A good story pulls me in every time, and one of my favorite moments in life is when a line from a great bit of fiction hits home for me and I learn something that wriggles down into my thoughts and stays in my memory far beyond the plot of the novel.
In recent years I've also learned to enjoy a certain amount of nonfiction. If the subject matter is too heavy or requires a long pause at the end of every sentence to analyze and digest what I've just been told, it starts to feel like the same kind of lesson that whispers to me in fiction is being shouted at me in every line. Amazing truth, often, but an overload for my already-whirling brain. So I don't delve into much of the weighty stuff -- just a little bit once in a while.
Biographies and autobiographies, however, have become a growing part of my library checkout stack. Interesting, helpful, inspiring. The lives of others make for fascinating stories. (I am, in fact, of the opinion that a good listener can find an amazing story in the life of almost anyone, as inane as their life may appear on the surface.) As I am beginning to train now for the triathlons I'll participate in this summer, I found inspiration and helpful information in these two books:
You Are an Ironmanby Jacques Steinberg
How six weekend warriors chased their dream of finishing the world's toughest triathlon
Marathon Woman
by Kathrine Switzer
The story of one woman who broke through the gender barrier in the sport of running
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