Carol

Fiction/Nonfiction Book Pairings: #NonficNov 2021

November 8, 2021

Fiction/Nonfiction Book Pairings #NonficNov 2021

Nonfiction November poster (text in white against a green background against colorful fall leaves)

Nonfiction November is an opportunity to reflect on the year, to celebrate and appreciate nonfiction, and to share recommendations.

I’m eager to participate in Nonfiction November this year hosted by What’s Nonfiction, Doing Dewey, The Thousand Book Project, Plucked from the Stacks, and OCBookgirl. During the month of November, you will notice one nonfiction focused post each week:

Weekly Topics:
(Join us?)

Week 1: (November 1-5) – My Year in Nonfiction (with Rennie at What’s Nonfiction)

Week 2: (November 8-12) – Book Pairing with Katie at Doing Dewey

Week 3: (November 15-19) – Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert with Veronica at The Thousand Book Project

Week 4: (November 22-26) – Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks

Week 5: (November 29-December 3) — New to My TBR with Jaymi at OCBookgirl

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Fiction and Nonfiction Book Pairings

Today for Nonfiction November hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey, I have several fiction/nonfiction book pairings to share with you! Although I have read all the fiction titles on this list, I have not read all the nonfiction titles. Some of the NF my husband has read and others are on my TBR. Can you add some of your favorite fiction/nonfiction pairs to this list?

Please join me for Nonfiction November!

Fiction and Nonfiction Book Pairings

Background Image Source: Canva

***This post contains Amazon affilliate links.

S H A K E S P E A R E

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
paired with
Shakespeare: The Biography

9-11

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner
paired with
The Only Place in the Sky by Garrett Graff or The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede

E S C A P E

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins or Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi
paired with
The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

R E F U G E E S

Inside Out and Back Again by Thannhha Lai or Other Words For Home by Jasmine Wanga or Refugee by Alan Gratz or The Boat People by Sharon Bala or The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
paired with
Family in Six Tones by Lan Cao

W W 1 1  T E C H N O L O G Y

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn or Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman
paired with
Geniuses at War by David A. Price

L A F A Y E T T E

The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray
paired with
Lafayette by Harlow Giles Unger

O V E R C O M I N G

Never Broken by Jewel or The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls or Educated by Tara Westover
paired with
The Choice by Edith Eva Eger or Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand

A M E R I C A N 
H I S T O R Y

Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
paired with
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
(then watch Hamilton the Musical!)

C E L E B R I T Y

The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin
paired with
Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

E A R T H Q U A K E

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
paired with
1906 San Francisco Earthquake by Richard Hansen

A M E R I C A N 
H I S T O R Y

America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
or Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (MG)
paired with
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham

W O R L D  W A R  1 1

Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini
paired with
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

T R U E  C R I M E

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
paired with
Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate or The Baby Thief by Barbara Bisantz Raymond

C O M P L I C A T E D  F A M I L Y 

Far From the Tree by Robin Benway
paired with
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

P H O T O G R A P H Y

Learning to See: A Novel of Dorothea Lange by Elise Hooper
paired with
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda Gordon

B I O G R A P H I C A L

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan
paired with
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

A B O L I T I O N  O F  S L A V E R Y

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
paired with
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas

F B I and Indigenous People

The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
paired with
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

A F G H A N I S T A N

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi
paired with
The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg

QOTD

I know you can help me add to this list!
I’d love to hear your suggestions for a fiction/nonfiction pair.

If you have a nonficnov post, please leave your link in comments.

Happy Reading Book Friends!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke

“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

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38 comments

  2. Wonderful pairings Carol, I have and loved some of those fiction books, so will make a list of possible non-fiction for next year.

    Reply

  9. These are really great pairings. Both The Firekeeper’s Daughter and Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann are on my TBR. Now I hope to read them a few months apart.

    Reply

  12. Wow, so many good pairings! I think I did the same Dorothy Lange one a few years ago, but the rest of your pairs include a ton of historical fiction that I’ve wanted to read and not yet gotten too. I’m excited to be able to use your list to find nonfiction to pair when I get to them 🙂

    Reply

  22. What was your criteria for categorizing the memoirs in your overcoming section as either non fiction or fiction?

    Reply

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