The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

30.6 Delicious Dee's task:Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

Often when I’m reading various fiction books, I wonder, did that really happen? What was it really like during this time period, and often I end up picking up various non-fiction books trying to see how much the author stuck to the truth or how much was it embellished. There are even times when I pick up a book and think, wow, I never knew about this, I would love to know more about it.

For this time, you will read 2 books. Both books must be from the same option (A or B):

Option A
If you choose this option, you will read one fiction book and one non-fiction book.
1. Pick a fiction book of your choice
2. Read a non-fiction book that in some way relates to the book you read for part 1. REQUIRED: In your post, explain the connection between the two books.
For example, I could read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
and within it, there is a sub-story of survivors of the Dresden Firebombing during WW2, so I could read Firestorm: The Bombing of Dresden 1945 to understand more about what happened during that event.

Option B
If you choose this option you will read two non-fiction books.

Identify 2 novels (works of fiction) that you are reading for other tasks in the Spring Challenge that have an event or subject that you would like to know more about and read a non-fiction book for each of them that explores those events or subjects.
REQUIRED: You must state the fiction books you read and the task(s) you read them for in your post and explain the connection to the non-fiction books you read for this task.

For example, if I read The Submission and The Gargoyle
during this challenge, I could read a book about Muslims in America post 9/11 such as Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America, and a book about what happens when someone is traumatically burned, I could read Burn Unit: Saving Lives After the Flames

Reserved

Reserved

I have no idea what I'm using for this task yet, but this is cool.

i'm glad you like it ;) i have no idea what i'm going to use yet either...waiting to see all the other 30 points, 25 pointers etc

I *think* I may use option A and do:

Before I Go to Sleep for fiction and the My Life, Deleted for the non-fiction. will that work?

sounds like it - they both feature amnesia of varying forms - so i'll take it ;)

Sassafrass wrote: "I *think* I may use option A and do:

Before I Go to Sleep for fiction and the My Life, Deleted for the non-fiction. will that work?"

I think I am going to piggy-back off Sassafrass....

I am going to read Before I Go to Sleep, but would like to pair it with a biography (nonfiction)

Would this work?

Being with Rachel: A Story of Memory and Survival

this one is a bit harder...if it focuses more on her daughter and the amnesia then I would say yes, if its more about her, then not really...because from what I can tell from the description of Before I Go to Sleep, its about her experiences, not someone elses, with an individual looking in (like her mother) - does that make sense?

Jodi wrote: "I think I am going to piggy-back off Sassafrass....

I am going to read Before I Go to Sleep, but would like to pair it with a biography (nonfiction)

Would this work?

[book:Being with Rachel: A S..."

This is a neat task!

I wanted to read about the London Blitz for Option A

So-- will these work?

Non-fiction
Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour

Fiction
Blackout

@ Kathy - it does and I just added Blackout to the list, it sounds really good ;)

For option a can I read fiction- Angel Burn then read non fiction- Angel Letters

JennRenee - what is the connection you see between the two? i'm having a hard time seeing it in the descriptions

Dee wrote: "JennRenee - what is the connection you see between the two? i'm having a hard time seeing it in the descriptions"

Honestly I have not read the first book but I thought it was about an angel. I can find another Angel book. I have plenty. What I was thinking is the fiction book to be about an angel or fallen angel and then a non fiction book about people who have encountered angels. does that make sense?

Maybe Hallowed for the fiction book.

yeah, it does...lemme see if i can find a copy of the NF so I can take a closer look

JennRenee wrote: "Dee wrote: "JennRenee - what is the connection you see between the two? i'm having a hard time seeing it in the descriptions"

Honestly I have not read the first book but I thought it was about an..."

Dee wrote: "yeah, it does...lemme see if i can find a copy of the NF so I can take a closer look

JennRenee wrote: "Dee wrote: "JennRenee - what is the connection you see between the two? i'm having a hard ti..."

thanks

Great task Dee! I think I have a few different options to go with, but I wanted to ask about this one because it may be too vague of a connection.

Option A
Fiction book: Touched by an Alien
Non Fiction Book: Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

I thought I could use the Area 51 book because of the alien rumors about the base.

i think that is stretching it a bit - nice try though ;)

Valorie wrote: "Great task Dee! I think I have a few different options to go with, but I wanted to ask about this one because it may be too vague of a connection.

Option A
Fiction book: [book:Touched by an Alien|..."

I thought so. I have some other options I can go with, thanks!

if you wanted to read the Area 51 book, you could read something like Area 7 which is about a super secret military base

Hmmmm...I want to read Wither which from the back of the book looks like it deals with sex trafficking and genetic engineering...does anybody have any good suggestions for a non-fiction book that would fit this?

would this work?
The Hope, Hype, & Reality of Genetic Engineering: Remarkable Stories from Agriculture, Industry, Medicine, and the Environment

This works brilliantly, since I've already started All Clear as a pre-read and I should be able to find something to pair with it. I'm curious as to how specific we need to be in the pairing, though - do I need to stick with the Blitz, or would any non-fiction about England in WWII fit?

Option A - The Ghost Trap and The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean - would this be OK?

Great task!

For Option A: Left Neglected for the fiction book and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat & Other Clinical Tales for the non-fiction book. Would that work since they both deal with neuroscience?

I just wanted to check on these for option A:

Book 1: S. (fiction)
Book 2: This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace

Both are about the Bosnian War and the atrocities committed during the war. Great task! :)

Would this work for option A?
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
and
Survival in Auschwitz

if it is a specific event in the book, then I would go with that, if its a more general during the time (and over several years), then a more general NF would work - Kathy G is reading the first one in the series and found a book on the blitz that sounds interesting

Jessica wrote: "This works brilliantly, since I've already started All Clear as a pre-read and I should be able to find something to pair with it. I'm curious as to how specific we need to be in th..."

@ mstan, connie, randi and aleksandra - they all sound like they word from the descriptions.

Thanks, Dee! :)

Another couple of books I want to read maybe they will work?
The Art of Fielding (Fiction)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (Non-fiction)

If not I will keep looking...

Thanks, Dee.

I am thinking of Except for Me and Thee and Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality. Would this plan work?

Bea - do you have a description for Except for Me and Thee? I can't find one here...but from the title, I would say yes

@ Judy - looks good

@ Meghan - it looks like they will work - I haven't read the Art of Fielding yet, if it focuses primarily on the baseball, then it will - if its a more character driven, might be a bit iffy - if that makes sense...if you decide not to use it here, it fits into 5.10 ;)

Just wondering if these 2 would work
Elephants' Graveyard- I read the first in this series a while ago & the central character is a safari guide
Don't Look Behind You!: A Safari Guide's Encounters with Ravenous Lions, Stampeding Elephants, and Lovesick Rhinos

sounds good sam...lovesick rhino's...lol! ;)

Dee wrote: "Bea - do you have a description for Except for Me and Thee? I can't find one here...but from the title, I would say yes"

"Here are those gallant Quakers, young and in love, meeting the challenges of nature and man as the growing family travels westward, then encountering the bitterness and savagery that explode into the Civil War, later guiding their children through the confusing aftermath, and, finally, looking at their world with bittersweet maturity..." (That was one sentence!)

@ Bea - you are good to go...I have noticed quaker fiction tends to be very verbose ;)

Dee wrote: "@ Bea - you are good to go...I have noticed quaker fiction tends to be very verbose ;)"

Perhaps it is an outcome of the silence they practice. :)

Cindy F

What about for fiction Mockingbird and for non-fiction Thinking In Pictures, Expanded Edition: My Life With Autism both deal with autism

Thank you, Dee!

@ JennRenee, i'm going to say conditionally yes but couldn't find a copy of the book at the store...if when you read it, you find it doesn't fit then substitute something else as needed

@ Cindy - those look good

I'm thinking about reading In the Courts of the Sun as my fiction book and 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus as my non-fiction book.

In the Courts of the Sun primarily focuses on the Mayan Civilization, but I've also paged through it and found a handful of references to other pre-Columbian Indians. 1491 is an overarching view of pre-Columbian Indians from North to South America... so I'm not sure if it's too broad of a connection or not.

@ Vicky - it sounds tenatively like it will work, but if when you read the first one, its primarily Mayan rather than other, let me know

So would Hallowed and Angel Letters work and for my daughter....Dearly, Departed and So Now You're a Zombie: A Handbook for the Newly Undead which is a non fiction. First two about angels on earth second two about zombies. Another non fiction zombie isThe Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection From The Living Dead

@JennRenne - yes to both

Dee wrote: "@JennRenne - yes to both"

thanks

Are these two books close enough?
and . They're both about pilots/heros.