Nonfiction November Week 3: Book Pairing

This week's Nonfiction November topic is hosted by Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves.

Book Pairing: 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.

I'm really excited about this week's topic, so I won't be able to stop with just one pairing. I love historical fiction and I love nonfiction, so I find it quite natural and entertaining to read a fiction book on a topic and then follow it up with a nonfiction buddy on the same topic. I find the fiction an easy way to get familiar with something before I delve into the nonfiction side.

The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini & Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

The Spymistress is a thrilling novelization of the life of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Civil War hero who risked everything to steal Confederate secrets during the Civil War. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy chronicles the adventures of four female Civil War spies, including Van Lew.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah & Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm

The Nightingale is the story of two French sisters trying to survive the German occupation during World War II. The younger sister joins the Communist resistance, ferrying downed airmen across the border to safety. Ravensbrück details the deathly existence of Nazi Germany’s only concentration camp built solely for women.

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson & An American Plague by Jim Murphy

Both are utterly compelling accounts of the yellow fever epidemic that ravaged Colonial Philadelphia. Rich details, based on extensive research, highlight the previously neglected care-giving role of African-Americans. Although both books are geared towards a middle grade audience, I thoroughly enjoyed - and learned a lot - reading them as an adult.

I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles & The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir

In I, Elizabeth,  Miles traces, through the queen's own voice, Elizabeth's turbulent years as a princess in Henry VIII's court, her uneasy status during the brief reigns of her brother Edward and sister Mary and her decades on the throne. In the nonfiction counterpart, Weir uses myriad details of dress, correspondence and contemporary accounts to create an almost affectionate portrait of a strong, well-educated ruler loved by her courtiers and people alike.

What I'm Reading: A Fifty-Year Silence

A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined Year in France
by Miranda Richmond Mouillot
Broadway Books (Jan. 19, 2016)
Memoir

What it's about:

A memoir by a young woman who travels to France to uncover the truth about her grandparents' mysterious and irrevocable estrangement and pieces together the extraordinary story of their wartime experiences.


Why You'll Love It:

• Richmond Mouillot conjures the charms of the French countryside and the intimacy of small-town life precisely and elegantly.
• Amid the abundance of books from Holocaust survivors and the children of those affected by the war, few nonfiction accounts of the Holocaust and World War II have been written from the perspective of the grandchildren. A Fifty-Year Silence explores the afterlife of the past for young Jewish people today and provokes an important dialogue about the inheritance of historical memory.
• As a debut author and a young woman navigating the conflicting imperatives to remember the past and embrace her future, Richmond Mouillot writes with a warmth, directness, and honesty that will endear her to many readers.  

What Else You Should Read:

• The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah
• The Journal of Hélène Berr by Hélène Berr
• Behind Enemy Lines by Marthe Cohn

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

The Zookeeper's Wife
by Diane Ackerman
Norton, 2007

Summary in a Sentence:

Relates the story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski, zookeepers at the Warsaw Zoo, who helped save the lives of approximately three hundred Polish Jews during World War II by housing and feeding them on zoo grounds and teaching them how to "pass" as Aryan.

My Thoughts:

Ackerman pulls from Antonina Zabinski's extensive memoirs of her experiences in World War II Poland and from her own research on the topic to tell the story of the hundreds of Jews that passed through this particular stop on the Polish Underground. Although this book is highly informative and at times extremely touching, I found it hard to feel fully engaged. I don't really know why this is; I'm extremely interested in the Holocaust and I'd read some great reviews on the book. Initially, I thought maybe I had hit some sort of wall and have read too many books on the subject, but then remembered that I had just recently read and loved a new book on one of the most famous figures in Holocaust history, Anne Frank. I felt that the book was slightly rambling and didn't really stay on topic as I expected it to. Ackerman's research certainly shines through, although at times her attention to detail is perhaps too great. I struggled to finish this one.

~ This book counts towards the Four Month Challenge  and the Take Another Chance Challenge ~

You might also like:

• Schindler's List by John Keneally 
• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
• Witnesses at War: Children's Lives under the Nazis by Nicholas Stargardt
  

Other reviews:

• Caribousmom
• Sophisticated Dorkiness 
• BookNAround
  

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Atonement

by Ian McEwan

Publisher: Doubleday, 2001

ISBN: 9780385503952

351 pages

Genre: fiction

Source: Library audiobook

 Summary in a Sentence: 

Imaginative thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis, misinterpreting a scene between her older sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner, the housekeeper's son, later accuses Robbie of a crime she has no proof he committed and spends years trying to atone for her actions.

My thoughts: 

I usually make a point of not seeing a movie before I get a chance to read the book, but the opposite is true for my experience with McEwan’s Atonement. I rented the movie last summer from Netflix and as soon as the movie ended, I stared at the blank screen for a moment, blinked a couple of times in wonderment, and then hit play and watched it in its entirety a second time. Needless to say, I was completely entranced with the storyline and the cinematography. All of this is to say that after having such a wonderful experience with the movie adaptation, I began to worry that I’d ruined the possibility of having a good reading experience with the novel. I find it difficult to read a book after I’ve seen the movie since I have so many preconceived notions of the characters’ appearance and eccentricities locked into my head visually.

Never fear. I loved the book just as much as the movie. I actually listened to this book, mostly while driving, and I’m quite lucky I didn’t wind up in a ditch somewhere due to my complete inattention to my surroundings. I became so wrapped up in the characters, the story, and the heart wrenching consequences of one thirteen-year-old’s misinterpretation of a number of events and a rash decision. This was my first foray into Ian McEwan’s writing and it definitely won’t be the last. I was mesmerized with his writing style. The characters, especially that of the young Briony, were so well-drawn.  She is so frustratingly self-absorbed and narcissistic in the beginning of the novel, and her imaginative whims that so many young girls possess lead to such a catastrophic turn of events. I’ll say no more. You must read it for yourself.

I don’t often reread books anymore due to the sheer quantity of amazing novels out there that I must get my hands on, but I can definitely say this is a book I will revisit, perhaps a few times, in the future. 

Rating:  5/5

Also Recommended:

• Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
• Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
• The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
• The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
  

Other Reviews:

• Books for Breakfast
• Trish's Reading Nook 
• Bookshelves of Doom