Reading fiction

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I don't voluntarily read fictional literature. It strains me, and I'm slow at it.

I don't have any reading disabilities that I know of. Reading non-fictional texts and books works just fine.
I can relax by watching TV, by listening to the radio, but not by reading fictional books. Reading fictional books is about as straining as, say, studying. And I study whenever I have the energy to do so. So there's basically no place for fictional literature in my life.

At high school, I had to read a few fictional books, and I really hated it because it consumed so much time and I was bad a remembering the contents.

What kind of experiences do you have?

I like fiction. I prefer to read books which aren't set in modern day, or are clearly set in a different universe. When the crossover between what I expect could happen in real life, and what the book does can't mix, I either read the book at a snails pace or give up reading it alltogether. Most recently I read "the solitaire mystery", which I found very difficult to read, as it contains "stories within stories" which makes it difficult to remember who is telling what. However, it was a good book when I finally finished it.
When I was 11, I believed I was going to get a letter from hogwarts, 100%. A lot of people don't believe me when I say that.

I read anything and everything, but I love reading fiction.

Currently obsessed with the works of Clive Barker.

I'd much rather read non-fiction than fiction.

I joke that if all the books about adultery were deleted from the Western canon, you'd have Don Quixote, Crime and Punishment, and a hard time thinking of many others. I have trouble getting anything out of fiction.

I remember a few of the books I've read:
Ivan Turgenev's Fathers & Sons
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
Ayn Rand's Anthem & Fountainhead
Albert Camus' Metamorphosis
and a few others.
I like fairy tales and fables, too.

When I was a teenager I read a lot of books geared towards teens by writers like Judy Blume. I recommend these for people who have a hard time with the more "difficult" fiction.

What do you mean by "Western canon", Trencher? Books that have been canonised?

I can think of dozens of books by Western authors that didn't feature adultery. Even many of the ones that did- like 1984- weren't really about adultery, often using it as a plot device.

I work in a book shop, primarily in the fiction section.

I read so much fiction when I was young. It was ridiculous. It was always historical fiction/ sci-fi/ or fantasy. I did watch documentaries though. And I liked encyclopaedias... Recently, however, I've lost my taste for fiction. I only read non-fiction and the occasional classical work....

I enjoy science-fiction and historical accounts. Romantic fiction is too funny, and gothic fiction is too serious.

I gave up on western fiction long ago, and action/adventure/spy fiction seems to work best in the movies.

Despite me finding it harder than others to picture scenes and what people etc look like in fictional texts, I do enjoy reading fiction, I find it to be a great form of escapism.

Does anyone else have problems taking tragedies seriously? The only time a tragedy "gets to me" is when one character ceases to exist (is forgotten, exists in an alternate reality ). The really sad movies/books I don't get. I got in a wee bit of trouble for smiling all the way through Hamlet.

I consider tragic fiction as a sub-genre of romantic fiction -- too funny to enjoy.

I have trouble with fiction books that are based on real things and events, like the many versions of King Arthur, which sort of pretend to be historical but aren't. Or fantasy novels that are located in real places, usually in Wales. I want to read books that are either non-fiction or pure fiction, nothing in between. Actually it is the same with movies. "Based on a true story" really irks me.

As the OP stated, for me it is more difficult to read fiction because it feels like having to study hard to understand and keep track of everything. I much prefer nonfiction. On the other hand, I prefer writing fiction.

I used to be an avid reader as a child and found it to be very enjoyable, but as an adult reading feels, as the OP put it, "like studying". I just don't have the attention span for it anymore. Hell, I can barely sit through a 2 hour movie, let alone a book that takes many hours to read!