37. and 38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Sometimes we need a little contrast in our reading. A lot of times that means switching up a genre, author, or theme. This week we're taking that contrast a bit literally.

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Suggestions:
Note: there are a ton of options, don't feel limited to these.

Short/Long
Goodreads- Popular Short Books
Bookriot - 50 Must-read Short Books Under 250 Pages
Bookriot - 50 Must-Read Books of More Than 500 Pages
Vulture - 26 Very Long Books Worth the Time They’ll Take to Read
Bookbub - 24 Long Books to Read While Waiting Out the Winter

Past/Future
Southern Living - 50 Heart-Pounding Historical Novels to Read Right Now
Goodreads - Popular St in the Past Books
AbeBooks - 50 Essential Historical Fiction Books
Goodreads - Popular Future Fiction Groups
Bustle - 10 Books With Positive Visions Of The Future

Young/Old
Wonderslist - 10 Beloved Child Characters in Literature
Goodreads- Adult Fiction with Child Protagonist
Goodreads - Popular Elderly Protagonist Books
Goodreads - Protagonists over 60
Buzzfeed - 30 Books By Authors Under 30
Goodreads - Authors under 30
ThoughtCo - The All-Time Bestselling Authors Who Debuted After Age 50
Goodreads - Books written by someone when they were over the age of 65

First/Last
Goodreads - First in Series Book Lists
Goodreads - End of Series in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020

East/West
Goodreads - American West Book Lists
Bookriot - 100 Must-Read Westerns
Goodreads - Popular Far East Books

ATY Group Listopia
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Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. Which "opposites" did you choose?
3. What other ones did you consider?

[Dana]

Because I have so many different series I am working through, I think the first/last will be a good binary option for me. I'm not positive which books they will be, yet...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I hadn't really thought about how I was going to approach this one, but I was thinking mostly of opposing words in the titles... I like your suggestions so much more, Laura! I'm definitely going to use one of these options.

[Jill]

For this prompt I decided to go with a book about Indigenous people and a book featuring an immigrant story. I am going to read Monkey Beach for my story about indigenous people and The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing for my book with an immigrant family.

[Pam]

I plan on using a book set in Antarctica and one in the Arctic! I have a few titles I’ve been wanting to read. The other option is The Overstory and Underworld.

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "I hadn't really thought about how I was going to approach this one, but I was thinking mostly of opposing words in the titles... I like your suggestions so much more, Laura! I'm definitely going to..."

I'm hoping to do opposite titles. Might be difficult finding two books I'm interested in, though.

[Nadine in NY]

I'm taking two categories that did not win and using them here as Ancient/Modern:

Ancient Civilization - maybe I'll read Skin or The Eagle of the Ninth (I'm open to other suggestions on this one!)

Modern - I'll read a book set in the 1920s - Beatriz Williams has written a few books set in the 1920s that I've enjoyed, so maybe I'll read The Wicked Redhead for this (I'm pretty sure it will be set in the 1920s)

[Serendipity]

I still want to read War and Peace for this. It’s long enough to count as two books! Wonder if it was ever published in two volume stories. Perhaps I’ll pair it with The Art of War which is at least relatively slim.

[MaryAnn (EmilyD1037)]

I have decided to cover 2 of three books by Elie Wiesel from
his Night trilogy. Bk. 1 will be Night and Bk. 2 will be Day (bk 3 of trilogy). I also managed to fit the bk 2 Dawn in another prompt.

I knew immediately that I would choose these as I have been trying to get the trilogy read forever.

[Brandee]

MaryAnn (EmilyD1037) wrote: "I have decided to cover 2 of three books by Elie Wiesel from
his Night trilogy. Bk. 1 will be Night and Bk. 2 will be Day (bk 3 of trilogy). I also managed to fit the bk 2 Dawn in another prompt.

..."
That sounds awesome!! Where did you fit in Dawn?

[Eva]

My ideas was combining e.g. Winter World or Winter of the World with Dune or Sand.

Or: and .

For fans or classics: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler and Summer.

Fantasy: A Winter's Promise and The Summer Tree.

Japan: Spring Snow and South of the Border, West of the Sun.

Award Winners with opposite "leopards" in the title (and opposite settings, one in the Himalayas, one in the jungles of Africa): The Snow Leopard and Black Leopard, Red Wolf

[Jackie]

I'm thinking of doing Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS ("black", non-fiction, set in the eastern hemisphere) and White Fang ("white", fiction, set in the western hemisphere).

[MaryAnn (EmilyD1037)]

Brandee wrote: "MaryAnn (EmilyD1037) wrote: "I have decided to cover 2 of three books by Elie Wiesel from
his Night trilogy. Bk. 1 will be Night and Bk. 2 will be Day (bk 3 of trilogy). I also managed to fit the b..."

I put it into : #9 A book that can be read in aday

[Angie]

I'm planning to do man/woman:

The Demolished Man

and

The Woman in the Window

[Jennifer AM]

I'm planning on reading:

Less and More

[Nadine in NY]

Jennifer AM wrote: "I'm planning on reading:

Less and More"


that's brilliant in its simplicity

[Johanna]

I've been wanting to read An American Marriage, so I will be pairing that with The Divorce Papers.

[Marie]

I'm going for The Man in the High Castle and A Woman of No Importance.

There's the obvious man/woman opposite, but also one's an alternative fictional history written by a man, the other is non-fiction history by a woman. Something about "in the High Castle" and "of No Importance" feels opposite to me as well.

[Alicia]

I can't decide where to go with this. I was so happy with coming up with day/night but then I found all these options doing lost/found.

Day/Night:
One Day in December-Night of Miracles

Begin/End:
The Garden of Small Beginnings-Howards End

Lost/Found:
The Lost Vintage
The Lost Letter
The Lost Girls of Paris
Lost Roses
The Light We Lost
When We Found Home
The Little Shop of Found Things
Then She Found Me

The Lost Vintage-The Little Shop of Found Things would be perfect

I just don't know

[Rachel]

I'm struggling with how to approach this one, and will probably end up defaulting to books that have opposite words in the title.

[[deleted user]]

I'm going to do male author/female author

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton and Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie

These would also work for deceased author/living author.

[Marisa]

I wonder if I can do Me Before You and then After You? My goal is to clean up my TBR.

[Leanne]

Marisa wrote: "I wonder if I can do Me Before You and then After You? My goal is to clean up my TBR."

I want to clean up my TBR too. I like this idea. I think these two books work for this one!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Before and After would definitely work, Marisa!

[Emily]

I have two about language that I'm using for this:
Proper/grammatically correct English: Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation
Slang/changing language: Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language

...maybe a bit of a stretch, but I'm trying to work mostly from stuff on my existing TBR and I have a huge backlog of nonfiction in there.

[Nicole]

I’ll be doing the Moon Sister and the Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley.

[Anna]

I am considering two options:

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
Good Luck with That by Kristan Higgins

or

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash

[Ann]

Whose Body? and Spirit of Steamboat
They seem like opposites and they are on my TBR

[Kathy]

I have a few ideas:
Young/Old
A book by the same author in their 20s and another when they're over 60
If Morning Ever Comes - Anne Tyler (age 23)
Clock Dance - Anne Tyler (age 77)
or
Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories - Philip Roth (age 26)
American Pastoral - Philip Roth (age 64)

High/Low
Lowest amount of ratings on my TBR and highest amount
Pink Sugar - O. Douglas (lowest # of ratings 38)
The Help - Kathryn Stockett (highest # of ratings 1,903,215)

Under/Over
words in title
Everything Under - Daisy Johnson
Evvie Drake Starts Over - Linda Holmes

[Crystal]

I think I am going to do Life and Death. Both books by Mary Roach. I am working my way through her books.

Life:
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Death:
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
or
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

[Rachel]

I'm thinking of using A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light, but I'm starting to second-guess it. My original thinking was that light was the opposite of shadows, but I'm not sure if that's a strong fit.

[SadieReadsAgain]

I liked the child/older protagonist idea, and I have a few options on my TBR shelves:

Children
Carry Me Down
I'm Not Scared
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Little Friend
The Wasp Factory
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Older people
Olive Kitteridge
Water for Elephants

But then I started playing with binaries in titles. Like:
Factual accuracy/inaccuracy - Home Truths / All Made Up (which is actually a fiction and a memoir, also binaries in a way)
Remembering - The Memory Box / The Forgotten Hours
Night and day - Half of a Yellow Sun / The Almost Moon
Start and finish - So Many Ways to Begin / The End of Alice

This is a great prompt!

[Shelley]

I finally found my combo! The Devil You Know and The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I had a few options, but the one that excited me the most is the future/past prompt. I love historical fiction, so the more excuses to read it, the better. I think I'm going to pair Illuminae (which is set in 2575) with a historical fiction book from my bookshelf (possibly The Downstairs Girl or The Fountains of Silence if I haven't read them by then).

[Eujean2]

Reading this thread makes me feel better about my options. I really like indigenous & immigrant as binary opposites. I think I have lots that would fit that.

Right now I have been playing with colors. And yes, I might have been trying to figure out where I can use Blanca & Roja (aka White & Red) in the challenge.

Black & White
White: Blanca & Roja
Black: A Blade So Black

Red & Green (opposites on the color wheel)
Red: Blanca & Roja
Green: Anne of Green Gables

[Hannah]

I was really struggling for a bit there with this prompt even after browsing everyone's excellent suggestions. Then just now I found mine by combing my TBR and doing some imaginative thinking!

Far away in space, non-fiction: Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
Deep in our ocean, fiction: Challenger Deep

[Elena]

As soon as I saw this prompt I had two books in mind from my TBR, and strangely enough they're by the same author: Insomnia and Doctor Sleep.

[Danii]

Trying to fill the challenge from the TBR of books I already own, and I found these two. Figured they'd work for this.

I Was Born for This
The Life and Death of Sophie Stark

[Lynne]

I am going with the opposing titles idea.
The Winter Family and The Summer Guest

I was hoping to find a way to fit The Night Circus into this challenge, but I couldn’t find a book I am interested in that has “day” in the title. Maybe I can use it for another challenge item.

[Shannon]

I've decided to do Summer/Winter, so I plan on reading:

[WVrambler]

I thought to make this a serious challenge, then decided to have fun with it instead, so I decided on a book from the POV of a cat: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett and a book from the POV of a dog: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

[SibylM]

I'm planning on Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time and Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles.

[Nancy]

After struggling to find a way to do this I am going to go with these: Runemaker and Runebreaker.

My other thought was The Whisper Man and Where the Dead Sit Talking

All of these I hope to read in 2020 so we will have to see which set makes the final round.

[Hilde]

Nicole wrote: "I’ll be doing the Moon Sister and the Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley."

Good idea, I think I'm gonna steal that one. Thanks!

[Charlotte]

Jill wrote: "For this prompt I decided to go with a book about Indigenous people and a book featuring an immigrant story. I am going to read Monkey Beach for my story about indigenous people and [..."

I love this idea. Canadian books are hard to come by in UK libraries, but Im going to see if I can get hold of Monkey beach - sounds amazing.

[Celeste]

I think that I am going to read Grapes of Wrath (Oklahoma) and After the Flood (Nebraska) - two midwestern states of the USA from both spectrums - drought and flood.

[Tabitha]

I'm doing Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe & Remnant Population

[Erica]

I might do Life and death.
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

[Kathi]

I have decided to do Cats and Dogs since I am a huge animal lover and read lots of animal related books!

[Laurel]

Erica wrote: "I might do Life and death.
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle"

The Overdue Life of Amy Byler was my single-syllable author! I'd love to know what you think about it. I enjoyed the characters but found the resolution a bit too easy.