Although a great deal of the books you see in the bookstore are fiction, novels weren't always as prevalent as they are now.  Thomas Jefferson didn't approve of novels -- especially as reading material for young ladies -- and he wasn't the only one.  For a long time, virtually all novels had a moral message.

I, however, unashamedly admit to reading mostly fiction.  When I was younger that was pretty much all I read, and then I went through a phase a few years ago when I was reading about half fiction, half nonfiction.  That didn't last much longer than a year or so -- reading nonfiction takes longer, and if I read too much of it in a row, it tends to burn me out a little, even when it's on topics that really interest me.

I'm pretty comfortable with the amount of fiction I read now: About 75 percent of what I read is fiction, with the other 25 percent being nonfiction -- mostly books, and a few magazines thrown in for good measure.  A good amount of that 25 percent is also related to my work: books and magazines I'm reading either for career development, or as research for one of my projects.  I often have one or more nonfiction books going at the same time as my current novel -- it takes me longer to read the nonfiction, especially since I devote much more time to the novels, but it's nice to read a little of a nonfiction book at a time.

The rest of what I read is all fiction.  I can blaze through a novel in a couple of days if I have enough time to read, which I can't do with nonfiction -- I can speed read much easier with fiction.  But even more than that, I just love reading fiction.  I love getting sucked into a good story, the kind that you stay up until 3am reading without even realizing how late it's gotten.

How much of what you read is fiction?