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

[Pamela, Arciform Mod]

I'm going to weight option-otherwise they have nothing in common:
Heavy: An American Memoir and The Mirror & the Light

[Kathy]

I've just finished Everything Under by Daisy Johnson. Now I'm going to start Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes.

[Stine]

Man, this one was difficult! I still don't know what I'll be choosing, but I got some more ideas for what to look for now, so thank you for that!

From my existing TBR-list, I only found one alternative:
The Fall and Taking Flight
.

[Lauconn]

I'm thinking a little abstract with this one, based on titles alone: Citizen: An American Lyric and They Called Us Enemy

[Joan]

1. What are you reading for this category? Never Have I Ever and This is How It Always Is
2. Which "opposites" did you choose? Never/Always
3. What other ones did you consider? black/white, boy/girl

I finished Never Have I Ever. I have to start This is How It Always Is

[Anne]

I am reading 'in pursuit of the proper sinner' by Elizabeth George, and Liverpool Angels by Lyn Andrews. My theme is bad and good. I didn't consider anything else as luckily I had these 2 titles ready to read, as I thought it might be a hard category otherwise.

[Aimee]

I thought about doing something with Us and "them" - anyone got any good suggestions of "them" books?

[Monica]

How about Them?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Angela]

What are you reading for this category?
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas


and

The Sea Raiders, by HG Wells


Which "opposites" did you choose?
Long and short

What other ones did you consider?
Old and new, hot and cold

[Nicole]

I think, I'm going with **long** and **short title**
and read In meinen Träumen läutet es Sturm and N.P

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I like that twist, Nicole!

My jar just gave me this prompt, and after much agonizing, I decided to go with The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls paired with The Boys in the Boat: by Daniel James Brown. Fiction/nonfiction and girls/boys, so two opposite pairs for the price of one!

[Katie]

I am such a nerd, but I'm super excited about my picks for this task. I have these 2 books checked out & just decided today to use them for binary opposites:

Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson
William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life

Both biographies of US Civil War generals, but my binary opposite is Union/Confederacy.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Wait I love that, Katie.

[Perri]

I read The Whisperer
and
All Over But the Shoutin'

[Andrea]

The first book that I read for these tasks was Memory Man by David Baldacci. The opposite read that I have in mind is Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin. In one novel, a man acquires a neurological condition in which he cannot forget anything; and in the other book, a girl experiences a neurological condition in which she cannot remember anything.
It is 9/13/2020, and I finally completed the second book, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin. They are as polar in title as they are in substance!

[Katie]

Wow, I love that pairing, Andrea.

[Andrea]

Thanks, Katie! This prompt was challenging for me.

[Sherri]

For this prompt I am using Antarctica & the Arctic. I finished the Antarctic book. Endurance Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. I gave it 5 stars. I almost cried when I finished from relief. I only used it for this prompt but it can be used for a book set in a time or place you wouldn’t want to live in. Book set in the Southern Hemisphere. A book with the major theme of survival. History. Book set in a rural or sparsely populated area.

[Sarah]

What are you reading for this category?
Sun Born - W. Michael & Kathleen O'Neal
Gear
Moon Hunt - W. Michael & Kathleen
O'Neal Gear

Which "opposites" did you choose?
Sun and Moon

What other ones did you consider?
I originally wanted to go Villain/Hero but I
was having some trouble deciding which
books I'd read. I happened upon these
two at random.

[Maple]

1. What are you reading for this category?
White Fang
The Black Cat

2. Which "opposites" did you choose?
White and Black.

3. What other ones did you consider?
I don't even remember at this point. I just remember finding these two and thinking, "THIS IS IT".

[Jana]

I will do happiness/sadness. So far I have read Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. I'm sure there will be a book with sadness at some point during the year...

OK, I went with A Woman Is No Man. Lots of sad situations in this book. Also a VERY good book...

[Kim]

This was a fun one to think about! I think this is what I've settled on:

Night In Shanghai - Nicole Mones
The Light Over London - Julia Kelly

Night/light as well as east/west cities.

I also looked at The Last Anniversary and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August for a first/last binary.

[Maggie]

So excited about this prompt. Gonna read:
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
and
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan

[Maggie]

SibylM wrote: "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."
Love it!!

[Maggie]

Elena wrote: "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."

Oooo good one!

[Marie (UK)]

I think I might go with short / long

I read Honeysuckle & Pain which is nearly 900 pages

for me short is 100- 175 so the second book will be in that range

The Me Too Girl 156 pages

To be fair i got a lot more out of the short book than the long one.
I love Mark Z Danielweski and enjoyed the first 2 books in this One Rainy Day in May Into the Forest but the third one felt more contrived. In comparison the Short book was succinct pithy and so important to today

[Nikki]

I read Island in the East by Jenny Ashcroft (Hot - Singapore) & Dead Cold by Louise Penny (Cold - Canada in winter)

[Evelyn]

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Guy on the Right
Rich People Problems

2. Which "opposites" did you choose?
First and last book of a series.

3. What other ones did you consider?
Short/long and young/old.

[Erin]

I went for titles with binary opposites, On and Off. John Scalzi’s sci-fi mystery, Head On, for book 1 was paired with a cozy mystery Off the Beadin’ Path by Janice Peacock for book two.

[Susan]

I went for opposites in the title with How the Light Gets In and Dark Places. I enjoyed How the Light Gets In (4/5) but thought that Dark Places (1/5) was terrible.

[Matthias]

1. What are you reading for this category?
I read Netherland by Joseph O'Neill, and will be reading Remainder by Tom McCarthy.
2. Which "opposites" did you choose?
I chose these two particular books because they are on two sides of an argument put forth by Zadie Smith in an essay in the New Yorker called 'Two Paths for the Novel' in 2008. In that she starts by laying out how they are opposites:

From two recent novels, a story emerges about the future for the Anglophone novel. Both are the result of long journeys. Netherland, by Joseph O’Neill, took seven years to write; Remainder, by Tom McCarthy, took seven years to find a mainstream publisher. The two novels are antipodal—indeed one is the strong refusal of the other. The violence of the rejection Remainder represents to a novel like Netherland is, in part, a function of our ailing literary culture.

So, I chose them because I wanted to better understand her argument (and felt it a good excuse to read them in succession).

3. What other ones did you consider?
Honestly, I saw this prompt and thought of these (but I am in a Zadie Smith mode now - so clearly influenced by that). There are lots of good ways to fit things into this prompt though.

[Traci]

I read - Winter in Paradiseby Elin Hilderbrand cannot wait for my hold to be up on the sequel. For the opposite I am thinking of doing Summer of '69 but I may do a book with Hell such as The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

https://titlesurfingwithtraci.blogspo...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Emma]

I had a good time with this and decided to do Earth and Sky, and link it further by having two books with the same general subject material, but opposing titles.

I ended up reading If Women Rose Rooted: The Power of the Celtic Woman (Roots = Earth) and When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice (Birds = Sky)

It was a fun way to connect things and led me to a couple books I have wanted to read for a while!

[Jenn]

1. What are you reading for this category?



2. Which "opposites" did you choose? Light/Dark (also Fiction/Nonfiction)

3. What other ones did you consider? Short/Long or Life/Death

[Rachel]

1. What are you reading for this category?
A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light

2. Which "opposites" did you choose?
Shadows and Light

3. What other ones did you consider?
Honestly, nothing. I wasn't such a fan of this prompt, and was glad to find that one of my priority series fit it so easily.

[Anna]

Rachel wrote: "1. What are you reading for this category?
A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light

2. Which "opposites" did you choose?
Shadows and Light"

Rachel, that's a really good choice!

[Kim]

1. What are you reading for this category? and
2. Which "opposites" did you choose? Lies/Truth
3. What other ones did you consider? I thought about a summer/winter set or king/queen set, but ultimately the book decided for me.

[Amra]

I've been trying to make my way through all of Agatha Christe's novels, so I'm thinking of doing first/last.

I'll do The Mysterious Affair at Styles as her first novel, and then Sleeping Murder as her last novel.

[Roxana]

Amra wrote: "I've been trying to make my way through all of Agatha Christe's novels, so I'm thinking of doing first/last.

I'll do The Mysterious Affair at Styles as her first novel, and then [boo..."

Ooh, I like this idea! I've really been struggling with this pair of prompts, but I love rereading Agatha Christie as a comfort-read, and I haven't read Sleeping Murder in a while.

[Roxana]

I know I literally just wrote that I was going to borrow Amra's idea and do the first and last of Agatha Christie's novels, but then I realized I accidentally achieved this prompt without noticing.

Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground, books 2 and 3 in the Rivers of London series, for over / under.

I'd also considered Who Speaks for the Damned and The Silence of Bones, since I just finished both of those as well, but speaks/silence wasn't really doing it as a strong binary for me.

[Ashley]

I readWorld Without End and On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894. One was a long book and the other was short.

[JoDee]

I’m reading Early Work and Late in the Day

[Sherri]

What did you read for this prompt? Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez.
What did you use for binary opposites? North Pole & South Pole
Did you consider another book? Names for the Sea by Sarah Moses.

[Dori]

I have just come across these two books today, I love Cecelia Ahern and I immediately thought of this category when I found them:

Flawed
Perfect

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

Laurel wrote: "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 yo..."

I recently listened to this and found it ok but predictable, and yes, the ending is a bit too pat, but that is usually the way with "chick lit". I liked the librarian side and the talk about books.

[Robin P, Orbicular Mod]

For this prompt, I found on my shelves

The British Museum Is Falling Down and
Lessons in French
so British/French opposed if not exactly opposite

I also have some books with Before/After and First/Last in the titles.

[Wendy]

I have read The North Water and I plan to read South Sea Tales to round out the category.

I also considered pairing "water" with "fire" and had picked out Little Fires Everywhere, but I've ended up slotting that under non-traditional family instead.

Other combos I considered:
- The Overstory and Under the Net
- On The Black Hill and White Noise
- Where the Forest Meets the Stars and The City & the City

[Monica]

Laurel wrote: "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 yo..."

The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was my book for the “time” #52 prompt. (I don’t want to spoil anything but time is a prominent concept in this one.) It was a trip, and super fun! In case you are considering Erica’s other book for this one. :D.

[Celia]

Dori wrote: "I have just come across these two books today, I love Cecelia Ahern and I immediately thought of this category when I found them:

Flawed
Perfect"

I think your selection Perfect, not Flawed. 😍

[Laurel]

First Visions by Heather Topham Wood and Last Train to Istanbul by Ayşe Kulin
First and Last - I also considered Man/Woman, Black/White, Old/Young, Life/Death and Hot/Cold