It’s Week 3 of Nonfiction November, this week hosted by Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working From Home. The task? Pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. This is my absolute favourite #NFN exercise.
Swimming and grief – The Tidal Year by Freya Bromley and The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
The invasion of social media – The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and The Circle by Dave Eggers
Life as a chef – Uses for Obsession by Ben Shewry and The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal
How things that hop change a life – Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton and The Burrow by Melanie Cheng
A deep-dive into plants – The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart and The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Time warps – Saving Time by Jenny Odell and On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle
Past book pairings posts – here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
I usually struggle with this one, so I’m feeling quite pleased with myself that I’ve got three, ready to publish tomorrow (because I’ve already posted today.)
I love doing this one – it’s my favourite, but haven’t even started to think this year. I like your The burrow one.
I should have said “my favourite too”!
Wonderful! I particularly like the Things That Hop. I’ve published my post now https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/nonfiction-november-2025-week-3-pairings-2/ and have linked to yours.
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The last one’s my favourite, and thanks for alerting me to The Cook. I’d not come across it.
I’m keen to read the Odell. Nice pairings
This is a difficult one for me, but you have managed very well with your pairing.
Great pairings! Things that hop is very appealing!
This is great, love the hoppers one too!
Great work!! I especially like the Anxious Generation with The Circle. My post will be up later today.
Great matches!
Happy Nonfiction November.
Nice job!
This is a wonderful selection of pairings! I read The Swimmers last year and thought it was quite good. I haven’t read The Tidal Year, but it sounds like something I’d enjoy. Kathleen Hart’s Devorgilla Days came to mind as another that would pair nicely with The Swimmers. Have you read it?
The Circle is one that I loved on audio, so I’ll think about adding The Anxious Generation to my TBR list.
I haven’t read Devorgilla Days but just read your review – it looks delightful – one I’ll add to my list.
Loved seeing Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things. That was a memorable book – I read it years ago. And I think I have your paired title on my tbr.
You have shared some lovely pairings this year, and you’ve included some intriguing books.
Curious about The Anxious Generation, I read your review. I agree with the author. I come from a generation that did ride our bikes until dusk. We climbed trees and spat orange-seed “ammunition” at each other, recreating World War II in our backyards, as sons and daughters of veterans of that war. We explored our environments, natural and built. There were no virtual walls between us. The author’s observation: “The users aren’t the customers for most social media platforms. If platforms offer services or information for free it’s because the users are the product. Their attention is a precious substance that the companies extract and sell to their customers (the advertisers).” Users of social media are the product (I was on Facebook, but I quit it), just as television viewers are also the product and have been in the nearly a century since television was invented. But we had a solution for commercials — there was no pausing a broadcast, because there was no playback. It was all live, happening at the moment. So commercials were for potty breaks and snack-catching! LOL! Our daughters were in the first computer generation, but they also interacted in the real world with friends and family. We played board games (how quaint, right?). We did silly plays and silly songs. But my grandson concerns me greatly, and perhaps he should read The Anxious Generation. Thank you!
So many fascinating pairings. Will be checking out several of them. Thanks for the recommendations.
“The Drunken Botanist” was such an enjoyable book. It’s amazing how often it comes up in conversation.
I’ll have to look up the bunny books. I love bunnies!