Week 2: (Nov. 9 to 13) – Book Pairing (Julz of Julz Reads): 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’ll start with the book pairings I have actually managed to combine in recent times.
- Only Happiness Here – Elizabeth and German Garden (both still to be reviewed)
- Vesper Flights – The Last Migration (both still to be reviewed)
- Fathoms – Moby-Dick
- Intimations – The Plague
- The Fire This Time – The Vanishing Half
But now comes your part!
I have some book pairings that I would like your feedback on.
- This year I watched The Great (tv series) – a tremendously fun romp around the court of Catherine the Great before she became Great! I would love to pair this book with some great non-fiction about her. Can you recommend any?
- In an opposite pairing request, I loved Hisham Matar’s Month in Siena a lot earlier this year. I would love a good literary fiction also set in Siena, possibly about the art world or historical in nature. Can you recommend any?
bronasbooks.com 
I loved Robert K. Massie's biography of Catherine the Great. I chose it for a book group a few years ago and it was a great hit, which was a huge relief as it's more than 600 pages long (though a lot of it is endnotes and index.) My library also had an audio download which was excellent. I look forward to your thoughts on Elizabeth von Arnim, one of my favorite writers.
LikeLike
Also forgot to mention there's an excellent Russian miniseries about Catherine called Ekaterina, it's available on Amazon Prime in the US. I haven't seen The Great or the HBO series with Helen Mirren yet but I really enjoyed Ekaterina.
LikeLike
I'm very interested in reading Elizabeth and the German Garden. I'm adding Only Happiness Here to my wishlist, though I bet I won't find it here in the US.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed both Fathoms and Intimiations, so I'm excited to see you pair them with some classics! Great selections 🙂
LikeLike
That is the one I have put on order, I confess Karen, so glad it has your good word as well.
LikeLike
Thanks Karen, I’ll look out for both those shows.
LikeLike
It was utterly delightful Deb. I just have to finish my review for it.
LikeLike
Definitely fun to see we share one common pairing. I'm going to look into Intimations
LikeLike
Yes, Massie is a biography GOD, so that would be the one you'd want!
LikeLike
Wow! Now I have to find out if he wrote any other bio's!
LikeLike
Elizabeth and the German Garden is a wonderful book. Since reading it, I wanted to read more by von Arnhim, but I think you really have to look for her books these days. I have put Only Happines Here to my wishlist as well.
LikeLike
Really good pairing here. I was not so fascinated by Moby Dick so can't imagine reading any nonfiction. Although, having just read The Gospel of the Eels, I found the facts very fascinating. Should maybe read a nonfiction on whales…hm?I am reading The Plague as well, just some 30 pages left. It describes a lot of features that we have gotten used to today, but I still find it somewhat depressing to read. Maybe it is just the times.
LikeLike
I can't offer any suggestions on your two questions, although Siena is one of my favorite places in Italy so I'll be interested to see what others suggest. I just read The Fire This Time and The Vanishing Half and highly recommend both. Thanks for the recommendations.
LikeLike
A few of her books can be found on Project Gutenberg Lisbeth.
LikeLike
The times we're living through certainly affect our reading habits. I certainly could not have read this book early in the pandemic, but then I got to a point when I wanted to know if we could learn something from history – or more to the point – why we hadn't learnt anything from history!! I get so frustrated at our collective inability to learn from the past.
LikeLike
The only book set in Siena that I know about right now is Alexander McCall Smith's My Italian Bulldozer.
LikeLike
Lovely pairings. I once read an interesting novel and then two books about the same topic: tulips. Goes with my Dutch history.My post on Week 2.
LikeLike
These are some interesting pairings. Elizabeth+Garden is on my TBR, so thanks for those recs. And I see you paired up The Plague too with a Zadie Smith, going to check that as well. The Great is an awesome show, completely agree — have you tried the Helen Mirren version?Also, thanks for the tips on blogger commenting — greatly appreciated 🙂
LikeLike
Intimations is on my TBR. I love your pairings here!
LikeLike
Was one of the tulip books by Michael Pollan? The Botany of Desire? If you haven't already read the tulip section of this book, you should! It was very memorable.
LikeLike
We've yet to get to the Helen Mirren version, but looking forward to it…and fingers crossed for a second season of The Great!
LikeLike
No, I have not read that one. Those I listed in my post are also very good, if you're interested in the topic, I highly recommend them. And, of course, I'll look for the one you suggested. Thanks.Happy Reading.
LikeLike