The theme for this week at Nonfiction November is Fiction/nonfiction pairings. I thought I’d do a variation on the theme and pair nonfiction books with movies and TV series. After all, cinema is story, too.

First up, is the Landmark title, The World’s Greatest Showman: The Life of P.T. Barnum by J. Bryan which is the book I read after watching The Greatest Showman, of course. The real story of P.T. Barnum’s life is quite a bit different from the movie version, but the movie has its own charm.

I watched the first few episodes of the series, TURN: Washington’s Spies, but the whole thing was a bit too slow-moving (too many interlocking parts) and violent for me (I know, war is violent, but screen violence gets to me whereas I can usually manage to read about it without bailing.). The series is based on a nonfiction book, Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose, that I may pick up at some point. But in the meantime, I suggest Spies of the Revolution by Katherine and John Bakeless, a children’s/young adult book, but a good introduction to the subject nevertheless.

Endeavor, a British police drama set in Oxford, is one of my favorites right now, and it even had an episode featuring Lewis and Tolkien and the Inklings. For nonfiction with an Oxford flair, I’ve read several biographies of individual Inklings and of the group, but the books I’m looking forward to reading are Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings by Diana Glyer and Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth. Of course, the latter book also pairs nicely with the 2019 movie Tolkien, which I’ve not seen yet.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Tom Hanks movie about Mister Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I watched the documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, also about Fred Rogers’ life, a few months ago. For books to pair with these, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King looks like a good read, and there’s a lovely looking picture book biography, Hello, Neighbor! The Kind and Caring World of Mr. Rogers by Matthew Cordell. I’d really like to read both books, and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts if you’ve read either of them.