Transatlantic

I've noticed a trend in my recent reading life toward what I call "paired readings." My field of interest is Irish literature, the classics like Liam O'Flaherty as well as contemporary writers like Colum McCann. However, I found the historical characters in this book so intriguing that I was led to read something I believed to be outside my sphere of interest, "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." And I am so glad that I finally read this American classic. Douglass was a character in McCann's skillfully written novel, as were aviators Alcock & Brown and the late-20th century U.S. senator George Mitchell. I will leave it to future readers to discover how these characters meld into one captivating story with Ireland always in the background as the catalyst to bind the divergent plots and characters together. Other paired novels: Emma Donoghue's "Life Masks" and Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto"; Colm Toibin's "The Master" and Henry James's "Portrait of a Lady." Read to find out why.