Quote Originally Posted by Sir C View Post
At some point I recommend you pause and consider just what it is that defines us as 'human'. You are speaking like someone who works in IT.
Yes, but it's all silly, madey-uppy stuff, isn't it? It's not real and so rarely even rings true. Indeed, we only call it 'good' when it manages to approach some semblance of verisimilitude. What's the point when non-fiction is so much more rich and strange - and involves stuff that actually happened?
For instance, I'm currently reading 'The Faithful Executioner', a biography of Frantz Schmidt, an executioner in 16th Century Nuremberg based on his journals. It's a far more extraordinary story and far more revelatory of what one might call 'the human condition' than any novel I've read.


I make a distinction for rollicking historical novels involving war, of course.


btw, I see that vile communist Dan Snow is on Twitter hand-wringing about Dresden. Lord, but I cannot stand that man.