Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Nonfiction November - Week 2: Book Pairings


It’s week 2 of Nonfiction November and this week’s event is being hosted by Leslie at Regular Rumination! The topic this week is Book Pairings!

This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.

This one is perfect for me, because I love to ‘read more about it’. Usually it starts when I read a historical fiction book about people, places, or events that I know little or nothing about. Sometime this causes me to stop and google to learn more, but often, I want to read even more and will grab another book on the same topic. This can be fiction or nonfiction. The book I recommended last week, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott, is a good example of this. I had previously read Miss Lizzie’s War by Rosemary Agonito, a fictional account of Elizabeth Mc. When I learned that there was a nonfiction book discussing not only Elizabeth Van Lew, but also other women of the Civil War, I knew I would read this one.

Another book pairing that I highly recommend is a book pairing featuring two books about bocha posh, a custom in some regions Afghanistan and Pakistan in which a family with no male children will designate a female child to be raised as an adult. The first book I read on this subject was The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi, work of historical fiction. I was fascinated by this book. A few months later when I had a chance to read The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg, I grabbed it! This is a nonfiction book in which the author spoke with several women who had been raised as bocha posh. If you haven’t read these, I think you will find them fascinating! I know I did!

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7 comments:

  1. I haven't heard of any of these books but I really like the idea of pairings. I had a lot of fun thinking them up.

    My Nonfiction Pairs

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  2. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and The Underground Girls of Kabul is such a good rec for a book pairing! Both are on my TBR. I should see about reading them back to back! Such a good idea!

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  3. Both of your nonfiction titles are already on my wish list, so I welcome the fiction pairing suggestions!

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  4. The Underground Girls of Kabul has been on my list for a year already. I'll make a note of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. The two seem like a perfect pair.

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  5. I've already read both of your nonfiction suggestions and I really liked them, so I'm definitely interested in the fiction you paired with each :)

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  6. I read Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy earlier this year and I'm so excited by all the fiction pairings that people have been sharing this week. So much to add to my TBR!

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  7. Oh my gosh - I just finished Underground Girls of Kabul and posted my review today...and was just flabbergasted by all of it. I'll have to read Pearl that Broke its Shell for sure.

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