Thursday, November 10, 2011

Thursday Thirteen: The Truth in Fiction Edition

I'm feeling bookish lately which has led to tons of meandering around on GoodReads  I have more book lists than you can shake a stick at.  Below are some bookish pairs I'd like to read. The first book is fiction and the second book is a non-fiction work that relates -- by varying degrees -- to the fiction books:


Pair #1:  Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens and Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Pair #2  The Professor by Charlotte Bronte and The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell

Pair #3:  This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Milford



Pair #4:  The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret of Anjou by Susan Higginbotham and The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir

Pair #5:  Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd

Pair #6:  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie and The Poisoners Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum



Pair #7:  Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford and The Sisters:  The Saga of the Miford Family by Mary S. Lovell

Pair #8:  The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch and Iris Murdoch: A Life by Peter J. Conradi

Pair #9:  Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George and The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty by G.J. Meyers


Pair #10:  Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins and Wild Romance:  A Victorian Story of a Marriage, a Trial, and a Self-Made Woman by Chole Schama

Pair #11:  All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West and The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf

Pair #12:  The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf and Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee

Pair #13:  Richard III by William Shakespeare and Shakespeare's Kings: The Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages 1337-1485 by John Julius Norwich

5 comments:

Susan in TX said...

What a great list of pairings. I just finished Gaskell's life of C. Bronte and now want to seek out a copy of The Professor. I have Villette in house on the TBR shelf, though, so it may come first. Now you've inspired me to reexamine the shelf for "paired readings." There's just something very satisfactory in list-making, isn't there? :)

Susan in TX said...

Ah, I meant to add a warning not to let the slowness of the beginning of the Bronte bio put you off, the second half picks up and makes the book worth the time.

Anonymous said...

The Sisters and Love in a Cold Climate are both excellent! I love your pairings.

AG said...

Loved the Hermione Lee biog of Virginia Woolf - just wish Vintage would print on some decent paper! Can't recommend Peter Ackroyd too highly, either - thoroughly enjoyed both London and his one on William Blake.

Amanda Roper said...

Good to know, Susan. Thanks for the info on Life of C. Bronte.

Thanks Lola and AG!