Last week’s kickoff for Nonfiction November was so awesome, thank you to everyone who participated. As of the time I’m writing this post, 60 people had linked up posts sharing their year in nonfiction. They were so fun to read! I tried to get around and comment on every post, but I might have missed a couple (sorry if I did!).
Each week, we’ll have a different prompt and a different host looking at different ideas about reading and loving nonfiction. This week’s host is another one of my favorite bloggers, Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves, who is looking at fiction and nonfiction book pairings:
Week 2: (Nov. 5 to 9) – Fiction / Nonfiction Book Pairing (Sarah’s Book Shelves): This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together.
This year, I’m pairing the fiction book I’m currently reading, The Witches of New York by Ami McKay, and a nonfiction book I read earlier this year, Damnation Island by Stacy Horn.
I picked up The Witches of New York after fellow Book Rioter Jenn Northington reviewed it in a recent edition of her science fiction/fantasy newsletter. Here’s her description, which is better than I could ever do:
A scientifically minded young woman named Beatrice Dunn sets out to get a job in a New York City tea shop run by a soothsayer and an herbalist with one goal: to find out if magic is real. Adelaide and Eleanor, the proprietors, are delighted by their new apprentice but have troubles of their own. … Meanwhile, a local preacher has recently decided that he is on a holy mission to rid New York of witches and their devilish ways, and a possibly-supernatural obelisk is on its way to Central Park.
The book is so great! There’s magic, there’s alternating points of view, there’s historical documents and ephemera… so many of my favorite things. I’ve been reading it a bit at a time for a few weeks now and just savoring every bit.
Damnation Island is a history of New York’s Roosevelt Island in the 19th century. Roosevelt Island (at the time called Blackwell’s) was the site of site of “a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals.” The island was supposed to be a modern, humane place to incarcerate or house the city’s poorest residents. That didn’t work for long, though, as bureaucrats and politicians slowly eroded support for the facilities on the island.
I thought this was an excellent, readable nonfiction book. Horn has a keen eye for detail, and her sense of storytelling really keeps the book engaging. I also liked the way it was structured, offering a history of each of the institutions on the island that tracked with a general history of that place and how it was shaped by internal and external forces during that time period.
The reason I wanted to pair these books together is that Blackwell’s makes an appearance during a few scenes in The Witches of New York. The books are mainly set during the same time period, and both have a thread of feminist history running through them that I really liked. They both also use historical documents and writings (probably fictional, in the case of The Witches of New York) to add some color to the story, which is fun.
That’s what I’ve got for this week! Be sure to stop over at Sarah’s Book Shelves to see the other fiction/nonfiction book pairings going up this week!
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This sounds great, especially for this time of year … an atmospheric historical read for fall.
The fiction book, in particular, is very atmospheric! A lot of it is set in the lead up to Halloween, which is fun (even though Halloween has already passed and we’re well on the way to winter).
That makes so much sense as a pairing! I feel like you can really picture certain scenes if you know a bit more about the time and place.
Damnation Island reminds me a bit of the book about Bellevue Hospital. Have you read that one?
I started it, but I don’t think I finished it. I’m not sure why, NYC during that time interests me, as does medical history!
I’ve had the Horn book sitting on my TBR for months and need to read it. You’ve now intrigued me with the fiction title, too!
I really love it, great recommendation from Jenn!
I read Damnation Island thanks to you and it is one of my pairings this week! Now I want to read the Witches of NY too! I also am tempted to try to read something about Tammany Hall and all those NYC bosses. I feel like that might be a deep dive one doesn’t come out of though. Or maybe I should start closer to home and read about Chicago’s equally dirty and fascinating politics…
I feel like “dirty politics” is a rabbit hole you could enter and never get out of 🙂
I was really fond of Ami McKay’s The Birth House and liked The Virgin Cure as well, but I’m just not into magic so I think I’ll pass on this current one. I’m glad you’re enjoying it though!
Yeah, if you don’t like magic then it’s definitely not a book for you to read!
I love all the ties you found between the two books, especially that the asylum shows up in the fiction book!
I was so excited when they mentioned Blackwell’s! The pairing was already on my mind, but then when that scene happened I knew it was perfect.
Ooh, these both sound really good! Damnation Island sounds particularly good.