Sunday Salon ~ book pairs

What do these pairs of books have in common?

1

Moby Dick by Herman Melville ~ Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

2

The story of Jacob in the Bible ~ The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

3

King Lear by Shakespeare ~ A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

4

Macbeth by William Shakespeare ~ Lady Macbeth by Susan Frasier King

5

The Odyssey by Homer ~ The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

6

The Iliad by Homer ~ The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

7

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory ~ The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The answer:  "HIS" are on the left, and "HERS" are on the right.

1. Melville gives us Ahab's story about the hunt for Moby-Dick, and Naslund presents his wife's point of view.
2. The Bible tells us about Jacob and his sons, while Diamant gives us the perspective of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter.
3. Shakespeare tells us what King Lear and his three daughters said and did, but Smiley's 20th-century characters show us possible reasons for what the three daughters did.
4. While Shakespeare focuses on Macbeth, King's focus is on his wife, the last female descendant of Scotland’s royal line.
5. Homer gives us the story of Odysseus, who finally makes it home to Penelope and promptly kills her suitors and twelve of her maids.  Atwood lets Penelope and her twelve hanged maids tell the tale as a 21st-century retrospective by the ghost of Penelope.
6. Homer tells us the story of the Trojan Wars, with all the "heroes" fighting.  Bradley shows us how it was lived by Cassandra, one of the many daughters of King Priamus of Troy.  Cassandra was a psychic and unmarried, thus "making" her unpopular with the men.
7. The legend of King Arthur recounts the battles of the knights of the Round Table, while Bradley's version is told from the perspective of powerful women characters like Morgaine, more commonly known as Morgan Le Fay, and Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh spelling of Guinevere.

So the answer to my question is that the second of each pair of stories gives us the women's viewpoint. And the stories change greatly when viewed through the eyes and experiences of women. His and hers stories.  Do you know any other pairs of stories like these?
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STATS

Just finished:  The House on Olive Street ~ by Robyn Carr, 1999, fiction, 9/10

Currently reading:  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ~ by Sherman Alexie, 2001, YA fiction (Washington state)

Up next:  Inside Out and Back Again ~ by Thanhha Lai, 2011, children's (Alabama)

Totals for 2012:  13 finished + 1 DNF (did not finish) + 9 reviews

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