Novel Pairings

Latest Episodes:

47. There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset and ambitious family stories that span generations Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset. We loved this Austen-like Harlem Renaissance novel, and we kept this episode spoiler free in the hopes that it'll encourage you to pick it up! Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, with a mix of historical fiction and satire.

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Books mentioned:

There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset (Amazon)

Passing by Nella Larsen (Amazon) [30:39]

Chelsey's Pairings

Pride by Ibi Zoboi (Amazon) [36:06]

This Lovely City by Louise Hare (Amazon) [42:23]

Becoming by Michelle Obama (Amazon) [49:18]

Sara's Pairings

On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Amazon) [33:33]

No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts (Amazon) [39:35]

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour (Amazon) [45:52]

Picks of the week:

Chelsey: How WWI Sparked and Artistic Movement that Transformed Black America [53:30]

Sara: New Yorker article on Fauset (by Morgan Jerkins) [52:09] and Women of the Harlem Renaissance by Cheryl A. Wall [52:40]

46. Love letters to books: nonfiction books about the reading life Jan 26, 2021

Show notes

Readers, today's episode is inspired by Helene Hanff's love of books, nonfiction, and observation. We're sharing a bunch of nonfiction books about books, reading, and readers. Some of these are longtime favorites and others are on our endless TBR lists. This episode is extra nerdy, a little nostalgic, and supremely bookish. We hope you find a title to add to your TBR today.

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Nonfiction loveletters to books

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (Amazon)

Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence (Amazon)

Ex Libris by Michiko Kakutani (Amazon)

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders (Amazon)

I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel (Amazon)

The Possessed by Elif Batuman (Amazon)

Well Read Black Girl edited by Glory Edim (Amazon)

The Dark Fantastic by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (Amazon)

Bezi @beingabookwyrm

The Library Book by Susan Orlean (Amazon)

Susan Orlean on Twitter

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Amazon)

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (Amazon)

Bibliophile by Jane Mount (Amazon)

Diverse Spines by Jamise Harper and Jane Mount (forthcoming)

The Toni Morrison Book Club by Juda Bennett, Winnifred Brown-Glaude, Cassandra Jackson, Piper Kendrix Williams (Amazon)

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Anne Boyd Rioux (Amazon)

My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland (Amazon)

Books Promiscuously Read: Reading as a Way of Life by Heather Cass White (Amazon)

45. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff and charming books for devoted bibliophiles Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff, the ultimate comfort read for bibliophiles. Chelsey can't believe she hadn't read it sooner, and Sara revels in her rereading experience. We cover everything from the epistolary form to Helene's unique reading habits to the satisfaction of a bittersweet ending. Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, with a mix of charming memoir and plucky historical fiction.

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Chelsey's Pairings:

Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian's Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence (Amazon)

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce (Amazon)

Dinner with Edward: An Unexpected Friendship by Isabel Vincent (Amazon)

Sara's Pairings:

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Amazon)

Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread by Michiko Kakutani (Amazon)

My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland (Amazon)

Picks of the week:

The Repair Shop (Netflix)

The Crown (Netflix)

44.5 Anticipated book releases for winter 2021 and backlist books to read while you wait Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are ready to topple your TBRs with highly anticipated winter releases and backlist books. Our goal is to hype up the buzzy new books and under-the-radar releases while offering pairings that are easier to get at the library (or more affordable in paperback). There are a TON of titles mentioned in today's episode, so be sure to visit our show notes at novelpairings.com to find full lists of every book we talked about.

Find show notes HERE.

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Books mentioned (affiliate links):

January 5

The Push by Ashley Audrain (Amazon)

Long Bright River by Liz Moore (Amazon)

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour (Amazon)

Members Only by Sameer Pandya (Amazon)

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant (Amazon)

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (Amazon)

Outlawed by Anna North (Amazon)

True Grit by Charles Portis (Amazon)

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (Amazon)

January 12

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell (Amazon)

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (Amazon)

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Amazon)

The Captive by Fiona King Foster (Amazon)

Scribe by Alyson Hagy (Amazon)

January 19

The Divines by Ellie Eaton (Amazon)

The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams (Amazon)

The Girls by Emma Cline (Amazon)

January 26

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (Amazon)

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (Amazon)

Troy by Adele Geras (Amazon)

February 2

The Removed by Brandon Hobson (Amazon)

Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson (Amazon)

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (Amazon)

My Year Abroad by Chang Rae-Lee (Amazon)

The Idiot by Elif Batuman (Amazon)

February 9

A Lady's Formula for Love by Elizabeth Everett (Amazon)

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn (Amazon)

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite (Amazon)

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh (Amazon)

February 16

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (Amazon)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Amazon)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (Amazon)

March 2

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (Amazon)

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan (Amazon)

March 9

Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman (Amazon)

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (Amazon)

There is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset (Amazon)

Anna K by Jenny Lee (Amazon)

44. Short Story Club: The Hunter's Wife by Anthony Doerr and wintry books to cozy up with this season Jan 12, 2021

Show notes

Today in Short Story Club, Chelsey and Sara are discussing "The Hunter's Wife" by Anthony Doerr. This wintry, atmospheric story is absolutely absorbing and highly discussable. We talk about the beautiful writing, the unique structure, and some problematic aspects of the characters and plot. We do discuss spoilers in our Short Story Club episodes; you can find a copy of the story to read online from The Atlantic to join in and read before listening. Plus, as always, we're recommending a few pairings that fit the atmosphere, themes, and setting of today's short story.

The short story: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/05/the-hunters-wife/302198/

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Books Mentioned:

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson (Amazon)

How to Fail at Flirting by Denise Williams (Amazon)

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne (Amazon)

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May (Amazon)

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Amazon)

Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr (Amazon)

My Antonia by Willa Cather (Amazon)

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (Amazon)

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Chelsey's Pairings:

A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter (Amazon)

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (Amazon)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Amazon)

Sara's Pairings:

Devotions by Mary Oliver (Amazon)

The Bear by Andrew Krivak (Amazon)

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Amazon)

43. Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde and books that center intersectional feminism Jan 05, 2021

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. This collection of essays, speeches, and other writings is highly discussable and totally re-readable. We loved diving into this seminal Black Feminist text, though our conversation today barely scratches the surface of all there is to learn from Lorde's ideas, language, and poetry.

Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, including a beautiful novel in verse and one of Chelsey's recent favorite YA reads.

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Use our Libro.fm affiliate code NOVELPAIRINGS to get an audiobook subscription and support independent bookstores.

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Books Mentioned:

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall (Amazon)

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson (Amazon)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Amazon)

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Chelsey's Pairings:

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (Amazon)

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson (Amazon)

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown (Amazon)

Sara's Pairings:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Amazon)

A Girl is a Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Amazon)

Make Me Rain by Nikki Giovanni (Amazon)

Picks of the week:

Episode 359: The Lady Gang & Traci Thomas discuss White Fragility Part 1

Episode 116: Part 2 on The Stacks

Anti-racism Daily

#DisruptTexts

42. Superlatives for underrated, surprising, and well-loved books we read in 2020 Dec 29, 2020

Show notes

Instead of the "best books of the year" or our "favorite reads from 2020," we're sharing 12 bookish superlatives to highlight some underrated gems, popular favorites, academic reads, and more. Whether you love dark and moody literary fiction or genre-bending contemporary stories, we hope you find a new title to add to your TBR list today.

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View all of our recs and shop our links on the blog.

Books mentioned (affiliate links):

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry (Amazon)

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn (Amazon)

Beach Read by Emily Henry (Amazon)

Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony (Amazon)

Unscripted by Nicole Kronzer (Amazon)

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat (Amazon)

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (Amazon)

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (Amazon)

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate (Amazon)

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London (Amazon)

Beloved by Toni Morrison (Amazon)

On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Amazon)

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (Amazon)

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans (Amazon)

Lovely War by Julie Berry (Amazon)

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Amazon)

A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier (Amazon)

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda (Amazon)

Writers & Lovers by Lily King (Amazon)

Sisters by Daisy Johnson (Amazon)

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (Amazon)

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (Amazon)

Emma by Jane Austen (Amazon)

41. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and contemporary book recs inspired by the March sisters Dec 22, 2020

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. We share what we admire about Alcott and her iconic children's classic, as well as the reasons why it doesn't hold a fond place in our readerly hearts. We know that many readers adore this sisterly, warm-hearted book, so we've backed up our opinions with extra-nerdy analysis.

Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, including books about the writing life and one of Sara's favorite moody books from this year.

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Use our Libro.fm affiliate code NOVELPAIRINGS to get an audiobook subscription for yourself or purchase a gift.

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Books Mentioned:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Amazon)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Amazon)

Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Amy Boyd Rioux (Amazon)

So We Read On: How the Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures by Maureen Corrigan (Amazon)

March by Geraldine Brooks (Amazon)

Also mentioned:

Episode 40 with Annie B. Jones

Skip to the pairings with this timestamp: [36:14]

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Chelsey's Pairings:

More to the Story by Hena Khan (Amazon)
Most Likely by Sarah Watson (Amazon)
Writers & Lovers by Lily King (Amazon)

Sara's Pairings:

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez (Amazon)
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas (Amazon)
The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams (Amazon)

Extra Picks:

Home Cooking Podcast

Why the British Tell Better Children's Stories

40. The joy of nostalgic reads and books that Jo March would love with Annie B. Jones, owner of The Bookshelf Dec 15, 2020

Show notes

Today, Chelsey and Sara talk about their favorite books from childhood, Little Women fashion, and family stories to read this winter with Annie B. Jones, owner of The Bookshelf in Thomasville and host of the bookish podcast From The Front Porch. There's lots of nostalgia, laughter, and book talk in this episode, plus tips for helping your favorite local bookstores thrive during trying times. Note: this episode includes some spoilers for Little Women.

A special treat: Right now, listeners of Novel Pairings can get 10% off their purchase of a shelf subscription with the code NOVELIDEA2020. This 10% off code applies to shelf subscriptions only, and it lasts through January 31, 2021.

Support our podcast AND Annie's beautiful bookstore by using our affiliate link to get a Librofm subscription and selection The Bookshelf as your bookstore. Use our Libro.fm affiliate code NOVELPAIRINGS to get an audiobook subscription for yourself or purchase a gift.

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Find show notes on our blog.

Follow Annie on Instagram, follow The Bookshelf on Instagram, and find From the Front Porch wherever you download your podcasts.

Books mentioned:

Our book list includes a mix of affiliate links and links to The Bookshelf inventory. If you want to own one of the books we talked about today, we hope you consider supporting The Bookshelf with your purchase.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

The Baby-Sitters Club Box

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

Franny & Zoey by J.D. Salinger

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konig

Bloomability by Sharon Creech

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Amy Boyd Rioux

Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz

What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer

Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel

House Lessons by Erica Bauermeister

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Ex Libris by Michiko Kakutani

HRH by Elizabeth Holmes

Passing by Nella Larsen

Emma by Jane Austen

Also mentioned:

"The Baby-Sitters Club Taught Me Everything I Needed to Know About Literary Fiction"

39. My Antonia by Willa Cather, plus books about community and survival to read this winter Dec 08, 2020

Show notes

Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing My Antonia by Willa Cather with a special guest: Michelle Timmins, English literature student and Novel Pairings assistant extraordinaire. There's plenty to discuss in this wintry classic, including stunning imagery, surprising connections to an American Girl Doll, and where Cather's novel fits into the American literary canon. Plus, as always, we're recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, including a Western, an arctic memoir, and a nonfiction book about grief.

Books Mentioned:

My Antonia by Willa Cather (Amazon)

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (Amazon)

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (Amazon)

Also mentioned: Deconstruction Theory

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Michelle's Pairings: