From Fiction to Reality Challenge - 2016

[Cassandra]

No problem, Alicia! Good luck on your other challenges. :)

[Chloé]

Don't worry Maria. I hope the suggestions help you.

[Maria]

Chloé wrote: "Don't worry Maria. I hope the suggestions help you."

Yes, Chloe Thank you!

[Carrie]

Updated message 27 - I finally completed my first pair!!!! :)

[GailW]

Update message 28 - I am finished!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

4/4
[X] 1a. Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
[X] 1b. Together Tea
[X] 2a. The Women's Room
[X] 2b. A Room of One's Own

[Jane]

Updated message 48.

5/6 Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living by Bailey White - 2 stars

[Colin]

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
4a. Boneshaker – Cherie Priest
4b. The Mistress of Charlecote – Mary Elizabeth Lucy

My 4th pair are linked by them having a female main character and being set in the Victorian era mid to late 1800's. I found the copy of The Mistress of Charlecote during a recent visit to the house.

[Janine]

Updated message 129 with an unexpected 7th pair, 14/12.

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

The non-fiction book is Andy Murray's own autobiographical account of his journey to winning Wimbledon. The fiction book is one of the most unusual books I've read. It weaves together (fictional!) accounts of historical figures from the 16th century, during the course of a single wild tennis match in ancient Rome.

[Adria]

Updated post 208

6/10 completed

[Eva]

Update message 202:

I finished two pairs in total now and have started with another pair.
So, that's 5 out of 8 books read.

I finished the following pairs:
1. Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition and The Terror

Both books complemented each other really well. Dan Simmons used a lot of the historical facts and clues that scientific research has discovered about the tragic fate of the Franklin expedition. So, to read on the one hand a fictional account and then on the other hand a non-fictional gave me a really good picture of what those men must have gone through.

2. To Kill a Mockingbird and Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
Both excellent books! Devil in the Grove was so shocking! I still have to think about it. But recommended to anyone who is interested.

[Cassandra]

Congratulations, Gail!

[Susan]

I read a couple of books with gay coming out stories

Fiction- Curious Wine
Nonfiction- Calling Dr. Laura

I also read a couple of young adult choose your own adventure books about ancient civilizations. I'm not totally sure if the nonfiction is nonfiction, but I'm going to count it.

Fiction- Mystery of the Maya
Nonfiction- Ancient China: An Interactive History Adventure


3 pairs and 6 books/ 5 pairs and 10 books

[Candiss]

I updated message #11.

Read: 5/10

[Cassandra]

Hi Karishma! How many pairs would you like to read?

[Candiss]

I updated message #11.

Read: 6/10

[Laurie]

Updated message 5

What I've read so far:

8/10 read
3/5 pairs complete

1a What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami (memoir about Murakami as a runner)
1b Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder (fictional account of a gold medal runner from Canada in 1928 Olympics)

2a Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (letter to his son about race)
2b Native Son by Richard Wright (classic novel about race)

3a 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (classic N/F correspondence between a book buyer in New York and a bookseller in London over a 20+ year period)
3b

4a Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
4b All Roads Lead to Austen: A Yearlong Journey with Jane by Amy Elizabeth Smith (a college professor travels to Latin America for a year and discusses various Austen novels with Latin American reading groups)

5a Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet (memoir by an autistic savant man)
5b

[Cheri]

Update: 17 & 18 out of 18
(But I'd like to do more -- this is a wonderful challenge! Can I please update to 24 total or 12 pairs? Thanks!)

17) Fiction: The Girls by Emma Cline (5 stars). This book takes place in the summer of 1969.
18) Nonfiction: 1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick (3 stars)

[Maria]

Updated message 33

7/10

[Susan C]

Updated message 21

3/5 pairs
8/10 books

[Cassandra]

Congratulations on your original goal, Cheri! I updated you.

[Candiss]

I updated message #11.

Read: 8/10

[Cassandra]

Great job, Candiss!

[Clare]

Updated message 70
Now read 2 of my non-fiction books
2/10

[Stephanie]

Update: I finally finished the companion book to my "Color Purple"! Yesterday I finished "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." I now have 4/10.

[Cassandra]

Great job, both of you!

[Jackie B. -]

I just realized today, as I was updating all my Yearly challenges, that I don't think I've EVER updated this one! Oops. That said, it was certainly never forgotten.

I updated Message 74 with the following:

4/6

Lock In (1/1/16) - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
--Both of these books are about Lock In syndrome, which I didn't know existed until I read Lock In. I look forward to learning more about what the real experience is.
Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 8: Chains of Death(5/7/16) - Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
-- I've slowly been making my way through the Lone Wolf and Cub graphic novel series. I recently realized that I don't really understand a lot about Samurai code, and why people might not respect a Ronin. Time to find out!
Agatha Heterodyne and the Siege of Mechanicsburg (7/27/16) - What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions(3/10/16)
-- I read What If and realized, well, a lot of these things are similar to mad science. The Girl Genius graphic novel series relates a lot back to mad science. It's a bit of a stretch, but I love the idea of being curious about things and just understanding how they happen. What Randall Munroe does seems like magic to me, just like the Sparks of Girl Genius.

[Cassandra]

No problem, Jackie! I didn't realize lock in syndrome was an actual thing. I'll have to read the nonfiction book.

[Megan]

I just completed another pairing for baking/cooking - Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti and A Beauty So Rare by Tamera Alexander. Voracious tells of a chef's love of reading and how it has inspired her cooking. The historical fiction book A Beauty So Rare tells the tale of how a woman's passion for cooking inspires her to great deeds. As I love cooking and reading, both books hit home for me!

2/10 pairs

[Laurie]

Updated message 5

Challenge complete!!

10/10 read
5/5 pairs complete

1a What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami (memoir about Murakami as a runner)
1b Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder (fictional account of a gold medal runner from Canada in 1928 Olympics)

2a Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (letter to his son about race)
2b Native Son by Richard Wright (classic novel about race)

3a 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (classic N/F correspondence between a book buyer in New York and a bookseller in London over a 20+ year period)
3b My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (The search for the killer of an illustrator who was working on a book about a 16th century Sultan)

4a Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
4b All Roads Lead to Austen: A Yearlong Journey with Jane by Amy Elizabeth Smith (a college professor travels to Latin America for a year and discusses various Austen novels with Latin American reading groups)

5a Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet (memoir by an autistic savant man)
5b The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (story of a 15 year old autistic young man)

[Sam F]

Updated Message 35

First pair completed.

[Gretchen]

Edit Msg 6
Read 10/10
Challenge Completed!

[Cassandra]

Congratulations, Laurie and Gretchen!

[Susan C]

Updated message 21

4/5 pairs
9/10 books

[Megan]

Just completed my third pair on North Korea:
The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee - completed June 2016
b. The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson - completed September 2016

While both were difficult to read, I really hope the Orphan Master's Son is not a true depiction of life in North Korea. Both are worth reading!

3/10

[Cassandra]

I'm glad I read The Girl With Seven Names, but you're right that it's hard to read, especially knowing it's a Hyeonseo's real life story.

[Megan]

Cassandra wrote: "I'm glad I read The Girl With Seven Names, but you're right that it's hard to read, especially knowing it's a Hyeonseo's real life story."

Yes, Cassandra, both were just shocking books! I'm so glad that Hyeonseo got out!

[Megan]

Just finished my fourth pairing on eviction in America:

a. The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain - completed March 2016
b. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond - completed September 2016

I highly recommend Desmond's book. It's a difficult subject matter, but the writing makes it easy to read.

4/10

[Susan C]

Updated message 21


✓ 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: Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art read 9/25/2016
✓ Fiction: The Improbability of Love read 5/28/16
Both books take place in the London art world

✓ Non-fiction: The Speechwriter: A Brief Education in Politics read 6/19/2016
✓ Fiction: Necessary Lies read 2/25/2016]
The Speechwriter is a memoir of life as a speechwriter in South Carolina's Governor's office. Necessary Lies takes place in North Carolina in the 60's, and a shameful state policy in effect at the time plays a profound role in this book. The Carolina's and state politics are the ties between these two books.

✓ 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.

✓ Non-fiction: Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church read 8/14/2016
✓ Fiction: The Shelter Cycle read 4/24/2016
Both of these books have a central theme of cult-like religions

5/5 pairs
10/10 books
Challenge completed!

[Colin]

The 5th pair completed. Forgotten how many I signed up for?
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
4a. Boneshaker – Cherie Priest
4b. Mistress of Charlecote – Mary Elizabeth Lucy
5a. The Late Scholar – Jill Paton Walsh The continuation of the Lord Peter Wimsey series.
5b Dorothy L. Sayers Her Life and Soul-Barbara Reynolds A biography of the Wimsey creator.

[Candiss]

I updated message #11.

Read: 9/10

[Meg]

I have now completed 4 pairs.

From Fiction to Reality Challenge:
1a. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (nf)
1b. The Martian Chronicles (f)
Both are about traveling to Mars.

2a. H is for Hawk (nf)
2b. A Wild Sheep Chase (f)
Both are about obsession with a particular animal.

3a. Growing Up Asian in Australia (nf)
3b. Laurinda (f)
Both are about life as an Asian teenager growing up in Australia

4a. Between the World and Me (nf)
4b. Americanah (f)
Both are about what it is like to be Black in America

[Cassandra]

Congratulations, Susan!

Colin, it looks like you originally signed up for 6 pairs, so 12 books all together. Does that sound right or would you like to change it?

[Mary Pat]

UPDATE:


1/6 (three pairs)

A Darker Shade of Magic

[Megan]

Just completed my fifth pair - 5. Cancer:
a. When I'm Gone by Emily Bleeker - completed September 2016
b. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi - completed September 2016

5/10

[Colin]

Cassandra wrote: "Congratulations, Susan!

Colin, it looks like you originally signed up for 6 pairs, so 12 books all together. Does that sound right or would you like to change it?"

Meg wrote: "I have now completed 4 pairs.

From Fiction to Reality Challenge:
1a. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (nf)
1b. The Martian Chronicles (f)
Both..."

Cassandra wrote: "Congratulations, Susan!

Colin, it looks like you originally signed up for 6 pairs, so 12 books all together. Does that sound right or would you like to change it?"

Cassandra, That looks ok. Just one pair to go. Three months left.

[Megan]

I adjusted my goal from ten pairs to 6, so my stats right now are 5/6 pairs.

[Megan]

Just finished my last pair!

6. Female Authors:
a. Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon - completed October 2016
b. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll - completed October 2016

6/6 - challenge completed!

[Colin]

Into the last of six pairs having read Erskine Childers, The Riddle In The Sands. This is a novel set before WW1 in which two young men sail around the Frisian Islands and uncover plans for a base to launch an invasion of England. In a second-hand bookshop recently, I found Philby KGB Masterspy by Phillip Knightley and have just started the introduction.

[Colin]

Have now completed my challenge:
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
4a. Boneshaker – Cherie Priest
4b. Mistress of Charlecote – Mary Elizabeth Lucy
5a. The Late Scholar – Jill Paton Walsh
5b Dorothy L. Sayers Her Life and Soul-Barbara Reynolds
6a. The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers ( A spy novel)
6b. Philby:KGB Masterspy – Phillip Knightley

[Clare]

Updated mesage 70
Now at 5/10