Shuggie Bain
Stuart, Douglas "Shuggie Bain" - 2020
#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 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.
There are several ways to tackle this challenge. I first tought about going from Scotland around the British Isles. My next idea was to go by the author's name. But in the end I decided to start with the fact that this is a Booker prize winner. What better novel to start with than the "Booker of Bookers".
Rushdie, Salman "Midnight's Children" - 1981
My next thought was about a book by a favourite author of mine that also takes place in India (as opposed to his usual stories from his home country, Catalonia/Spain).
Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Midnight Palace" (Spanish: El Palacio de la Medianoche) - 1994
Thinking about Spain, there is another author who writes about historic Spain, starting with Barcelona in the 14th century. They build a cathedral there.
Falcones, Ildefonso "Cathedral of the Sea" (Spanish: La catedral del mar) - 2008
Which brings me to my next book where the build a cathedral in England. This is now a tetralogy. I must read the next one.
Follett, Ken "The Pillars of the Earth" - 1989
And a book with "earth" in the title always makes me think about one of the most famous books by one of my first favourite authors.
Buck, Pearl S. "The Good Earth" - 1931
Since we are in China already, I had to think about a poster I received lately from my son. It shows the biggest novels of every country and I was surprised that I'd read the one from this ancient country.
Cao, Xueqin "Dream of the Red Chamber" (Chinese: 红楼梦/Hung lou meng/aka The Story of the Stone) - ca. 1717-1763 (18th century)
And so we've made a trip around the word. From India to Spain to England and then to China.
Look for further monthly separation posts here.
What an inspired thought - Booker winners. I like it. And I haven't read the last two links in your chain, so on the TBR list they go!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Margaret. Wow, you read four of my books? The most I usually get from other lists is two, maybe three. Well, you had two of my favourite three of last year. The third would be The Offing which might be another one you'd enjoy.
DeleteAnyway, thanks for your visit. Have a lovely weekend.
And since I had not read the book, I had to start somewhere. LOL
DeleteI seem to have problems replying to this post. It's probably not you or me, WordPress just seems to have problems lately, I have encountered this problem elsewhere. So sorry. This was my answer:
DeleteTotally understandable. I grew up saving everything that might be useful again one day and still do that. My children believe I'm a hoarder but I can't let go of stuff that I might need again. Learned it as a child, can't unlearn it now.
I still have problems with your site, so here is my comment to this post:
DeleteThanks for this, Margaret. What a shame. I loved her books and am sad that there won't be any more. But I totally agree with her statement about the dying and their confessions. Some things are better left undsaid. But if you say them, you should say them early enough so that the person can still talk to you about it.
What a brilliant list, Marianne! I have read the Follet and the Buck, but can see re-reads coming on. And I have added all the others to myTBR - I really must read the Booker of Bookers some time. And I also agree with your endorsement for The Offing, which is a lovely read. 😀
ReplyDeleteThank you, Liz. That's the fun with this, finding new books through other bloggers. I can see that you will like all of them. "Midnight's Children" is a tough one. I love them to be tough but this belongs to one of the hardest I ever read, just next tu Ulyssees, for example. However, they are often the most deserving, don't you think?
DeleteThanks for your visit. Will have to see where you landed.
What an exotic chain. I haven't read Midnight's Children, but it is a favorite of my sister's (I read two others by him). I also read The Good Earth in school, and I have a copy of her Mandala on my shelf that I've never gotten around to read.
ReplyDeleteI love exotic. I grew up in a small village and didn't get very far as a child but I always dreamt of foreign countries. I had tons of pen friends in my teens and then started moving around in my early twenties. I still love to travel but it gets harder as one gets older (not to mention a pandemic that keeps us all at home). As I said to Liz ^^, "Midnight's Children" is quite a tough book but I loved it. (Hi to your sister!)
DeletePearl S. Buck was my first favourite "adult" author. I have always loved her for that.
Thanks for your visit.
Lovely fluid chain Marianne. I like that you, like me, went with a Booker Prize winner, albeit a different one. (After all, there were many to choose from). I have heard of three of your links, but have only read the Booker winner! However, I do have Pearl Buck's book on my TBR, the same edition in fact that you show.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sue. I know, there are so many booker prize winners. They are not always my favourites but I really didn't know which one to start with so I chose the "booker of bookers".
DeleteWe all have different tastes, I often find lists where I haven't even heard of any of the authors let alone the books. But if you have Pearl S. Buck on your list and liked "Midnight's Children", there might be some more on my list that you could enjoy.
Anyway, thanks for the visit.
BTW Marianne, I am disappointed that your comment box did not let me, as some Blogger blogs do, respond under my blog name. I don't like commenting under my Google name because that doesn't link to me blog. You might like to check this out because most blogger blogs do allow commenting as Name/URL as an alternative to a Google account.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that, Sue. But thanks for letting me know. Blogger often changes stuff and I had no idea I could tell them how people can comment. I have changed that now, maybe you try again.
DeleteHowever, when I click on your name, it takes me to your blogger profile and from there to your page, at least something. Still, I hope, anyone can comment with their page in future.
Enjoyed the trip around the world!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Judy. I bet you have read a few of these.
DeleteThanks for your friendship.
Great chain!
ReplyDeleteI've read Pillars of the Earth and The Good Earth. I'm debating whether I want to continue on with Follett's series. I loved Pillars but felt like World Without End was too similar. I read The Good Earth for school but I only remember that the main character gave birth and was back out in the fields immediately afterward. That obviously made an impression on me!
Thanks, Jen.
DeleteWell, "World Without End" is a sequel, albeit 200 years later. I loved that. But you have to decide whether you like series or not.
As to "The Good Earth", life was very different in former times, even around here but I'm sure there are still women in this world who go right back to work after having given birth. But they only lived half as long as we do nowadays, at the most.
That's something that fascinates me about books like that, how life can be so different in other times and places. And how we hopefully can learn from it.
Thanks for your visit.
Nice chain! I wanted to read your last title, and got bogged down to what edition to choose, then I gave up. But one day, I plan to try again
ReplyDeleteThanks, Emma. That's always the trouble with classics, I find, that there are so many different editions. However, if it's a foreign one, you usually don't have a huge choice. I also often buy used copies, then I don't have to think.
DeleteThat book is certainly a challenge since it has been written soooo long ago in a very different culture but it is worth the effort.
Thanks for visiting.
Quite the chain of books you have, I loved seeing how you connected one to the next. This is a fun meme, I will have to keep it in mind for the future.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah. I only found this three months ago through a blog friend and noticed that several others had it as well. It's so much fun. Next month, she starts with a Beverly Cleary book. Might be a great one for you to start.
DeleteI have tried, so far, to use books I like. We'll see how the ones will go.
Thanks for your visit.