From Fiction to Reality Challenge - 2016

[Cassandra]

Welcome to the challenge, Eva!

[Susan C]

Updated message 21

1/5 pairs
5/10 books

[Kadijah Michelle]

Update message 60:

1/10 pair done

[Cassandra]

Congratulations on finishing your first pair, Kadijah!

[Janine]

Updated message 130. I've just finished two more pairs (and the fiction book of my next pair). I'd like to up my goal just a little to 6 pairs / 12 books if that's okay.

Currently: 7/12 books, 3/6 pairs.

Pair two:
Fiction: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (4 stars). A murder mystery set in London.

Non-Fiction: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (3 stars). Half of this book follows a serial killer in Chicago.

Pair three:
Fiction: Conversion by Katherine Howe (4 stars). The story of modern day Salem village (now Danvers) where girls at a local private school start twitching and showing similar symptoms to the 'bewitched' of the 17th century.

Non-Fiction: The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff. (2 stars). A very dry account of the Salem Witch Trials.

This third pair was brilliant. Although I wouldn't recommend The Witches, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Conversion shortly after it. Conversion had alternating chapters, half set in modern times, half set in 1706 with Ann Putnam Jr., one of the main accusers, recounting what had happened. It was fascinating to read a fictionalised account with all the familiar names I'd just read so much about in The Witches!

[Adria]

1. Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project
Nonfiction book about WWII heroine
2. A Town Like Alice
Fiction book about WWII heroine

3. ¡Adios, America!: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole
Nonfiction book about the immigrant underclass and policy issues
4. The Pearl
Fiction book about the indigenous underclass and their struggles
with imperial powers

5. Notes from a Small Island
Nonfiction book about an American immigrant in the UK
6. Brooklyn
Fiction book about an Irish immigrant in America

7. Mother and Son: The Respect Effect
Nonfiction book about this particular relationship
8. The Stranger
Fiction book where the mother/son relationship is major part


8/10 completed

[Cheri]

Update: 7/10 & 8/10

The Margaret Mead pair
7) Fiction: Euphoria by Lily King (5 stars), historical fiction based on entries in Margaret Mead's diaries while she was doing field work.
8) Nonfiction: The Trashing of Margaret Mead: Anatomy of an Anthropological Controversy by Paul Shankman (5 stars), which examines the allegations made by Derek Freeman that Margaret Mead had been the victim of a hoax while doing her field work in Samoa.

[Clare]

Updated message 70 having read my first book for this challenge

1/10
The Story of My Life Helen Keller - an inspiring read

[Colin]

My latest update:
Fiction to Reality Challenge 2016

1a. Words of Command – Allan Mallinson
1b. Waterloo – Tim Clayton
2a. The Girl on The Train –Paula Hawkins
2b. Fire and Steam – Christian Wolmar
3a. Hickory, Dickory Dock – Agatha Christie
3b. Agatha Christie- Laura Thompson

[Bobbi]

Update to message 95: I completed my challenge.

Read: 4/4
✔1. The Witches: Salem, 1692✯✯/The Crucible✯✯✯
✔2. Man o' War: A Legend Like Lightning ✯✯✯✯/Man O' War ✯✯✯✯✯

[Susan C]

Updated message 21

Here are the two pairs that I have finished -

✓Non-fiction: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End read 2/20/2016
✓ Fiction: A Dirty Job read 1/1/2016
Being Mortal is about end-of-life care. In A Dirty Job, Charlie is a Death Merchant.

✓ Non-fiction: Called for Life: How Loving Our Neighbor Led Us into the Heart of the Ebola Epidemic read 2/27/2016
✓ Fiction: The Power of One read 3/12/2016
Called for Life is the story of Dr. Kent Brantly, who contracted Ebola while on a medical mission in Liberia. The Power of One is a coming-of-age story that takes place in South Africa. The continent of Africa is the tie between these two books.

2/5 pairs
6/10 books

[Gretchen]

Edit message #6
Read 6/10

[Eva]

Update message 203: I'm only halfway through my first pair, but couldn't resist to add another! :)
Please edit my challenge to a total of 4 pairs!
Thank you!

[Alex]

Update Message 37. I've completed 3 out of 6 books.

[Cassandra]

Congratulations to Bobbi for finishing the challenge!

Eva, that's great. I updated your goal. :)

[Cheri]

Update: 9/10 & 10/10 (but I'd like to raise my goal to 18)

Book Burning pair
Fiction - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (2 stars)
Nonfiction - When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning (4 stars)

[Cheri]

Update: 11/18 and 12/18

Women in the Civil War pair
Fiction: The Union Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini (2 stars) - historical fiction about a group of women quilters and their contributions to the war effort.
Non-fiction: The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe by Elaine Showalter (5 stars) - biography of the author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" that tells how difficult it was for her as an ambitious woman in that time.

[Jammin Jenny]

JamminJenny's status
March 31, 2016
Progress: 1/6 sets, 4/12 books

1. Dr. Sleep. By Stephen King read Feb 2016 Doctor Sleep and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams and Premonitions (1/2)

2. Holy Cow and Fast Food Maniac

3. Nefertiti's Heart and The Body Book The Lost Tudor Princess

4. Memoirs of a Geisha and The Body Book

5. Beauty and the Biker (read 3/10/16) and Route 66 by Harley Davidson: An American Motorcycle Road Trip (read 3/29/16) (2/2)

6. The Winds of Folly (Nathan Peake #4) and Soldier with a Backpack: Living and Dying Simultaneously read 3/5/16 (½)

[Sharon]

Update message 67 5/6

[Cassandra]

Fantastic job! We're one quarter of the way through the year.

[Amanda]

Updated #146 Amanda R

1/10

4b Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang (Non-Fiction) Completed 28/03/16 Rating 4 stars
China

[Kadijah Michelle]

Update message 60.

4 sets out of 10 done!

Thanks Cassandra.

[Jane]

Wow so apparently I've never updated any of the books I've read for this challenge so far! Haha. That's what happens I guess when you join too many (it's never really too many is it?) challenges.

Updated message 48. I'm done 3/6 books.

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood - 2 stars

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor - 5 stars

This was my first O'Connor and I am HOOKED!

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson - 5 stars

Also just discovered Bryson and am also totally hooked. Can't wait to read his other stuff!

[Sharon]

Updated message #67, I'm done with initial goal so I will increase it from 3 pair to 6 for a total of 12

[Cassandra]

Fantastic job, Sharon! I increased your goal.

Jane, I keep meaning to read a book by Bill Bryson. Thanks for reminding me!

[Cheri]

Update: 13/18 & 14/18

Race in the U.S. pair
Fiction: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4 stars)
Nonfiction: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (5 stars)
Both books deal with the experience of being black in America.

[Cassandra]

I like that pair! What did you think of Between the World and Me?

[Janine]

Updated message 130. 10/12 books, 5/6 pairs

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

I read both books within a couple of weeks of their counterpart and I think they worked really well with each other, very enjoyable! I actually replaced the fiction book for the mental health pairing as I felt it'd been too long since I'd read the previous one and I like reading them as pairs :)

[Stephanie]

Update: I read my second book for this challenge. I finished I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban and will be reading Words in the Dust at some point this year for its double. I am now 2/10.

[Maria]

6/10


a.The Girl You Left Behind read 1-20-16
b.

a. The Grapes of Wrath 1-26-16
b.

a. Like Water for Chocolate 1-28-16
b.


a. Ready Player One 1-1-16
b.

a. Still Alice 1-5-16
b. Surviving Alzheimer's by Paula Spencer Scott 4-9-16

[Gretchen]

Edit Message #6
Read 8/10

[Cassandra]

Updated to here.

[Yvonne]

Update Message 183

First pair read

1/6 Pairs Read

1a. The Winds of War by Herman Wouk 4/1/2016 5 Stars
historical fiction of the leadup to WWII through the eyes of a political Naval officer and his American Family
1b. Never Surrender: Winston Churchill and Britain’s Decision to Fight Nazi Germany in the Fateful Summer of 1940 by John Kelly 4/15/2016 2 Stars
Nonfictional account of the leadup to WWII through the political lens of Great Britain & Churchill

(In the battle of WWII accounts the fiction beat out the nonfiction. Winds of War is longer and have a soap operish feel but it's chock full of information on WWII that's more readable than in Never Surrender. )

[Marina]

Yeah, my first pair:

1. The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story vs. The Orphan Master's Son
Both books are about North Korea and wanting to leave the country

My total: 2 books read
Also updated in post 12

[Chloé]

6/10

My third pair!

Fiction: Instruments des ténèbres This is the story of an author writing her novel. It alternates between her personal journal and her novel. You get a glimpse at her writing process, how her life influences her books and so on.
Non fiction: Journal de la création this is a book by the same author but this one isn't a fiction, it's her real journal and she talks about women author their life and writing process such a Simone de Beauvoir, Zelda Fitzgerald, Syvlia Plath, Virginia Woolf.
In both this book she does a parallel between writing a book and giving birth.

This writer does a lot of both fiction and essays. If you're interested she's an English Canadian that was adopt by France. She's considered a French writer, but she usually writes and translates her own book, I think, so she might be an interesting read for English readers as well.

Here's my second pair
Nonfiction: Second début ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ About feminist issues. The challenge of being a women (Independence, love, violence)
Fiction: Carmen et autres nouvelles ⭐⭐⭐ A romance about a strong femme fatale and the difficulty she experience in love and her struggle to keep her liberty. Also touche the subject of violence.

Here's my first pair
Nonfiction : Je serai un territoire fier et tu déposeras tes meubles⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book questions the masculinity/virility model. It tries to deconstruct it and to explain why men are alienated by this outdated model.
Mauprat ⭐⭐⭐
Romantic novel from 1837. Novel about equality, liberty and the education of men. It's speak about what it is to be a men and a women, and what love and marriage should be.

/

[Amanda]

Updated #146

3a Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Fiction) Completed 19/04/16 Rating 4 stars
9/11

2/10

[Megan]

Finally completed my first pair - Helen Keller in Love: A Novel by Rosie Sultan and The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of either book. Helen Keller's autobiography is a bit rambling and was written when she was 22. The fictional account that is supposed to happen after the autobiography was just not written well. But at least the first pair is completed!

1/10

[Jane]

Updated message 48. I finished my first complete pair finally!

All the Sad Young Men by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 3 stars (fiction)

[Candiss]

I updated message #11.

Read: 4/10

[Amanda]

Updated #146

5b Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (Non-Fiction) Completed 29/04/16 Rating 4 stars
Slavery

0/5
3/10

[Cassandra]

Great job, everyone! I enjoy seeing your pairs.

[Kadijah Michelle]

Update message 60:

6/10 pairs complete.

[Susan C]

Updated message 21

2/5 pairs
7/10 books

[Janine]

Updated message 130. I've completed my final pair putting me at 6/6 pairs, 12/12 books

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

I've really enjoyed this challenge. A couple of pairs particularly were great - reading them together definitely added to my reading experience! I may well come back later in the year and add some more pairs, but for now I'm not upping my goal.

Thanks, Cassandra :)

[Cheri]

Update: books 15 & 16 - Sign Language pair
Fiction: We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge (4 stars), which features a family that shares their home with a chimpanzee to teach him sign language.
Nonfiction: Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals about the Mind by Margalit Fox (4 stars), which discusses how languages develop by examining a newborn sign language. It also briefly discusses the research on attempts to teach sign language to chimps.

[Stephanie]

Update: I just finished "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. I am thinking that this qualifies as the fiction and "The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass" would be the non-fiction. The Color Purple seems to be dealing with the effects of being freed from slavery and living in the South and what that means for African American culture, so I think it works.

Total Read: 3/10

[Cassandra]

Congratulations on finishing the challenge, Janine!

Stephanie - I think that definitely works.

[✿ Alicia ✿]

I'm removing myself from this challenge. Sorry.

[Maria]

Chloé wrote: "Maria wrote: "5/10

I did the Fiction first. Now I have to find books that match.


a.The Girl You Left Behind read 1-20-16
b.

a. The Grapes of Wrath 1-26-16
b.

a. Like Water for Chocolate 1-28-1..."

Bobbi wrote: "Maria wrote: "5/10

I did the Fiction first. Now I have to find books that match.


a.The Girl You Left Behind read 1-20-16
b.

a. The Grapes of Wrath 1-26-16
b.

a. Like Water for Chocolate 1-28-1..."


Chloe, Thank you so much for the suggestion. I can't believe I missed your post but I was just looking to see what I was going to do for the rest of my books.

[Maria]

Bobbi wrote: "Maria wrote: "5/10

I did the Fiction first. Now I have to find books that match.


a.The Girl You Left Behind read 1-20-16
b.

a. The Grapes of Wrath 1-26-16
b.

a. Like Water for Chocolate 1-28-1..."

That's awesome Bobbi. I was just looking at what I should do for the rest of the books. Sorry to respond so late. I must have missed some posts.