The merits of novels

Until recently I wasn't into novels, because I wasn't sure what to get out of reading stories that weren't true. As a child, I read every novel my parents would let me buy - they were an addiction, similar to how Netflix shows feel to me today. But after the high school work load took over and I started to fall behind in areas like science and math, any free time I had deserved a much "trashier" form of fun, like TV or gossip with other teenage girls. 

And then I went through another phase as a young adult - I started to prefer books that were non-fiction, because they provided some form of knowledge that proved the time I spent on books to be well spent and fruitful. These included self-help, how-tos and autobiographies. Since they were all based on fact and not fiction, I felt it was ok to spend time on them. 

More recently, I was inspired by a close friend from college to start reading fiction again. When talking of the value of fiction, she said that she actually got a lot from reading fiction. She often felt that the characters she read about were relatable either to herself, or to other people she knew. Even though novels aren't based on fact, novels that are written well are able to draw comparisons to the real world that she learns from. 

I decided to give it a shot and read "My Brilliant Friend", a book by Elena Ferrante, an Italian novelist recommended by a cousin. I was in the midst of reading Richard Branson's autobiography, but I was finding it hard to get through, so I decided to switch over to the novel. In the beginning, it was difficult to get through the pages, and my speed was admittedly slow and distracted.

But as I got more into it, I started to see more value of reading a well written novel. 

Firstly, I found that it became easier to find words to describe certain thoughts or feelings. While it shouldn't matter in theory, having words really helps enhance one's understanding of self better. 

Second, I found that I was able to communicate my thoughts to other people better, and it became easier to think of words to use to accurately say what I wanted to. This helped me quite a lot in phone calls I do for work. 

Third, my imagination and creativity became more forthcoming than they used to. It's easier to understand new ideas now and come up with new ones. In the past, I would often struggle to come up with blog post topics every week, which made me go on a long hiatus. Now, it feels easier to come up with thoughts and ideas I'd like to pen down. 

I think reading this type of novel, which is especially well thought out and well written, is different from the type of fiction I read as a child. The type of fiction I read as a child (Five Find Outers, Malory Towers, The Naughtiest Girl in School), were all well written too, but they are meant for kids. They certainly improved my communication abilities, but at the time, I didn't find myself thinking to deeply about the different perspectives those books provided. I also didn't find them relatable in a way that I saw myself or people I knew in the characters. To me, they were fairly distant characters who transported me to a different reality. 

Now, I'm on the third book of Elena Ferrante's series, and am excited to explore different types of novels that I never paid much attention to!