Reading Fiction

Finally finished watching The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogies, yesterday. Enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy more though. Many of the movies are more than 3 hours long.

If mere watching the movies felt like such a huge task, I am not sure how one would feel about reading the books. With myriad characters, places, and species, it's a whole new world created by Tolkien. However, is there any meaning in spending so much time reading about that fictional new world?

Knowing all that trivia does not serve any utilitarian purpose. I would rather stick to watching movies. I would not even suggest the books to children. Not even to encourage their reading habit. They don't have to know all those unnecessary intricate details, just to improve their reading. They should rather spend that time knowing more about the real world. Kids would do well reading fictional works that mimic the real world more; and not dwell so much on books that talk about such non-existent stuff like magic rings, orcs, wizardry, elves, hobbits etc.

I believe this is true about any fictional world. Be it LOTR, Harry Potter, Narnia or any piece of fictional writing for that matter. If the world created by the author is so awesome, just spend enough time to know about the world and then stop. I was in the middle of the fifth book of Harry Potter when I stopped reading the series. I felt I knew enough about the world created by J.K. Rowling. There was no meaning in laboring more in that fictional world.

I would rather spend that time to better my lot in the real world. Or perhaps learn from the experiences of a great person by reading an autobiography. Or read any non-fiction work that tells you more about how the world works and what you should do to better your lot. Perhaps that is the reason men read non-fiction more and find fiction less and less attractive as they grow old.

People become more utilitarian as they grow old and shift towards things that help them operate better in the real world. The same reason why people shift their allegiance from Communism to Capitalism as they start participating in the economy and operate more and more in the real world. But that is a topic for another day!