From Fiction to Reality Challenge - 2016

[Chloé]

"Glitter And Glue: A Memoir"

Might interest you if you're into memoirs.

Or maybe "Get Out Of My Life, But First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl To The Mall: A Parent's Guide To The New Teenager" if you'd prefer how to.

[Claire]

I'll attempt 7 pairs/14 books.

[Candiss]

Cassandra, I'm sorry to ask, but would you please take me back down to 10 books / 5 pairs? I think I've overextended myself on challenges again for the coming year., and I'm trying to shave a bit off of several challenges to be more realistic.

(thank you)

[Cassandra]

No worries, Candiss! It's hard to get the balance right, when everything is exciting but you don't want to be slogging through it later on. It's no trouble at all to update you.

Welcome to the challenge, everyone!

[Adriana]

This'll be fun!

1. (fiction) (nonfiction)

2. (fiction) (nonfiction)

3. (fiction) (nonfiction)

4. (fiction) (nonfiction)

These are my pairs for now. I might add on to them specifically books on mental health - most likely memoirs. If anyone has any ideas on nonfiction books that can be paired with the books below I'll appreciate it.

Scarlet Robin Hood/Will Scarlet retelling.
Your Voice Is All I Hear schizophrenia/mental health
My Faire Lady renaissance/knights

[Missy]

Sara wrote: "THIS IS AWESOME! *ahem* Pardon me. I didn't mean to yell.."

Lol! I had the same reaction when I read this challenge.

[Missy]

Count me in for 10 books (5 pairings). I've never been a fan of non-fiction so this will definitely be a challenge!

1a. Jane Eyre (fiction)
1b. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (non-fiction)

2a.
2b.

3a.
3b.

4a.
4b.

5a.
5b.

Total. 0/10

[Jammin Jenny]

Adriana wrote: "This'll be fun!

1. (fiction) (nonfiction)

2. [bookco..."

Adriana wrote: "This'll be fun!

1. [bookcover:The Year of the Fortune Cookie|18222727] (fiction) (nonfiction)

2. [bookco..."

Hi Adriana. My mom suffered from some mental illness - try

"The Nurse Explains Dementia", "Alzheimer's Disease and Vascular Disorders" or "While I Still Can." They were all really good reads.

[Traveling Bookie Monster]

I would like to try at least 5 pairs (10 books) and see where that takes me. As of yet, I'm unsure about which books I will read.

[Jammin Jenny]

Kylie wrote: "I'm in! It's a great idea. I usually read more non-fiction than fiction, but rarely do the two come together like this.

I'll start with three pairs / 6 books.

1a - Tricky Teens by..."

I used to be a big fan of Judy Blume - don't know if she's still out there but it always helped me when I was a teen

[[deleted user]]

Sign me up for 40 books, so that would be 20 pairs.

Will update as I read the books.

1.A.
1.B.

[Chloé]

Adriana wrote: "This'll be fun!

1. (fiction) (nonfiction)

2. [bookco..."

For Scarlet: [book:Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography|93024]

Because you mentionned memoirs: Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia

My Faire lady: The Return to Camelot: Chivalry and the English Gentleman

[Cassandra]

That's a great goal, Lindsey! Do you read a lot of nonfiction already or will this be a new thing for you?

It's cool to see everyone's suggestions for nonfiction books.

[ScarlettMi]

I'll be attempting five (5) pairs of fiction/non-fiction books for this challenge.


(1/5)

1. Celestial Mechanics
f:
n:
2.
3.
4.
5.

[Adriana]

Thank you, Jenny and Chloe! I'll check those books out now (:

[Adriana]

I've checked but there isn't any books at my library featuring your books. That's fine. I'll just keep looking in general throughout the year.

[Jill]

I'm not sure that I'll remember to update the thread, but I'll read 3 pair of books, 6 total. I'm excited about this cool challenge, it bridges my interests!

[Grace]

I'll shoot for 5 pairs

1. To Marry an English Lord: Or How Anglomania Really Got Started and The Age of Innocence/Daisy Miller
2. The King's Bed: Ambition and Intimacy in the Court of Charles II and Margaret the First
3. Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia and The Tsar of Love and Techno
4. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France and The Nightingale
5. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration / The Turner House

5/5 pairs

10/10 books

COMPLETED

[Amba]

Fascinating idea! This will be a great way for me to balance my fiction and non-fiction reading. I love a good story just as much as I love to learn, so this is perfect! Please sign me up for 5 pairs/10 books. Thanks!

[Susan]

Adriana wrote: "This'll be fun!

1. (fiction) (nonfiction)

2. [bookco..."

Here is a book about a young adult dealing with schizophrenia I was able to get out of my library [book:Me, Myself, and Them: A Firsthand Account of One Young Person's Experience with Schizophrenia|1962550]

[Cassandra]

Welcome to the challenge, folks!

[Rei ⭐]

I'd like to start with 10 books/5 pairs

[xo Jules]

xo Jules wrote: "Fiction/Reality Challenge 2016 (0/6)
1a. Orphan Train
1b. The Penobscot Dance of Resistance: Tradition in the History of a People
2a.
2b.[book:Writings to Young Women ..."

I changed my name from 'Julie' to' xo Jules' so as to not cause confusion with me & the other Julie. If you could update the list that'd be great!

[Cassandra]

Welcome Lindsay!

Thanks Jules - I updated you. :)

[xo Jules]

Cassandra wrote: "Welcome Lindsay!

Thanks Jules - I updated you. :)"

Thanks Cassandra!

[Lindy-Lane]

i'm in.

(view spoiler)[
We thought it'd be cool to learn more about the people, places, or time period in the fictional books we read! This challenge lets your fictional reading inspire you to read nonfiction books or vice versa.

You'll read books in pairs. Read any fiction book. Then, read a nonfiction book about any part of that fictional work. Or read a nonfiction book, then find a fictional work that's related to it.

If you were to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, your nonfiction book could be about witches, boarding schools, alchemy, or anything else related to the world of Harry Potter.

If you were to read Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, you could read a fictional book that includes a submarine, takes place during WWII, or is about a ship that sinks.

*Some members choose to update their original post with their progress to keep track of their challenge more easily, but make sure to also post a new message so the challenge leader knows to go look at your original post. You can look at how other members report their progress to find a strategy that works well for you.
(hide spoiler)]

starting goal of six pairs (twelve books total): READ = 0/12

updating as I read the books.

1. fic:
1. non-fic:

[Janine]

This sounds like a really great idea :)

Read: 14/12 books, 7/6 pairs

Planned books:

1a. Fiction: Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1b. Non-Fiction: The C-Word by Lisa Lynch
Theme: Cancer

2a. Fiction: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
2b. Non-Fiction: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
Theme: Murder

3a. Fiction: Conversion by Katherine Howe
3b. Non-Fiction: The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
Theme: Salem Witch Trials

4a. Fiction: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
4b. Non-Fiction: Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
Theme: Mental Health

5a. Fiction: The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
5b. Non-Fiction: Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
Theme: Transgender / Transexualism

6a. Fiction: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
6b. Non-Fiction: Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson
Theme: Shakespeare

7a. Fiction: Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue.
7b. Non-Fiction: Andy Murray: Seventy-Seven: My Road to Wimbledon Glory by Andy Murray
Theme: Tennis

[Diana]

I would like to sign up for 5 pairs, please!

1a.
1b.

2a.
2b.

3a.
3b.

4a.
4b.

5a.
5b.

[Tuck]

I'm going to do this one - sign me up for 6 pairs.

Non-fiction #1 - War of the Roses - Alison Weir
Fiction #1 -
Non-fiction #2 - I'll do My Own Damn Killin': Benny Binion, Herbert Noble and the Texas Gambling War - Gary Sleeper
Fiction #2 -
Non-fiction #3 -
Fiction #3 - Revival - Stephen King
Non-fiction #4 -
Fiction #4 - In the Shadow of Gotham - Stephanie Pintoff
Non-fiction #5 -
Fiction #5 -
Non-fiction #6 -
Fiction #6 -

[Heather]

I love this idea! I'm totally in. Here are the perhaps less-than-brilliant pairings I've thought of so far, and here's hoping for some strokes of genius to come:

2016 Reading in Pairs Challenge

1. A Room of One’s Own/Mrs. Dalloway
2. 50 years in Gombe/We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
3. The Right Stuff/Prelude to Space
4. Everything We Had: An Oral History of the Vietnam War/The Things They Carried
5. Hold Still by Sally Mann/The Cage by Audrey Schulman
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

[Ozcose]

I need to read more non-fic sign me up for 6 books / 3 pairs! 0/6

1. Wild Seed / The Historical and Cultural Atlas of African Americans

2. X / X

3. X / X

[Maureen]

I'm in. I want to do 5 pairs. (I noticed there is another Maureen, you can put me down as Maureen de Wit if you like).

Yearly Challenge
FROM FICTION TO REALITY
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2016

We thought it'd be cool to learn more about the people, places, or time period in the fictional books we read! This challenge lets your fictional reading inspire you to read nonfiction books or vice versa.

You'll read books in pairs. Read any fiction book. Then, read a nonfiction book about any part of that fictional work. Or read a nonfiction book, then find a fictional work that's related to it.

I want to read 5 pairs (10 books)

Pairs: 0/5
Books: 0/10

Pair 1.
Pair 2.
Pair 3.
Pair 4.
Pair 5.

[Ronja]

I love this! Please add me for 2 pair.

1a. ✔ The Lost Symbol
1b. Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties & the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius
Theme: secret societies

2a. ✔ The Blind Man's Garden
2b. The No-Nonsense Guide to Islam
Theme: Islam

Read 2/4
Pairs 0/2

[Cassandra]

Welcome to the challenge, everyone!

[Jo]

Signing up for this one:

1. Superman: The High-Flying History of the Man of Steel and Double Down: Just your average reporters for a great metropolitan newspaper.

2. The Witches: Salem, 1692 and The Heretic's Daughter: The Salem Witch Trials

3. Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy and The Shadow Princess: Queen Victoria and her children.

4. Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World and The Orphan Queen: Teenage princesses forced into hiding when their kingdom is overthrown

5. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern and The Diviners: The Roaring '20s.

Finished:

The Witches
The Diviners

[Laurie]

Updated message 5

1/10

Read my first, a non-fiction book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.

[Carol]

I just finished my first pair. Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers (fiction) and The Poisoners Handbook by Deborah Blum (nonfiction). This time I liked the nonfiction book better.

[Susan C]

Updated message 21



0/5 pairs
2/10 books

[Candiss]

I updated message #11.

Read: 1/10

[Sharon]

Updated message #67

I'm already at 3/6 may be increasing my goal! Depends on whether or not I find non-fiction books I want to read

[Megan]

Just finished the first half of my first pairing - Helen Keller in Love: A Novel by Rosie Sultan. This was a disappointing read/listen. The writing was not the best, the prose and content were repetitive and the plot rambled. I'm not sure if the book was written this way, but the audio narration contained odd pauses. Not worth reading! 2 stars

[Cosmic]

I updated message 98.

After readingThe Beautiful and Damned
I decided to pair it with
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Because one of the characters talks about how to write. Dick runs around with a note pad recording people's dialog. Finding inspiration in all kinds of conversation, he writes down an argument he had with a landlord. He tries to engage his friends in conversations with the same purpose: to study dialogue.

Bird by Bird so far tells me that writing makes us pay attention.

The Beautiful and Damned was a very good book on alcoholism. Especially what it is like to live with an alcoholic. I gave it five stars.

[Amanda]

What a great challenge! Can you sign me up for 10 books/5 pairs please? Call me Amanda R

From Fiction to Reality
Duration: January 1 - December 31, 2016

1a A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot (Fiction)
1b The Imperial War Museum Book of the Western Front by Malcolm Brown (Non-Fiction)
World War 1

2a The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (Fiction)
2b The Mitford Girls: The Biography of an Extraordinary Family by Mary S. Lovell (Non-Fiction)
The Mitford family

3a Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Fiction) Completed 19/04/16 Rating 4 stars
3b Report From Ground Zero by Dennis Smith (Non-Fiction)
9/11

4a Het Lelietheater (The Lily Theater) by Lulu Wang (Fiction)
4b Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang (Non-Fiction) Completed 28/03/16 Rating 4 stars
China

5a The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Fiction) Completed 23/10/16 Rating 3 stars
5b Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (Non-Fiction) Completed 29/04/16 Rating 4 stars
Slavery

1/5
4/10

[Cassandra]

Sorry I haven't been updating recently - I've been recovering from being under the weather. I hope to catch up with updates tonight!

[Deborah]

message 84 updated (or is it 86? sheesh! one of those.....) Looks like I will be reading my pairs but not necessarily together - pretty characteristic, really haha!

[Chloé]

Don't worry Cassandra, updating one challenge can be time consuming, and you manage more than one. I'm sure everyone understands (at least I've done it, so I understand). Plus, everybody has a life outside Goodreads, including the moderators.

[Cheri]

Update: 1/10 and 2/10

Fiction: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (5 stars)
Nonfiction: The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch (4 stars)

The The Rosie Project is about a man with Asperberger Syndrome who decides to find a wife, and The Journal of Best Practices is the memoir of a married man with Asperberger's who had to learn how to have a successful relationship with a "neurotypical" wife.

[Gretchen]

Edit message #6
Read 2/10

[Cheri]

Cassandra wrote: "Sorry I haven't been updating recently - I've been recovering from being under the weather. I hope to catch up with updates tonight!"

I hope you're feeling better!! No worries -- there's no rush. We know you volunteer your time!

[Cassandra]

Welcome to the challenge, Jo and Amanda!

Thanks for being so patient with me, everyone. :)