Books I Actually Read In Pairs

“We will now take a break from this regularly scheduled programme…” Okay, so confession, I’ve been using the scheduling tool a lot more recently and have been passing over blogging in the last few days (passing over…pass-over… it’s Passover- a time for family, wine and bad puns apparently).

Anyway, I had planned a post for today, but decided to change it up a bit cos nothing’s more fun than breaking a self-imposed schedule.

As I mentioned in my “Books to Read in Pairs” post the other day, I usually try to read books that are polar opposites after each other. So I thought I would share with you some books that I enjoyed reading together.  And these they are:

1. Tess of the D’Urbervilles & Persuasion – I will admit that there was a time in my life when all I did was read Hardy followed by Austen followed by Dostoevsky, but personally I feel like after the soul-crushing romance of Tess, you need a book that tells you that love can withstand, even the longest of separations.

2. Crime and Punishment & Northanger Abbey – Both of these have dark themes, but let’s face once you’re done with the punishing finale of Crime and Punishment, you need the happily ever after of an Austen novel- especially this one which turns everything dark on its head.

3. Gulag Archipelago Volume I-II & Forever in Blue – So this one’s kind of cheating, cos I actually read this during rather than after Gulag (which I only just finished) cos man this was a hard book to read and I needed a break!! If you do check this out, and I recommend you do, just know you will need several YA contemporaries to hand during and after this book. I know I’m going to line up loads for the rest of these volumes (only 5 more to go!)

4. Hogfather & The Bluest Eye – This is actually the reverse of the other books- cos sometimes I need some Pratchett to psyche myself up to reading (emotionally) challenging books.

5. The Godfather & Corrupt Me – These actually go together really well- so I should have included this in my last post- especially since I love any opportunity to pimp out the lovely Jillian Quinn’s work! But while they do complement each other, they are really different. Definitely worth reading back to back!

So who else tries to read different books together? What books do you like to read in pairs? Let me know in the comments!