Fiction/Non-fiction Pairings

It seems like most people either like fiction or non-fiction, with little interest in exploring the other.  Sometimes, however, a historical fiction novel (or a movie) can pique interest in how true to history it actually was.  Or a non-fiction book is written so engagingly that is reads like fiction.  We love finding books that complement each other and think these pairings go very well together; if you read one, you’ll probably want to read the other!

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson/Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Chances are that you’ve heard of Just Mercy, even if you haven’t read it or watched the movie.  A powerful true story about a young black lawyer who fights to free a man who was wrongly convicted of murder, it highlights the racial injustices in our justice system.  Dear Martin shows the struggle of a young black teen from a fictional perspective who deals with racism and false accusations and chooses to emulate and write letters to Martin Luther King, Jr, as a way of dealing with the pressure.

 

Borders by Thomas King/How We Go Home: voices from Indigenous North America

At first glance, Borders seems like a simple graphic novel for young people.  However, that simplicity holds a depth and profundity that resonates.  A young Blackfoot boy and his mother travel from Canada into the U.S. to visit his sister, but when asked if they are Canadian or American, the mother truthfully claims her Blackfoot nationality. Neither country recognizes the sovereignty of the native nation and the two are caught in a limbo of red tape.

How we Go Home is a nonfiction collection of true stories by indigenous people that highlight the injustice and atrocities they have faced with resiliency, working to better the world and raise awareness.

 

A Woman of No Importance/Code Name Verity/West with the Night (female pilot)

Code Name Verity was a bestselling novel that highlighted the changing roles that women were able to take during World War II. The story of friendship between a female spy and female pilot is a nail-biter as the spy tries to reveal as little as possible about her friend while being tortured by the enemy. 

Two non-fiction pairings come to mind: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purcell tells the story of Virginia Hall, a female spy during WWII, who established a spy network throughout France and was instrumental in changing the course of the war. West with the Night is the autobiography of Beryl Markham, a female pilot who was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic.

Famous People Recommend

 

Do you wonder what your favorite musicians and actors are reading?  Here are a few recommendations that intrigued us!  Which one would you read first?

 

Emma Watson: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinham

Timothee Chalamet:  Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas

Emma Roberts – Orwell’s Roses  by Rebecca Solnit

Natalie Portman – Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Did you know she loved this book so much, she convinced a filmmaker to make it into a movie?

Sarah Jessica Parker – The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (also recommended by Axl Rose, Kurt Cobain, and Scarlett Johannsen!)

Gwyneth Paltrow – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Halle Berry – The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again by Catherine Price

Lady Gaga – Long Division by Kiese Laymon

Taylor Swift: Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (She also says John Green is her favorite author!)

Reese Witherspoon – Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan (the comedian, sure to be a funny read!)  Reese has her own bookclub with quite a few suggestions, this is just one of her recommendations that caught our eye!

Jamie Lee Curtis – The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix 

Best Literary Villains

 

Who are the literary villains you love to hate?  Clearly oblivious to social norms and with a power that is undeniable, villains are at the heart of a good story.  They make the story happen by challenging our heroes/heroines and the worse they are, the more satisfying it is when they are finally vanquished, tricked, or outplayed.  Conversely, some villains are allowed enough of a backstory that we are sympathetic to their plight or empathize with their cause. Here are a few villains we’re still thinking about:

Maven Calore from Red Queen: so devious you have to admire his cunning.  Complicated character: he’s evil, but you understand his motivations, and he also has moments of kindness.

 Cardan Greenbriar from The Cruel Prince: smart, charming, cruel, and with a deep dislike of humans, the youngest prince of the Faerie King  plays the fool a bit too well.

 Puppeteer from Renegades: for truly creepy, the Puppeteer is hard to beat.  Unhinged, preys on children, and turns people into puppets he can control.

 

The Joker from Batman series:  while hard to separate the literary Joker from the screen versions, he has scars that make him appear to always be smiling, enhanced by grotesque clown make-up.  His backstory is sympathetic: a struggling comedian, he commits a crime to get food for his pregnant wife and ends up in a vat of chemicals that disfigure him.  Playing on cliched stereotypes of mental illness, the Joker’s desire for chaos can be appealing to those bogged down by rules who are curious to see in a fantasy world what a little anarchy might do.

 Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter: an obvious choice, but one that sticks in memory perhaps even more than Voldemort…  Mean-spirited, power-hungry, controlling, and generally unpleasant, she masks herself in an air of superiority and false concern.

 Agatha Trunchbull from Matilda: domineering, abusive headmistress of an elementary school who tortures the children for minor infractions like wearing pigtails.

Gollum from Lord of the Rings: a slimy, hunched creature who has gone insane in his obsessive search for the ring.  While he has little power himself, he stands as a cautionary figure of what one can become when one abandons morals in a quest for power.

We know you’re thinking of a villain we should have added to this list, who is it?  Comment below!

Best Books for Inspirational Costumes

 

Best Books for Inspirational Costumes

Do you know any books that have such unusual character descriptions, they beg for a good cosplay? Sure, Alice in Wonderland and Lord of the Rings come to mind immediately for quirky characters, but how about some less well known titles?

Laini Taylor’s fantasy books come to mind for us. We’re always tempted to dress up as one of these to see how many fellow bookworms will recognize the character.   Here are a few memorable ones:

(Daughter of Smoke & Bone)

Brimstone: demon with a ram’s head, lion haunches, and reptilian eyes who collects teeth to turn into wishes

Karou:  blue haired female Czech art student, a necklace of teeth that can become wishes, hamsa (eye) symbols on palms, “true” and “story” tattooed on each wrist and the ability to travel through doors to far away places.

(Strange the Dreamer)

Sarai : godspawn with cinnamon colored hair, blue skin and a swarm of moths that give her the ability to inhabit people’s dreams and bring them nightmares.

 

Here are some other books and book characters that come to mind:

(Renegades by Marissa Meyer)

Queen Bee/Honey Harper: there are a plethora of quirky superheroes and villains in Renegades, but Queen Bee is sure to start a buzz…

(Seraphina by Rachel Hartman)

Seraphina: a half dragon, half human court musician, who teaches piano to the princess and is drawn into a murder mystery.

(Cinder by Marissa Meyer)

Cinder: a cyborg Cinderella in a futuristic, vaguely Chinese kingdom, with great talent as a mechanic.

(True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex)

J.Lo: an alien Boov mechanic with 8 legs and an appetite for car fresheners and dental floss.  Allergic to cats and hilarious mispronunciation of many English words. Wears bright safety orange and a plastic helmet.

(Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas)

Julian Diaz: A brooding ghost guy in black leather jacket, jeans, and Converse?  Yes, please.

If you prefer a picture book, these also seem like they’d be fun:

Dragons Love Tacos: dragon costume + box full of tacos… (or empty taco wrappers?)

Interrupting Chicken: feel like acting out a character? Your friends may hate you by the end of the night, but…

Are there some other great characters we’re missing?  Let us know in the comments!

Freedom to Read: Banned Book Recommendations

 

This week is Banned Books Week, when everyone in the book business from writers and publishers to librarians and booksellers draw national attention to the harms of censorship.  Censorship at its core is restricting what other people read/see/hear, usually to stamp out opinions that differ from one’s own. 

Intellectual freedom, on the other hand, is the right of an individual to learn information from all points of view without restriction, to be able to make one’s own conclusions.  Intellectual freedom is a philosophy that guides our public libraries and is considered an essential component of a democratic society. When one person/small group tries to decide what is available for a community to be able to read, that is considered censorship.  When that censorship is successful, it can severely limit the way people see themselves reflected and how they can explore things that are happening in the world.

Celebrate your freedom to read by exploring some banned books!:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

(Banned for swear words) When a teen with Asperger’s is charged with killing a neighbor’s dog, he is determined to find the true culprit. The problem: he tends to see things in black and white and can never be sure when someone is lying or joking. Interesting perspective!

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry (Banned for mention of euthanasia, infanticide, and suicide.) An eye-opening look at a utopian society where one begins to realize the price that is paid for a harmonious, “perfect” society.

 

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Banned over concern that young readers shouldn’t be exposed to a scenario with a massive loss of lives.) A science fiction book about a young boy of genius intelligence recruited by the government to play video games. It raises deep ethical questions about alien vs. human lives that are worth pondering.

 

Drama by Raina Telgemeier (Banned for inclusion of 2 gay characters and a kissing scene, deemed inappropriate for younger audiences.)  Highlights the teamwork, communication, and hard work put into a middle school play. Friendship, acceptance and empathy are explored.

 

Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (Banned for swearing, sexual references) A hilarious book about 2 teen boys who love filmmaking and make truly awful films.  The mother of one forces him to be friends with a girl who was diagnosed with cancer, and surprisingly, she becomes a big fan of their films. Highly accurate portrayal of teen angst combines with a very funny introspective look at dorky teen boys.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Banned for sexual content, swearing, and violence.) An anti-war novel about a young man who becomes unstuck in time while he tries to make sense of his time as a soldier.  Witty and full of black humor that provides an unusual social commentary.

1984 by George Orwell (Ironically, banned in the USSR for being anti-communist and banned in the US for being pro-communist)  A science fiction novel that predicted government mass surveillance and examines a totalitarian government’s ways to manipulate control and persecute independent thinking.

Fahrenheit 451 (Banned for a scene that showed the Bible being banned.) Set in a future society where firemen are enforcers of a law to burn all books, one begins to question this decision and his loyalty to an oppressive government.