Saturday 4 December 2021

Six Degrees of Separation ~ From Ethan Frome to This House is Mine

 Ethan Frome
Wharton, Edith "Ethan Frome" - 1911

#6Degrees of Separation:
from Ethan Frome to This House is Mine

#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here.

This month's prompt starts with Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.

Kate chose this because it's a novella and she took part in a challenged called Novella November (#NovNov). I was busy with Nonfiction November (#NonficNov) and our "The Satanic Verses" buddy-read and therefore didn't participate in that challenge. However, I had never read "Ethan Frome" and therefore thought it was about time to do exactly that.

Sometimes I take the easy way with these chains. Like this time. First, I thought I'd take the idea from the title and list books where the book is named after the protagonist, like "David Copperfield" and "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë, "Daniel Deronda" by George Eliot, "Daisy Miller" by Henry James, "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe etc. etc. But I found so many with that kind of title that I had a hard time to choose only six.

In the end I went for another chain.

Wharton, Edith "The House of Mirth" 1905
Another book by Edith Wharton that I read ages ago. Why it took me so long to start another one of her books, I have no idea. I blame my gigantic TBR pile.

Dickens, Charles "Bleak House" - 1852/53

The word "house" in the title leads me to another house, one of my favourite authors has written about a very bleak one. But we see many different kind of houses in this novel.

Ashworth, Andrea "Once in a House on Fire" - 1999
Same as Dickens' house, this one is quite bleak. The author describes her youth in a penniless household full of violence and other problems.

Domínguez, Carlos María "The House of Paper" (Spanish: La Casa del Papel/Das Papierhaus) - 2007
And a house of Paper defnitely shouldn't catch fire. This story is about a woman who dies reading, a man who builds a house out of books and another guy who tries to find the link between them.

Eggels, Elle "The House of the Seven Sisters" (Dutch: Het Huis van de Zeven Zusters) - 1998
Again, this house is not a happy place to live in but, as with all the others, an interesting one about different kind of women who try to do their best.

Hansen, Dörte "This House is Mine" (German: Altes Land) - 2015
Another great description of some women who try to find their way in this world, one of my favourite books ever.

So, I went from one house to another, most of them not happy houses but all great books.

As always, I'm really looking forward to see what other bloggers come up with.

Have a Happy December, everyone!

Look for further monthly separation posts here.

6 comments:

  1. Well, you really brought this chain home!!! Excellent!

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    1. Hahaha, that's a good one, Davida. I loved yours, it's always so interesting to see where others are going with their chains.

      Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.

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  2. Great idea of theme!
    When I think HOUSE, I think Rebecca right away.
    But I was curious and checked on my Goodreads shelf all the books I have read with the word house in the title: 14!
    My favorite of all is this one, by Kate Morton: https://wordsandpeace.com/2015/11/04/book-review-the-lake-house/

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    1. Thanks, Emma. I didn't even think about checking on Goodreads (just used my own reading list here), will have to bear that in mind for future challenges, great idea.

      And thanks for recommending "The Lake House". I have read The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton and really loved it. And I've been told that "The Lake House" is one of her best. So, I'll have to put that on my wishlist.

      Of course, it always reminds me of a movie I love with Sandra Bullock and Keany Reaves. But that seems to be a different kind of story.

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  3. It's always tricky to pick a direction with some books! Fabulous chain!

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    1. Definitely, Carol. I usually find something after the second one. ;)

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