From Fiction to Reality Challenge - 2016

[Amanda]

Updated #145

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

1/5
4/10

[Cassandra]

Congratulations Colin and Megan!

[Megan]

Cassandra wrote: "Congratulations Colin and Megan!"

Thanks!

[Cheri]

Update: 19/24 and 20/24

Fiction: Deadly Pedigree: A Nick Herald Genealogical Mystery by Jimmy Fox (3 stars)
Nonfiction: The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome by Alondra Nelson (4 stars)

Both books deal with the personal/social impacts of discovering one's geneaological heritage.

[Megan]

Updated message #9

7/6 pairs completed

[Carol]

Two more sets to add
Mary Boleyn by Allison Weir and The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.
Catherine the Great by Robert Massie and Russka by Edward Rutherford

[Clare]

Updated message 70 having read The Girls Emma Cline
Slowly making progress on the nonfiction Helter Skelter

Now at 6/10

[Cassandra]

Carol, what did you think of Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings? I've read the Philippa Gregory book, and she seems like an interesting person to read about (the "real" Mary Boleyn).

[Candiss]

I totally forgot to update when I finished my last book! I updated message #11.

Read: 10/10

[Cassandra]

Congratulations, Candiss!

[Eva]

Update message 202: finished my challenge!

I read 4/4 pairs!

Really enjoyed this challenge!!

[Adria]

Updated message 208.
8/10 completed

[Carol]

I finished one more pair. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot and The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. I am not sure that the first book is actually nonfiction, but it is like a memoir of a country veterinarian in Yorkshire. The Tiger's Wife is a novel about a doctor whose grandfather is also a doctor. A tiger also is part of the story.

[Cassandra]

Congratulations Eva!

[Katharine]

message 86 updated/completed

[Sam F]

Update:

Message 35

11/14 completed - I may get 1 more book read, but that will be it.

Ambitious, but completed 5/ 7 pairs.

[Cassandra]

Hi Kristin! For 2017, our nonfiction challenge is the Dewey Decimal Challenge. You're welcome to borrow this challenge and do your own personal challenge, though!

Congratulations Katharine!

Nice job, Sam - I hope you enjoyed your pairs. :)

[Meg]

My fifth pair:
If Not Dieting Then What? (nf)
Dumplin' (f)
Both are about body image

[Mary Pat]

UPDATE:


3/6 (three pairs)

A Darker Shade of Magic

The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love and Kitchens of the Great Midwest

[Cheri]

This was my favorite challenge of 2016! I started at 10 books (5 pairs) and then raised my goal to 18 and then 24. Looks like I won't finish the 24 -- I had an unexpected move across country -- but I have read 22 books for this (10 pairs and 1 book each of 2 uncompleted pairs).

I would love to see this brought back as a quarterly challenge in 2017!

Update:
21) The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley (3 stars)
I had intended to pair this with The Reformation of the 16th Century.

22) The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (5 stars)
I had intended to pair this with The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition.

[Cassandra]

Good idea to make this a quarterly challenge, Cheri! I'll pass that feedback along to the other mods.

Great job, everyone!

[SibylM]

Yet another challenge that I left sadly neglected over the past year. Let's see how I did on my ten pairs. Fiction book is always listed first in the pairs below.
1. The Expatriates and An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination - loss of a child.
2. News of the World and Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History - Kiowa and Comanche culture in 19th century Texas; experiences of white captives in those cultures.
3. The Underground Railroad and Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America - racism against African Americans in the US
4. The Sellout and The King and Queen of Malibu: The True Story of the Battle for Paradise - Los Angeles
5. The Nix and We Are As Gods: Back to the Land in the 1970s on the Quest for a New America - 60's & 70's counter culture in America
6. The Summer Book and When Breath Becomes Air - mortality
7. A Gentleman in Moscow and Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets - Russia and its revolution
8. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries - outer space
9. Hot Milk and Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body - alternative medicine, hypochondria, placebos, etc.
10. The Association of Small Bombs and Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS - terrorism

[Clare]

Message 70 updated
Managed 8/10
Enjoyed the challenge and read a lot more non-fiction this year but didn't always manage to find pairs

[Gretchen]

Hello, please add me to this challenge... for 12 books please.