Thursday, July 17, 2008

fiction, nonfiction, and ????

so we all know what fiction (romance, sci fi, fantasy, "literature") and non fiction (history, biographies, boring books) books are. that is taught in elementary school and even though i used to get confused (NONfiction seems like it should be NOT true) im good now.

last night in the car jeremy and i were talking about books in general. we both just read i am america (and so can you) by stephen colbert. we agreed that it was hilarious... but was it fiction or nonfiction?

are religious books or inspirational or self help books nonfiction? if a person did not subscribe to the belief system that the person was espousing (good word huh?) then that person would think the book is fictional but typically people agree these books are nonfiction (i think). what category would humorous books go into then? authors like dave barry, erma bombeck and stephen colbert have some basis in truth when they write but they exaggerate and make things up for comic effect. is it fiction then?

we couldnt fall asleep last night worrying about this. ok thats a lie - i was asleep as soon as i turned off my light as usual. but i am worried. is there a semi-fiction category mrs. veenstra forgot to teach me about? how in the hell did i graduate with a 4.0 GPA from a private school and receive a college degree if i dont know these simple things?

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