Nonfiction November: Week 2

For Week 2 of Nonfiction November the theme is – Fiction / Nonfiction Book Pairing: The prompt for this week’s Nonfiction November post comes from Sarah’s Book Shelves: 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. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.

I’ll go with two titles that I think would pair up well. The first is Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal. Maggie Hope has graduated at the top of her class but in 1940 the only job she can find is as a typist but once intelligence officers start working with her they realize she has a keen mind and can be instrumental in codebreaking and help defeat the Germans. I really enjoyed this book and mentioning it now reminds me that I need to follow up on this series.

To pair that up I thought you couldn’t go wrong with Code Girls by Liza Mundy. Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. I’ve only just begun this book but can already imagine what a great learning experience this will be.

Here’s a short excerpt from Code Girls:

“At the time these schools were founded, many considered higher education to be poorly suited for girls. Now the views had changed. Educated women were wanted. Urgently.”

Would love to see, what books you are pairing for this week’s nonfiction theme.