him when he says that only 5% was not true a little more than 5% is not true. For Mortenson people invested their money to give to the charity and he spent it on other things besides what he was supposed to.  It matters a lot in their cases that they bent the truth.  No David Shields is not right we do need to label things fiction and non-fiction because that’s what people look for , the genre that they like and if books don’t have genres then there would be just a bunch of books everywhere  and no one would want to read because there are so many choices it would be overwhelming.

Readicide

What should schools do?

Schools should not just teach literary fiction or classics. Most of the classics we read in class are not relatable. When we read classics during school the majority of the people often times do not like it. Students who only read the books that are assigned to them (classics) don’t experience genre fiction and don’t like read because they figure the books we read in class are just like every other book. Schools need to teach Genre fiction so that students won’t hate reading so much. Some of the classics are relatable and have lessons in them but we should have a balance of genre fiction so that when we read we don’t feel like its homework, and actually enjoy the book instead of retaining the information because we have to for the test. I am okay with swapping out a Shakespeare book for a Hunger Games book. A 21^st century English class reading list should have a balance of literary and genre book, 50/50. There should be books like color of water and lord of the flies but also books like the Hunger Games and twilight. Literary Fiction is not relevant to our culture, for instance Romeo and Juliet. Normal people don’t kill themselves when their lover dies and normal people don’t stalk people on the other people’s balcony. No one does that stuff. Romeo and Juliet is a good book and its cute but it’s just not relevant to today’s culture. Romeo and Juliet is not preparing me for the job market. I don’t need to know why Juliet killed Romeo to apply for a job to be an accountant. There really isn’t a life lesson in Romeo and Juliet besides knowing that you shouldn’t kill yourself when the person you love dies. We should want kids to read because it broadens their vocabulary and teaches them knew things. Also it is a healthy pass time than watching TV playing video games all day. Reading more Genre fictions in class will want kids to read.