Dear Reader,
Recently, I’ve taken to pairing my reading, and it feels like a compounding of pleasures. Much like combining a cappuccino with a croissant. Or food with wine.
Whether it’s two entire novels, both about the same relationship, or fiction read alongside biography, this double-dipping has become addictive.
The “He Said, She Said” Pairing
I kicked off my reading year with the ultimate marital immersion: Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell.
The two books tell the
Dear Reader,
Recently, I’ve taken to pairing my reading, and it feels like a compounding of pleasures. Much like combining a cappuccino with a croissant. Or food with wine.
Whether it’s two entire novels, both about the same relationship, or fiction read alongside biography, this double-dipping has become addictive.
The “He Said, She Said” Pairing
I kicked off my reading year with the ultimate marital immersion: Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell.
The two books tell the story of an upper middle-class couple, Walter and India Bridge, who live in Kansas City in the period between the two world wars. We see the Bridges live their life with their three children, doing all the humdrum little things that make up domestic life. Dinner, shopping, managing investments. The stuff we all live through. But here’s the kicker: perspective is everything.
You read Walter’s side and think, 'Okay, he’s just practical.' You read India’s side and think, 'Okay, he’s a cold robot.' And then you sit back and realise that the truth is probably somewhere in the uncomfortable middle. It makes you look at your own family and go, hmm, which is deeply unsettling but also kind of the point.
Then there’s the other “She Says, He Says” duo I devoured: Bengal Nights by Mircea Eliade and It Does Not Die by Maitreyi Devi. Oh, the audacity of white men! And men in general.
Reading these books together is basically watching one man pass off stereotype and fantasy as fact and the woman valiantly snatch it back. It made me realize more than ever, how crucial it is to tell your own story—because if you don’t, someone else will, and they will absolutely get it skewed. Also, translation matters. So much. I could go on a whole rant about that, but I’ll save it for another Sunday.
The “Who Got the Credit?” Subject Pairing
You know when two people work on something, and only one of them gets all the fame and glory? Like the entire history of the world, basically written by the victor. Our book club decided to tackle this head-on earlier this year.
We read Anna Funder’s Wifedom, which is about George Orwell’s wife, Eileen, and Marie Benedict’s The Other Einstein, about, well, the other Einstein. Both women were brilliant, both got completely written out of the narrative.
But here’s where it gets interesting: Funder writes a kind of memoir-meets-biography, weaving her own life into Orwell’s story, while Benedict goes the historical fiction route. At the end we couldn’t agree on which style was more hard-hitting. One set insisted Funder’s genre-bending approach, part biography, part memoir, part indictment, was the only way to do justice to a woman like Eileen. The other set argued that Benedict’s historical fiction allowed for more emotional intimacy, more room to imagine what Einstein’s wife actually felt. We never agreed. But it was a great discussion which got us to think about so many things.
The Armchair Traveler Pairing (Next on my list)
Up next, I’m heading to Afghanistan. Vicariously. I plan to read this year’s winner of the Women’s Prize for non-fiction, The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet, along with a travelogue called Shadow City: A Woman Walks Kabul by Taran N. Khan. Maybe I’ll add a novel like The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul as well.
Whichever route I choose, I know one thing for sure: reading one book on a subject is fine, but reading two (or three) is where the real drama lies.
Have you ever tried pairing books, or do you stick to one at a time ? Send me your recommendations—I’m always looking for my next pair.
And here’s to a year of double-dipping on stories, reading between the lines, and questioning every author’s biases and blind spots.
Sonya Dutta Choudhury is a Mumbai-based journalist and Founder, Sonya’s Book Box, a bespoke book service. For all questions about life and literature email sonyasbookbox@gmail.com.
One Subscription.
Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines
to 100 year archives.
Archives
HT App & Website