Here I am forgetting and re-remembering that this month is also Nonfiction November! In my first post to celebrate this genre I talked about my past year reading nonfiction. This week Liz is the host and the prompt is book pairings. So, obviously I’m here to discuss nonfiction and fiction book pairings.

Week 3 (11/11-11/15) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or (because I’m doing this) two books on two different areas have chimed and have a link. You can be as creative as you like!

I have four book pairing categories to share: ballet, reproductive rights, cats, and World War II!

Ballet

DON’T THINK DEAR by Alice Robb: As the tagline says, “An incisive exploration of ballet’s role in the modern world, told through the experience of the author and her classmates at the most elite ballet school in the country: the School of American Ballet.“

PAS DE DON’T by Chloe Angyal: I wrote my review for this a while ago, but have yet to post it. Regardless, this is a contemporary romance in which the main character is a ballerina forced to switch companies due to infidelity and workplace harassment. I went into this with no expectations and ended up really enjoying it.

Reproductive Rights

NO CHOICE by Becca Andrews: This is, “An in-depth look at the legacy of Roe v. Wade, and on-the-ground reporting from the front lines of the battle to protect the right to choose.” I didn’t write a review for this, but it was a decent read. However, it read a little disjointed and the writing style could’ve been more accessible.

THE AUCTION by Elci North: This is a dystopian fiction set in the near-future United States. As I mention in my last WWW Wednesday post, U.S. society has been brainwashed to auction off babies to make the government money due to a series of prior economic events. Women have few rights before they have children and even fewer once they become pregnant. No review yet for this one, but I hope to write one soon.

Cats

THE LION IN THE LIVING ROOM by Abigail Tucker: This book “travels through world history, natural science, and pop culture to meet breeders, activists, and scientists who’ve dedicated their lives to cats.” It was a relatively light nonfiction to read while painting some rooms in the house. As a cat fan, I enjoyed this book.

THE BOOK OF PURRS by Luis Coelho: I read and reviewed an ARC of this newly released comic book. It’s full of cute cats with uplifting advice or quotes. I first found this comic on Instagram and it’s really nice to see a lot of them all in one book.

World War II

THE MONUMENTS MEN by Robert M. Edsel: I listened to this on audiobook, which was a little tough because it goes back and forth between various places in France and Germany. It was a bit tough to keep track of for someone who’s not very familiar with the geography. Regardless, this is an important part of history that I’m glad the author told. “In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.”

RESISTANCE WOMEN by Jennifer Chiaverini: While technically based off of real people, this falls under the historical fiction category. It’s a medium- to slow-paced book, but I found I didn’t mind that. It really allowed for a lot of character development and I followed it pretty well as an audiobook. I appreciated the epilogue at the end in which the author tells the reader what happened to the actual folks depicted in the book. It’s “an enthralling historical saga that recreates the danger, romance, and sacrifice of an era and brings to life one courageous, passionate American–Mildred Fish Harnack–and her circle of women friends who waged a clandestine battle against Hitler in Nazi Berlin.“

What nonfiction and fiction book pairings would you recommend?