I took a William Faulkner/Toni Morrison course back in college that has stuck with me for 20+ years–we read 5 by each author which led to some very cool and unexpected resonance and conversation. Two books that I remember fitting very well were Light in August and Song of Solomon.
I also just read American Prometheus and loved it, while my mom read the other Oppenheimer biography from Ray Monk. I was really curious about the cajones Monk had to write his biography in the massive shadow of Prometheus. It is by far the established biography, but Monk makes a strong case for his own–that he focuses on Oppie’s significant contributions to physics, which Prometheus mostly disregards, focusing instead on his diminishing returns as a manager. Prometheus is a fantastic book, but talking about the Monk made me turn a more critical eye to the ways it may have pigeon-holed Oppie too simplistically.
I’d love to hear what other pairings of either author or books y’all may have!
I took a very wonderful class in college where we read Moby-Dick and Uncle Tom’s Cabin in dialogue with each other, and it was perfect. They came out at essentially the same moment but are incredibly different in their tone, goals, and impact. They’re essentially part of two unrelated literary traditions, from two very different authors, and reading then side-by-side and looking at their overlaps and differences is a great way of exploring topics from the period.