Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
I’m going to need to mention some minor spoilers in today’s post in order to explain my selections. Most of the books I picked are older. I did this in large part so that I don’t ruin the plot twists of more recent fiction for anyone. Still, I thought I should warn all of you of this in advance in case your TBR lists include stuff that was predominantly published a few decades or even centuries ago.
Oh, and I was feeling extra chatty today, so this post is going to be longer than usual for me.
1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
I’m a huge Jane Eyre fan, but one of the things that always bothered me about the conclusion of her tale was how little attention was paid to the fate of Bertha Mason, the hidden and severely mentally ill wife of Jane’s employer, Mr. Rochester. Bertha had such a sad character arc that I half-expected her to show up again after her death. If Wilkie Collins’ tale had been mashed into this one, we could have gotten the vengeful spirit scenes I was waiting for.
2. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman.
Grossman’s series was marketed as Harry Potter for adults at one point. Both of these writers created worlds where magic was present everywhere and could easily go wrong if you didn’t know what you were doing with it.
While I’m still not sure that marketing The Magicians in this way was a good idea, I am intrigued by the thought of magicians going to graduate school. It never made sense to me that Harry Potter and his friends would have all of the practical knowledge they needed to make it as magicians at the tender age of 18. They really should have talked about higher education for whatever it was they wanted to specialize in after leaving Hogwarts.
3. Watership Down by Richard Adams and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
There were so many other magical creatures running around in The Hobbit that I think it would have made perfect sense to include a family of rabbits on the search for a safe, new home. Since this was a world where all kinds of non-human creatures could talk, I’d like to see Hazel and all of the other rabbits be able to speak human languages fluently. Imagine the look on Bilbo’s face if he ran across this group and realized all of the rabbits before him could understand every word he was saying!
4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.
Mary and Anne were both orphaned at young ages in societies that didn’t do a particularly good job of protecting orphans. They also had to learn how to thrive in families that weren’t happy to have them and didn’t do much of anything to help them adjust (at least at first). If only these two characters could have been neighbours. I think they would have been the best of friends.
5. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.
Both of these books are about love, loss, and death. One of the things that really bothered me about Where the Red Fern Grows was how dark its ending was after Billy’s beloved dogs died. It would have been nice for there to have been a scene to show the reward every good dog gets in the end. The supernatural twist in The Velveteen Rabbit would have worked nicely in this case, especially since Billy’s pets died when they were both still very young. I’d much rather have them living free and happy somewhere away from the main character than not being alive at all.
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Both of these stories were about what happened to humanity after society collapsed and the vast majority of people forgot how their ancestors used to live. The Book of Dave focused on how that collapse destroyed families. A Canticle for Leibowitz was more concerned with how such a disaster would destroy literature, history, education, and knowledge in general.
Combining all of these factors together would make for a fascinating – if also sometimes frightening- read.
7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Unwind by Neal Shusterman.
Both of these series portray worlds where some people are murdered so that their organs can be used to improve or save the lives of strangers.
Never Let Me Go showed it happening to childless and unmarried folks in their 50s and 60s. Unwind showed it happening to teenagers, especially teens who didn’t have the protection of loving parents. Honestly, I think any society willing to do this wouldn’t care how old their victims were. They could easily target both groups in order to make sure that the folks deemed worthy by the powers that be would always have the organs and other body parts they needed to survive.
8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.
The never-ending hopeless of The Road unnerved me. Like Earth Abides, it was set in a post-apocalyptic world where extinction for humankind seemed imminent. These tales would have worked well together when it came to their descriptions of the lengths desperate and starving people will go to in order to survive for another day.
I’d want to stick with the more optimistic ending of Earth Abides, though.
9. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
Gone with the Wind would have been a much better story if one of the main characters in it had been a slave, especially since Scarlett, the actual protagonist, never came across to me as someone who was particularly empathetic or interested in what was happening to those around her. The Book of Negroes was filled with scenes that showed just how harsh slavery was. It would have rounded out what this era was actually like quite well.
10. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Book Thief by Mark Zusak.
The first time I read Anne Frank’s diary, I assumed she had somehow survived World War II and published her memoir after being liberated from a concentration camp. The fact that this wasn’t her fate made me incredibly sad.
Mixing the true story of what happened to her with the fictional, and much happier, events of Book Thief would be wonderful. I desperately wish we could have known who Anne would have become as an adult. She would have written a lot of amazing stories for sure, and who knows what else she could have accomplished!
Ooooh Harry Potter/The Magicians and Anne Frank/The Book Thief are both amazing ones!! Thanks for stopping by my post! 🙂
You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed the thought of those mashups.
I really liked your last mashup. I mean I would definitely read it !
Thanks. I’m glad to hear it.
I love your suggestion of combining The Secret Garden with Anne of Green Gables. It would also be interesting to see the combination of Anne Frank’s Diary with The Book Thief.
Thanks. I’m glad you agree with those two mashups.
The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables is such a good choice! 🙂 Fab list!
Thanks. I appreciate that.
Some of these would make great fanfics! Like Anne of Green Gables and the Secret Garden!
I totally agree with you there.
I love that you specifically chose older books to avoid spoiling people – that’s so nice of you!! Sadly I haven’t read most of these so I can’t comment on the mash-ups, I just wanted to say I thought that was very kind 🙂
You’re welcome. What a nice compliment.
Watership Down and The Hobbit would be really good!
I’m glad you agree with that one.
Oh, I think I’d like to read a fictionalized version of Anne Frank mixed with elements from the book thief…but I’d have the book thief steal the diary, sadly still allowing Anne’s life to end the way it did.
And as for the Harry Potter continuing education, I think the NEWT level classes were technically like wizards college. That’s why Fred and George were able to just leave Hogwarts when Umbridge was there because they’d already completed their basic education. I’d almost like to see Wizard’s College be school that taught them non-magical life skills…like the use for a rubber duck. LOL.
Have a wonderful week.
I’d forgotten that fact about NEWTs. Now interesting. Non-magical life skills would be good, too.
I LOVE the sound of The Diary of a Young Girl and The Book Theif mash up. That would have packed double the punches!
Thank you. Yes, exactly!
So many great combos here!
Thank you. What a nice thing to say.
Good ideas! I’m impressed you came up with ten logical mashups!
Thank you very much!
I think I need to read Unwind for sure! 🙂
Watership Down/ The Hobbit would be amazing, I think, especially given the younger tone of the Hobbit. Great choice! The Secret Garden/ Anne of Green gables seems like a pretty fantastic choice too!
The Road / Earth abides has me really curious, since I’ve never read either but heard lots about The Road.
Thank you.
I should warn you that both The Road and Earth Abides contain dark subject matter. They’re great stories, though.
Oh, I really like the idea of putting Anne together with the Book Thief. That sounds like it could be an amazing novel!
I’m glad to hear that.
Ooooo Harry Potter mixed with The Magicians sounds like it would be really cool! I’d totally read that book. And oh my god, Anne of Green Gables meets The Secret Garden is my favorite combination I’ve seen!! I love those books and seeing Anne and Mary as friends would be perfect!
Your comments made me smile. So glad you liked my list.
I love your list – we used two of the same books which is quite uncanny given how many books there are out there to choose from. – Actually make that three books
I would definitely read the Jane Eyre mash up with the Woman in White – I love both those books.
Lynn 😀
The chances of that happening do seem pretty small! I think it’s cool we had so many similar thought processes, though.
Some great sounding mashups here. Looks like you’ve read some great books!
Thank you. Yes, I’d say that I have done that. 🙂
Book Thief and Anne Frank would be a great combo!
So glad you think so.
I love the idea of Watership Down and The Hobbit!
Thanks. They really should have had a crossover for sure.
I loved reading your list. What fantastic choices and I love that you focused on some older, classic books! Jane Eyre-The Woman in White would make such an atmospheric crossover, and I’d love to see a friendship between Mary and Anne as well.
Thank you. I’m glad you liked my selections.
I never thought of Mary and Anne as friends, but I can definitely see these two lonely orphans bonding.
I’m glad to hear that. Yes, I think they would have a lot in common.
These are some great ideas! I especially love the Harry Potter/The Magicians one and the Anne Frank/The Book Thief one!
Thank you. So glad you liked them.
Yes I quite loved the idea of The Magicians being set after high school where they then learn all kinds of higher magic.
Hmmm those would be interesting combos for sure.