Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:
I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…
Edited cause I made a boo boo on the date, lol sorry about that.
Random Question: Do you prefer true Biographies or fiction that tells the life of someone?
This question was inspired by a conversation about a movie, but it can be applied to books as well. I know I have read my fair share of historical fiction after all, but I also read biographies. This question came to mind during a conversation where someone was having a hissy fit about The Greatest Showman not being historically correct. That P.T Barnum wasn’t a super fantastic guy ect. Fair enough a little research shows that yes indeed he did some questionable things, like many people of the age. The movie does give a little look of that through the eyes of the critic and even P.T himself, saying he hoodwinked people,but yes, it is a very tamped down version because the movie isn’t meant to be a bio pic. I got some compliments from others in the conversation for explaining how I saw it. The greatest showman is P.T Barnum’s basic life story if P.T was telling it. No one is the villain of their own story and say what you will about some of what he did, he did create something that was special and was a place for the outcasts of the world to feel like they had some family.
I digress, I got to thinking about all the historical fiction I have read and how often there are plenty of facts but there is more that could be fact and might not be. Honestly, I think I prefer the fiction because life is tough enough sometimes. I like the escape. Now granted my curious brain will often dive into research on a new topic once I see it in the fiction, but it is often the fiction that get’s me curious in the first place. I like the combination of knowing the players involved along with the entertainment of the fiction. So which do you prefer?
