Pocket Loyalty

I’m in the middle of reading four books at the moment. Two fiction – one for the train ride into work, one for these snowed in afternoons that require hot chocolate and a soft blanket. The other two are of the ‘improve your life’ non-fiction variety. Not so much self-help as further learning. The concept of understanding something new about yourself or the world gives you the feeling that you’re moving forward. I’m not sure if it’s reminiscing about the exciting days at college or just the feeling of stretching my brain beyond my everyday skill set, but learning more about the seemingly unexplainable world we live in makes me feel more prepared.
But is it only non-fiction books that can speak these truths to us? Is that why non-fiction is purchased more than fiction? Is that why publishers are more likely to take on an unpublished writer if the work is factual?
From what I’ve seen though non-fiction doesn’t quite breed the same sense of lasting passion that fiction does. Even The Power of Now didn’t yield the kind of constantly-in-my-pocket obsession that Catcher In The Rye has done. And what about Jane Austen’s work? How many movies & spin-off books has the recent health book you bought yielded? Celiac Mummies just doesn't have the same appeal as Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Meanwhile in the last twenty years I’ve seen six different versions of Emma alone.
Is it all just a form of escapism or is it something more? Can fiction do what non-fiction can’t? Can it connect on a deeper, less material level? I don’t know about you but I never fell in love with an older man who had his crazy first wife locked away in the attic, (unless there's something my husband wants to tell me) but there is something about Jane Eyre that I related to at age fourteen, age twenty-one and again at twenty-nine. Has there ever been a non-fiction book that has inspired the minds of children the way Harry Potter has or welcomed a pre-teen into a crush the way Twilight has done? Love her or hate her, Bella will be apart of those young girls' (and most of their mothers') lives forever. Forget Daddy issues, they’ll each have Edward issues.
Perhaps non-fiction is more likely to be a fad while fiction takes the slow and steady path of loyalty. Non-fiction speaks to us now and leaves us when we fill the void with the next self-help book. Fiction stays with us and begs to be picked up again and again. With a non-fiction book you can skim and search the appendix to find instant gratification, with fiction you need the build up from Chapter One for the full effect.
In an age of twitter speak and text messages are we being programmed to forgo the details and get to the heart of the matter? Which in turn, takes out the heart? Non-fiction has its place but after a few weeks or months that place is often at the used book store. Fiction though, stays on my bookshelf or in very special cases - my pocket.