Nonfiction November 2022: Book Pairings

Posted on November 9, 2022 by WordsAndPeace

#NonficNov
#nonfictionbookparty: Instagram Daily Challenge
Click on the logo to see the detailed schedule

Here is the topic for Week 2 (Nov. 7-11):
Book Pairings
hosted by Rennie @ What’s Nonfiction?

This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title
(or another nonfiction!)
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 usually do nonfiction/fiction pairs, but the list of nonfiction books I read this year didn’t inspire me really for fiction titles I have read, or they are not yet available in English!
So I’m offering 5 pairs, either by the same author or on the same topic.
The book on the left of each pair is one I read this year.

Click on the covers to get more details

BOOK PAIRING #1

by SYLVAIN TESSON

Sylvain Tesson is an impressive traveler (often on foot), and his books are so hauntingly beautiful.
The first one I read by him is stunningly beautiful:
The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga (2013).
Here is an excerpt of my review:
“I totally fell under the charm of its writing, a mix of haunted beauty on the nature setting, of deep and sometimes ironic or humorist reflection on the human condition, and notes on lots of books the author took with him, when he decided to go live by himself for 6 months in a little cabin on Lake Baikal, in Siberia.”

BOOK PAIRING #2

GEORGE ORWELL

Down and Out in Paris and London is Orwell’s autobiographical details on his miserable time in both cities.
Years ago, I read an excellent book by Emma Larkin, “a fascinating political travelogue that traces the life and work of George Orwell in” Burma, aka as Myanmar: Finding George Orwell in Burma.

BOOK PAIRING #3

HELEN RAPPAPORT

The Romanov Sisters

Helen Rappaport is an impressive historian, focusing on Russian history. Her books are so documented, yet so pleasant to read.
The first one I read by her was The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra.

A short excerpt is included in my review.

BOOK PAIRING #4

WABI SABI

Wabi Sabi is a fascinating Japanese concept or way of life.
Wabi Sabi, by Mark Reibstein and Ed Young (liustrator), is a great way of presenting it to children … of all ages!

BOOK PAIRING #5

HARUKI MURAKAMI

Haruki Murakami is my favorite contemporary Japanese author.
he’s mostly written novels, but he has also a few interesting nonfiction novels.
His interviews of Seiji Osawa are so fascinating.
On the lighter side, it was fun reading about his favorite T-shirts!

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE?
WOULD YOU HAVE OTHER BOOK PAIRINGS
RELATED TO THESE CATEGORIES?

Top Ten Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago

Posted on August 16, 2022 by WordsAndPeace

Top Ten Books I Love
That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago

TTT for August 16, 2022
#TopTenTuesday

📚 📚 📚

I have read A LOT of books published over ten years ago, and I love a lot of these, so I just went by chronological order of the last books I have read and chose the ones that fit the topic.

I have added on each cover the year it was published in (it goes from 1901 to 2008).
If you right click and “open the image in a new tab”, you can see the image much bigger, and even zoom in.

If you click on the picture,
you will land on my Goodreads shelf

And here are some links when I wrote something about them:
Fer-de-Lance
Down and Out in Paris and London
The First Men in the Moon
Confessions
The Bride Wore Black – probably my favorite of these ten
So Big
Death Going Down

Have YOU read
or are YOU planning to read any of these?
Please leave the link to your own post,
so I can visit.

2022: July wrap-up

Posted on August 1, 2022 by WordsAndPeace

JULY 2022 WRAP-UP

I’m slowly going into reading more of my TBRs, and it pays with fabulous books. So I’m devouring more and faster.
I’m currently 11 books ahead of schedule (67% done) to read 120 books this year.
Also, looks like I’m almost done with my 3rd list of classics for The Classics Club, with 131/137 books – in less than two years, instead of the five years projected.

And I managed to publish as well as visit a good number of posts for Paris in July.

📚 Here is what I read in July:

12 books:
6 in print
= with 1,544 pages, a daily average of 49 pages/day
6 in audio
= 43H25, a daily average of 1H24/ day

5 in mystery:

Clouds of Witness, by Dorothy Sayers – audiobook, counts for The Classics Club
A is For Alibi, by Sue Grafton – counts for my 2022 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
L’Écluse n.1 (Maigret #18) – read with a French student,
counts for The Classics Club
Confessions, by Kanae Minato – audiobook
Fer-de-Lance (Nero Wolfe #1), by Rex Stout – audiobook, counts for The Classics Club

2 in science-fiction:

Upgrade, by Blake Crouch – received for review
The First Men in the Moon, by H. G. Wells – counts for The Classics Club

2 in literary fiction:

The Martins, by David Foenkinos – received for review
Le Grand Meaulnes, by Alain-Fournier – read in French with a bunch of friends on Discord

1 in historical fiction: