Top 10 Fiction and NonFiction Book Pairings.

What are the Top Fiction and Nonfiction Book pairings? Don’t worry, I got you covered to quench the thirst of striving for more information after reading a fiction book. That’s where these combinations come, to let you drive into the world further that you left few seconds behind.

10.Midnight’s Children & India After Gandhi

Salman Rushdie’s fictional book, Midnight’s children and Ramachandra Guha’s Non fiction work; India after Gandhi combined, time travels into the night and post era of India’s freedom.

Midnight’s children dwells into the tale of Saleem Sinai born at an amazingly coincidental time of midnight of India snatching its freedom from Britishers’.

Soon he realises he shares a telepathic power with other 1000 kids born on same midnight and each of them carry a special power.

India after Gandhi breaks down the internal as well as external obstacles it faced after its victorious freedom. Starting from building a constitution, newly formed states, partition, war against Pakistan, foreign policies any many more that followed.

9.The Dictionary of Lost Words & The Surgeon of Crowthorne

As the name suggests this amalgamation of both genres leads to the story and reality of first Oxford dictionary.

Pip Williams’s The dictionary of Lost Words travels us to the tale of Esme, a daughter of lexicographers. She is fascinated by the words spends her time under the table in “Scriptorium” a garden shed in oxford.

Esme gathers the neglected or misplaced words like “Bondmaid” and soon she realizes it holds a significance. And she gathers all those words for the dictionary of lost words.

Simon Winchester’s The surgeon of Crowthorne reveals the anticipated obsession of a professor and a madmen towards the words, leading to the World’s first Oxford Dictionary.

Professor James Murray was startled as the leader of overseeing committee with ten thousand words of submit by Dr.William chester Minor who was veteran of civil war and inmate of mental asylum.

8.The Overstory & The Hidden Life of Trees

This amalgamation of fiction and non-fiction duo represents the most essential part which breathes life into us, Trees.

Richard Power’s twelfth novel The Overstory is an incredible work of activism fiction with an insight to reduce the deforestation around the globe.

The fiction narrates the short stories of nine protagonists whose life are connected to tress. On the later half of the book it is revealed the stories are interconnected.

To compliment it, I can’t think of a better suit than Peter Wohellben’s non ficiton The Hidden life of Trees that discusses a poetic topic like the social life of trees, how they interact with each other, how the parent tree live with it children, how they alert each other when the water level lows.

  The duo awarded individually for their respective genre remains a magical reading combo.

7.Fever 1793 & An American Plague

After living through a pandemic, the horrific events of fever holding the Philadelphia hostage summarises the parallel of fictional and non-fictional combination of Fever 1793 & An American plague.

 Laurie Anderson’s Fever 1793 historical fiction dives into the life of 14 year old Mattie, loses her childhood friend as the yellow fever grips the streets of Philadelphia. The fever spreads, Mattie struggles to feed her family and later struggles to see the next morning.

Jim Murphy’s An American Plague, as the name suggests enlightens the Philadelphia city caught under the unknown spell of yellow fever along with the constitutional crisis that followed.

These two books combined shows a similar horrific parallel to the era of Covid pandemic. it is one of the best Fiction and Nonfiction Book Pairings.

6.Cadillac Desert and The Water Knife

‘Some people had to bleed so other could drink. “

Paulo Bacigalupi’s science fiction geographical hammers a dystopian future. The climate change has shaped the lack of water turning into as precious as gold.

A battle evokes as the cities of united states of America’ phoenix and Los angeles fight over the Colorado river. As the story progress a new water source is found and the battle of water continues.

Marc Reisner’s Non fiction Cadillac desert speaks about the same issue of doomed water source in America’s west. The complete research of earliest settlers, politics between two governments and the quest for precious water resource.

5.Moby Dick & In the Heart of the Sea

Moby Dick, a fictional book by Herman Melville and In the Heart of the Sea, best non-fiction book of 2000 by Nathaniel Philbrick, a great duo combination to read about tragedy of the Essex whaleship.

It transpires the narrative of Ishmael, boards the final voyage of Pequod. Ahab, the captain of the ship’s mad obsession with the giant whale in the water named Moby dick whose encounter cost him a leg.

While the fictional journey became a classic the non-fiction. In the heart of the sea narrates the tragic journey of whaleship Essex. In 1820, when a great whale rammed, sunk the Essex, crew members starved in the waters to death until the rescue arrived.

4.All Quiet on the Western Front & Storm of Steel

Enough talk about life let’s bring death into picture and what could be more engaging portrayal of death rather than World War I. The Fictional book and non-fictional memoir is a perfect duo to face the death in form of words.

Erich Remarque’s All quiet on the western front recounts the patriotism of young German twenty years old boys signing up for the war. Witnessing the devastating life that awaits for them and collateral damages that followed the rest of their life. War stole their youth as well as their peace.

To relive those moments sore along Ernest Junger’s ruthless experience on Storm of Steel. The clear picture of World War I, the rats, the muds, the shells, rotten wounds, tearing bullets, horrors of mountain of corpses.

These two books combined horrifies and shed tears like no other. It forms one of the deadliest Fiction and Nonfiction Book Pairings.

3.Blood Meridian & Empire of the Summer Moon

The epic tale of Brutality of Cormac Mccarthy’s Blood meridian traces the ugliest and destructible side of human. Based on historical events in 1850s group of men ride along the border of mexico-america. As they haunted down the Indians and selling the scalps in the rising market.

Oh boy! The gruesome brutality, violence will leave you awestruck and in distress. This literary genius book bears the flag of violence.

S.C. Gwyne’s non fiction Empire of the summer moon explores the long fought war between Comanche Indians and white settlers over the span of four decades. The book describes the rise and fall of Comanche Indian and their last and greatest chief a mix blood.

2.The Color Purple & I Know Why Caged Bird Sings

Heart-breaking yet devastating duo to ever exist address the issues of oppression, racism, brutality, rape and molestation of African American women.

Alice Walker’s fiction tale The colour Purple transcends the story of Celie of Georgia, an African American raped by her father and pregnant for the second time at the age of 14.

As she writes her pain to god and her sister the only to ever show empathy towards her. She marries an abusive husband along with insulting step child. Despite all the trauma she belives in love. 

 Maya Angelou’s non-fiction debut memoir indulges her story of life with her grandmother and her mother’s fiancée physically abusing her and molesting her until he rapes her. She spends  few months in a junkyard for months as the tale progress. 

1.We need to talk about Kevin & A Mother’s Reckoning

Lionel Shriver’s gripping tale about Motherhood gone awry in We need to talk about Kevin’s. It explores the story of Eva whose unlovable son has murdered Seven high school students, café worker and his teacher.

Her own social demotions lead her unloved son Kevin’s rampage to wrath upon people as she believes as the story progress.

Sue Kleblod’s haunting non-fiction memoir when in 1999 her son Dylan killed twelve student, teacher. After killing 24 others in coulbine high school, colarado, he committed his own death.

The daunting incident torn her apart into many pieces as the guilt, shame and horror grappled her.

These two thriller books leaves a chill in your spine along with haunting thoughts. It is my favorite among all of the fiction and Nonfiction Book pairings.

Abhijit

A voracious reader and anime nerd, always geeking about enormous metaphors hidden in Books and Anime. I am also trying to write my first book as well as enjoying sharing experience with an audience.