This weeks Nonfiction November is hosted by Rennie over What’s Non-fiction who started with a wonderfully detailed post that has instantly added more titles to both my reading and podcasting list. Happy days! So this week -

Week 2: (November 7-11) – Book Pairing: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title (or another nonfiction!). It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story. Or pair a book with a podcast, film or documentary, TV show, etc. on the same topic or stories that pair together. (here with me, Rennie @ What’s Nonfiction)

One of the best non-fiction books I read this year was ‘On Bloody Sunday’ by JulieAnn Campbell, which told the story of Bloody Sunday in Derry on the 30th of January 1972. It’s a powerful book that uses oral testimonies from survivors, eye witnesses and relatives.

And one of the best fiction books I've read this year was Louise Kennedy’s ‘trespasses’ which was an evocative and incredibly readable story of a love affair told against the backdrop of Ireland’s troubles, also set in the seventies.

Both books are from a recent period in Ireland’s troubled history and both are powerful and moving stories.

For some reason I read a couple of books about grief this year. One was ‘Ghosts of the tsunami’ by Richard Lloyd Parry, which focused on the events that lead to the loss of 74 schoolchildren and the unimaginable grief that followed.

A book that I read last year and that has remained with me, was ‘Hamlet’ by Maggie O’Farrell. I don’t think I’ve come across such a description of grief in a work of fiction before or since.

Those are some of the connections I made between my fiction and non-fiction reading. If you have made any connections, please share them below!