Books are Food

I try to eat every kind of food I come across. I have to admit, though, that I ate some and vowed never to taste them again. Food nourishes the body, but today, I want to talk about another kind of food: the ones that do NOT nourish the body. Specifically, I want to talk about the books I eat.

I only read two books, no, three types of book.

One, I read the Bible. I said this one first to get it out of the way. Well, say whatever you like about the book. I’d rather say it’s a book of books — at least, the one I use has 66 books). It stands on its own, in my domain of books. It just fails to fit into the remaining two categories, for me.

Two, I read fiction. Ha ha, here we are. Fictions are just irresistible. I’ll call them the sugary books (licks lips).

And to cap it all, I also read non-fiction. Yeah, right. A book can only either be fiction or not, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought until I discovered I have been reading one book all my life that, for me, is neither fiction nor non-fiction: so I put it in that first category. Moreover, how would you categorize a book of poems, or a book with fictional and non-fictional parts (like Dekker’s Tea with Hezbollah)? But before I wrap up this paragraph, I’d like you to know that if fiction is sugary, then non-fiction is meaty. Non-fiction can be as boring as bland food, and fiction could be so addictive sometimes.

Now if books are food, what do they nourish? I’d say: The Bible nourishes the spirit Fiction feeds the emotions Non-fiction feeds the mind.

Fiction appeals to the emotions. It entertains. You feel the suspense, the anxiety, the joys and griefs of the characters. Your stomach lurches and moves as the story twists and unfolds. If you get too addicted to fiction and you let it feed your mind (rather than your emotions only), you might be the kinda guy that says “Avada kedavra” to a fly rather than swatting it. It does not hurt anyone to try the spell, though.

Generally, non-fiction appeals to the mind. If a book does not appeal to my emotions, and can not feed my mind with good info, I’d rather sleep than read such a book. Now, feeding the mind seems like a good idea, but we can’t just leave the emotion in a wreck. It is now left for each one of us to seek out a balanced diet for the soul.

Do you eat books? If you do, which are you going to feed on today?