Saturday 2 April 2022

Six Degrees of Separation ~ From Our Wives Under the Sea to The Sunrise

 Our Wives Under the Sea
Armfield, Julia "Our Wives Under the Sea" - 2022

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Our Wives Under the Sea to The Sunrise

#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 Our Wives Under the Sea (Goodreads) by Julia Armfield.

Kate chose this book because it is a favourite of hers to make the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist. As so often, I haven't read this book but there is plenty of information to see what it is about and find a link to the next book in the chain.

However, this time I have gone with a word in the title again. It just offered itself with the word Sea in the title, something most of us dream about in this day and age. And the books that I chose are all wonderful.

Allende, Isabel "Island Beneath the Sea" (E: La isla bajo el mar) - 2010

A great description of life on a plantation, the life of the slaves and the free, lots of history, an incredibly rich account of the lives people had to lead.

O'Dell, Scott "Island of the Blue Dolphins" - 1969

The Native American girl Karana ends up on a deserted island where she spends eighteen years alone. The story tells about her life, her struggles to survive.

Abulhawa, Susan "The Blue Between Sky and Water" - 2015

An account about ordinary Palestinians whose lives changed when the Israeli state was formed. All of a sudden, they had no country any more, no rights, nothing.

Kristof, Nicholas D. & Wudunn, Sheryl "Half the Sky" - 2009

The authors don't just tell us about the problems that exist in various parts of Africa and Asia, they also come up with a lot of ideas on how to help these women, ideas that already work, ideas that help.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Half of a Yellow Sun" - 2006

"The world was silent when we died." Yes, we were silent, we are still silent. Many of us don't know what happened and here I learned a little bit more about a part of this continent that still has to overcome so many problems thrown at them by us Europeans.

Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise" - 2014 

A story about the common people, rich or poor, winner or loser, the ordinary people who always suffer most in a war. A story that goes deep and shows how stupid any war is.


All but one of the books written (or co-written in one case) by women or about strong women. Most of them about wars or other situations in the world that deserve our consideration and help. Maybe now that war has come a little closer to our part of the world, more people will be interested in what actually happens. Hopefully.

Look for further monthly separation posts here.

10 comments:

  1. My chain was mostly connected key words too. I like the cover you chose for Wives Under the Sea better than the one Kate and I used. I haven't read any of your books but I probably should as Nick Kristof is a college classmate and acquaintance. I do usually stick with fiction, however.

    I like the way you were able to design all seven covers together. I thought that was a Wordpress feature but you use blogger like me so I am envious of your skill!

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    1. Thanks, Constance. I don't always do key words, just when they offer themselves. LOL

      I usually post the British edition since that is what I would mostly read but when I haven't read the book, like this time, I check what covers there are and pick the one I like best.

      You are right, I sometimes envy the Wordpress bloggers for their possibilities but I'm not going to change, too much of a hassle.

      I made my "collage" with XnView. You can create horizontal and vertical strips of images. So, I first do a horitzontal strip from the the three books in the top line, then one of the second line, then a vertical strip of the two and another horizontal "strip" of the main book and the vertical one. Does that make sense? I don't know how you save your pictures but maybe they also have a feature like that? (I also use this for all my other collages like Top Ten Tuesday, Spell the Month in Books etc.)

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  2. woohoo, fun to see you followed my usual technique! Too bad I didn't have time to participate this time. It would have been fun to see where I would have landed.
    I have only read Half of a Yellow Sun.

    I checked, my first title would have been The Merry Wives of Windsor

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    1. Thanks, Emma. I've done this before, whenever it's "on offer", i.e. when I find a word. I do like both methods, so I try to alternate. I think you would enjoy all of the books in this list.

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  3. Completely off topic but I've just posted my Best Novels of 21st Century:

    https://cyberkittenspot.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-best-21-st-century-novels-ive-read.html

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  4. Gosh, it been a long time since I read Island of the Blue Dolphins. But a book like that, we never forget.
    Thanks for visiting my blog:)

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    1. That's exactly it, Lisa. Good books stay with you for the rest of your life. And - my pleasure.

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  5. Very nice... funny, this is now the second time in a few days where The Island of Blue Dolphins has come up. Another blogger reviewed it the other day! Didn't they make a movie out of it? I forget. Lovely chain here.

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    1. Davida, I just had to think and realized I used it in my "Spell the Month in Books", as well. That must have happened because I usually prepare the posts for next month in advance and I'd forgotten I had used it already. Usually, I try not to use the same title too often but it did fit pretty well in both challenges. And I think I've seen someone reviewing it just now and I thought, great, it is such a wonderful story.

      I hadn't heard that they made a movie out of it but just checked. Yes, already in 1964, so before I read the book, I guess. I never heard of it.

      Anyway, thanks for your visit.

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