Six Degrees of Separation ~ Ghost Cities

Siang Lu
"Ghost Cities" - 2024
 
#6Degrees of Separation:
from Ghost Cities (Goodreads) to Syria's Secret Library 

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

The starter book this month is "Ghost Cities" by Siang Lu. Again, I have not read the starter book. This is the description of the novel:

"Ghost Cities – inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China – follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn' t speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. How is his relocation to one such ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed – then re-created, page by page and book by book, all in the name of love and art? Allegorical and imaginative, Ghost Cities will appeal to readers of Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino."

Other than many of the books from this challenge, I might quite like this one. But there is no way I can get it within a month for a reasonable price.

The name or title doesn't do much for me, either. I only have two books with the word Ghost in the title. Of course, there would have been a few with City in it. But they didn't inspire me to go further, either. And I have only read one other book that was awarded the Miles Franklin Award, Oscar and Lucinda. However, there are a few on my wishlist.

In the end, I went with the title. I have read another book that takes place in China and is all about languages, and that's how I started:

Xu, Ruiyan "The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai" - 2010
After an accident, a man loses part of his brain and can only speak the language he grew up with but does not reign that of his wife and child. A problem that is rare but can happen.

Sanders, Ella Frances "Lost in Translation. An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World" - 2014
A linguaphile is a person who loves language and words. They can be interested in many different things such as learning to speak several different languages or simply nerding out about words in general. The author has put together many interesting words and illustrated them with her beautiful drawings. A great book for any language nerd.

Croker, Charlie "Løst in Tränšlatioπ. Misadventures in English Abroad" - 2006
This is one of those humorous books about language and how it can be understood and expressed quite differently in different countries. This edition collects all those funny little signs and descriptions we find all over the world - not without telling us that we shouldn’t judge-

Fox, Kate "Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour" - 2004
An anthropology about a nation dear to my heart - the English. This book is quite funny at times and I am sure all the English people will love it and just nod their heads all the time - well, most of the others will do the same. 

Piercy, Joseph "The Story of English: How an Obscure Dialect became the World's Most-Spoken Language" - 2012
This book reads like a novel about some people who inhabited a small island, were invaded and then started to invade others, as well. 

Thomson, Mike "Syria's Secret Library: The true story of how a besieged Syrian town found hope" - 2018
In the midst of one of the worst civil wars in history, some young men build a library in order to feed their souls and learn for the future "when all this is over". They are an inspiration to us all.

* * *

So, what does the last book have to do with the starter one? Languages and Books. What better topic for a book blog.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ The Safekeep

Yael Van Der Wouden
"The Safekeep" (De bewaring) - 2024

#6Degrees of Separation: 
from The Safekeep (Goodreads) to Demon Copperhead

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

The starter book this month is "The Safekeep" by Yael Van der Wouden. Again, I have not read the starter book. This is the description of the novel:

"An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

A house is a precious thing...

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be — led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house — a spoon, a knife, a bowl — Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation—leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva — nor the house in which they live — are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel you won’t soon forget."

I'm not a fan of Booker Prize novels, I've read too many that I didn't like, so I am sure I won't read this one. Also, there is no word I can use to carry on my usual way. I like to use a word and then find a new book with the same word. That way, I have a much wider variety of books as if I stick with the theme in the book. Also, the name is not one that I can continue with, neither the first nor the surname.

Looking at the similar books on Goodreads didn't help, either, since I have not read a single one of them. So, I do guess correctly, this isn't a book for me.

I could have taken a book with the word "keep" but didn't read one that I like, so I will not go with it.

Then I thought about reading Dutch books of which I have read several and since a lot of Dutch books relate to WWII (they still live in the 1940s), I could find several that would link to the starter book. Not a huge variety there but if someone wants to read books written by Dutch authors, they can find a few here.

In the end I went for another option. This book has received the Women's Prize for Fiction and there are a few that I have read and really liked, so this is my list. Most of them were the winners, only Elif Şafak was on the short list. But I think her book is fantastic and would have deserved the prize. This time, I listed the books in chronological order when receiving the Prize.

Shriver, Lionel "We Need to Talk About Kevin" - 2003
What is going through the mind of a mass murderer? What is going through the mind of his mother? This book is trying to answer that question.

Smith, Zadie "On Beauty" - 2005
Again, I quite like the author's style, the way she portrays the different characters. Apparently, an homage to E. M. Forster's "Howards End". The fact that she manages to make this into a very modern story shows how timeless a writer she is.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Half of a Yellow Sun" - 2006
I totally can relate to the quote "The world was silent when we died." I don't think many of us knew where Biafra was. Here we can learn about it.

Kingsolver, Barbara "The Lacuna" - 2009
This story stretches from Mexico over the United States to Russia, describes the lives of Mexican painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and Russian leader Trotsky, all woven together by the life of one Mexian-American guy who is thrown into their lot.

Şafak, Elif "The Island of Missing Trees" - 2021
This takes place in Cyprus and we learn about the people on this divided island. As an example we have Greek Kostas and Turkish Defne. They fall in love but - as usual in such cases - their love is forbidden.

Kingsolver, Barbara "Demon Copperhead" - 2022
David Copperfield in a modern version, written by one of the greatest contemporary writers.

* * *

There is a huge connection between all the books, they are all written by women. And for me, both the first and the last book were given to me by friends who though I would love them. And I did.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Theory & Practice

Michelle de Kretser
"Theory & Practice" - 2024
#6Degrees of Separation: 
from Theory & Practice (Goodreads) to A Tale of Love and Darkness 

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

The starter book this month is "Theory & Practice" by Michelle de Kretser. Again, I have not read the starter book. But I know I am not the only one.

This is the description of this novel:

"With echoes of Shirley Hazzard and Virginia Woolf, a new novel of startling intelligence from prize–winning author Michelle de Kretser, following a woman looking back on her young adulthood, and grappling with the collision of her emotions and her values

In the late 1980s, the narrator of Theory & Practice—a first generation immigrant from Sri Lanka who moved to Sydney in her childhood—sets up a life in Melbourne for graduate school. Jilted by a lover who cheats on her with another self-described "feminist," she is thrown into deeper confusion about her identity and the people around her. 

The narrator begins to fall for a man named Kit, who is in a “deconstructed relationship” with a woman named Olivia. She struggles to square her feminism against her jealousy toward Olivia—and her anti-colonialism against her feelings about Virginia Woolf, whose work she is called to despite her racism.

What happens when our desires run contrary to our beliefs? What should we do when the failings of revered figures come to light? Who is shamed when the truth is told? In Theory & Practice, Michelle de Kretser offers a spellbinding meditation on the moral complexities that arise in this gap. Peopled with brilliantly drawn characters, the novel also stitches together fiction and essay, taking up Woolf’s quest for adventurous literary form."

As I mentioned before, I usually like going from one word in a title to another book that has that same word in their title and so on. I prefer this because it leads to all sorts of different genres.  In the past months, I couldn't do that, so I had to go with the subject. I had neither a book that hat the word "theory" nor "practice in its title, so I started with the book by another Michelle, one I admire deeply: Michelle Obama.

Obama, Michelle - "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" - 2022

Such a wonderful woman, such a strong personality. We need more women like her who tell us how they lead their successful lives without pointing a finger, without letting the book be a "self-help book" (I loathe them).

It's a huge privilege to be let into the thoughts of Michelle Obama, she shares so much that can be helpful to all of us. We can always learn from each other but especially from successful people.

Faulkner, William "Light in August" - 1932
What a book. This could be a follow-up to "Gone With the Wind" seventy years later. A book about the Deep South, about country life, families, hard work, racism, crime, religion, morale, everything a story about this region and time should have.

Hamill, Pete "Snow in August" - 1998
Brooklyn, two years after World War II. An 11 year old Irish Catholic boy whose father died in battle and who lives alone with his mother befriends a Czech Rabbi and learns about Judaism and the Holocaust. Together they face racism and violence. 

Ivey, Eowyn "The Snow Child" - 2012
Now, this was a mixture between magic realism and fairy tale, it is based on an old Russian fairy tale but takes place in Alaska in the 1920s.

Huston, Allegra "Love Child" - 2009
When her mother dies in an accident, Allegra is only four years old, she gets introduced to her "father" John and is raised by him and various helpers. 

Oz, Amos "A Tale of Love and Darkness" (Hebr: סיפור על אהבה וחושך) - 2002
This is not just the story of a young man and his family, it's a saga about the whole Jewish people from Europe to Israel. Despite all the troubles they went through, this is a very loving story told with much emotion about some very moving subjects.

* * *

In the end, I found a connection between the first and the last degree, they both have the word AND in its title. But don't you think I touched many different subjects, eras and areas this way?

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ All Fours

Miranda July
"All Fours" - 2024

#6Degrees of Separation: 
from All Fours (Goodreads) to Big Mouth & Ugly Girl 

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

The starter book this month is "All Fours" by Miranda July. I guess it's no news to you that I haven't read this book. That only happens once in a blue moon.

This is the description of this novel:

"An irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious, and surprising novel about a woman upending her life

A semifamous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to New York. Twenty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive."

I usually like going from one word in a title to another book that has that same word in their title and so on. In the past months, I couldn't do that, so I had to go with the subject. I prefer this one because it leads to all sorts of different genres. But they both have its attraction. Let's see what you think.

Doerr, Anthony "All the Light We Cannot See" - 2014 
Anthony Doerr managed to write a different kind of war story, a story about the little people, on either side of the war, those that had not much to say about what was happening to them and who paid the highest price. He tells the story of a German orphan boy and a blind French girl who both suffer from what happened, who were probably not even in school when the election in Germany decided about their fate and who had to pay the highest price.

Leky, Mariana "What You Can See From Here" (GE: Was man von hier aus sehen kann) - 2017
This was such a lovely book, a story of a small village where everyone sticks together, no matter how hard it is sometimes, where everyone looks after everybody else, whether they like them or not. A great description of a functioning small community. The novel has been described as "warm". Yes, it is that but it is so much more. It's a love story as well as a philosophical quest, a coming of age story as well one about old age.

Bryson, Bill "Neither Here Nor There. Travels in Europe" - 1991
If you know Europe, it's an interesting tour to take with an outsider, if you don't know Europe, you can discover it with this book.

Tsumura, Kikuko "There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job" (Konoyoni tayasui shigoto wa na/この世にたやすい仕事はない) - 2015

A young woman goes from one job to the next. Jobs that don't seem to require any special experience or talents. Or is that so? The more we get to know the protagonist, we get to recognize that she has a lot of talents and uses them well to go through her various tasks.

Perry, Matthew "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing" - 2022
Matthew Perry opens up, he tells us everything about his life. This is a great book for those trying to understand this illness.

Oates, Joyce Carol "Big Mouth & Ugly Girl" - 2003
This is about two young people at a school where someone has to stand up for what's happening. the learn that it's your personality that counts and that you should be true to yourself and to others. The two kids in this book learn this the hard way.

A journey back to our teenage years.

* * *

There is a connection between the first and the last degree, they both talk about a boy and a girl and their problems to get on in life.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Rapture

Emily Maguire
"Rapture" - 2024

#6Degrees of Separation: 
from Rapture (Goodreads) to Mercy And Grace 

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

The starter book this month is "Rapture" by Emily Maguire. As so often, I have not read this book.

This is the description of this novel:

"The motherless child of an English priest living in ninth-century Mainz, Agnes is a wild and brilliant girl with a deep, visceral love of God. At eighteen, to avoid a future as a wife or nun, Agnes enlists the help of a lovesick Benedictine monk to disguise herself as a man and secure a place at the revered Fulda monastery."

I have some other books about orphans or children that have been given to the church or stories that are mainly about church members.

Rhoides, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Roidis) "The Curious History of Pope Joan" (GR: Πάπισσα Ιωάννα/Papissa Ioanna) - 1866

There might have been a female pope, I can well believe that but the story itself wasn't too exciting. However, there is some information about life in the 9th century.

Woolfolk Cross, Donna "Pope Joan" - 1996
Same subject, a historical romance type of book with an interesting twist, whether you believe if Pope Joan existed or not.

Sobel, Dava "Galileo's Daughter" - 2000
The life Galileo led is portrayed very well. He was a brilliant mind - and so was his daughter. The book describes the time and the difficulties scientists had to deal with as well as the different circumstances in which people lived at the time.

Hesse, Hermann "Narcissus and Goldmund" (GE: Narziss und Goldmund) - 1930

This is a much acclaimed book and supposedly one of Hesse's best. Narcissus and Goldmund is the story of two diametrically opposite men: one, an ascetic monk firm in his religious commitment, and the other, a romantic youth hungry for worldly experience.

Ilibagiza, Immaculée "Left to Tell" - 2006
An earth-shattering tale as Immaculée Ilibagiza doesn't just tell how she survived (cramped with seven other women into a tiny bathroom for 91 days with hardly any food and having to be absolutely quiet the whole time, how they learned to communicate without speaking), she also tells about losing all her family and friends.

Booth, Cathleen "Mercy & Grace on the Camino de Santiago" - 2020
A great book about eleven people who walked the Camino de Santiago. A brilliant account beginning with the idea until the arrival in Santiago.

* * *

The connection between the first and the last degree is not as obvious this month. But they all have to do with overcoming obstacles through faith.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Knife

Salman Rushdie
"Knife" - 2023

#6Degrees of Separation: 
from Knife to Murder in Amsterdam

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

The starter book this month is "Knife" by Salman Rushdie. This is one of the books I would love to read but haven't gotten so far, because it's not available in paperback, yet. But I know about the book and it is therefore a little easier to find a  link to further novels.

And this is the description of this novel:

"From internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring—and surviving—an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him

On the morning of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black—black clothes, black mask—rushed down the aisle toward him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey toward physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie at the peak of his powers, writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again."

I will concentrate on books with murder in the title and in the book, some of them are non-fiction, others fiction. And not all of them end with a dead person.

I start with one of the best crime stories ever written.

Christie, Agatha "Murder on the Orient Express" (Hercule Poirot #10) - 1934
We all know the brilliant author and if we haven't read the book, we will have seen one of the numerous films they made about it. It's all about revenge, and I think in this case, we can all understand the killers.

Johnson, Maureen; Cooper, Jay "Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village" - 2021
If, like me, you like to watch the British crime series "Midsomer Murders", the title jumps right into your eyes.

Osman, Richard "The Thursday Murder Club" - 2020

Even though I'm not much into murder mystery, I just love Richard Osman's wit. 

No matter what kind of book you like to read to entertain yourself (for me, they have to be funny), this is the one. Enjoy.

Poe, Edgar Allan "The Murders in the Rue Morgue and other stories" - 1841
Dark, gruesome, abysmal, that's what I read somewhere about the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. This was not my kind of book but it fitted into the scheme.

Scott, Mary; West, Joyce "The Mangrove Murder" (Inspector Wright #3) - 1964
The people in this story are just as charming as everyone in Mary Scott's other books, well, except for the killer, of course. But other than that, we read about people who live in New Zealand at a time when life was still very different from today.

Buruma, Ian "Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance" (NL: Dood van en gezonde roker) - 2006

Murder in Amsterdam. Not any murder. The murder of a director, a public figure. Why? He made a movie not everyone agreed with. He made a movie about the Muslim faith.

* * *

There is quite a good connection between the first and the last degree. In both cases, a maniac tries to assassinate another human being because of their religion and political engagement. In the last book, he is even successful.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Prophet Song

Paul Lynch
"Prophet Song" - 2023

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Prophet Song (Goodreads) to The Discovery of Slowness

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

The starter book this month is "Prophet Song" by Paul Lynch, an Irish author who received the Booker Prize for this novel. The last ones I read were not to my taste, so I didn't even try to get it.

But since this book is not written by a British or an American author, I have tried to find some other foreign authors who were awarded prizes either in their country or internationally. I succeeded for all but one.

If you are interested, here is a description of this novel:

"A fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internationally award-winning author

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.

Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and Eilish can only watch helplessly as the world she knew disappears. When first her husband and then her eldest son vanish, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a collapsing society.

How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?

Exhilarating, terrifying and propulsive, Prophet Song is a work of breathtaking originality, offering a devastating vision of a country at war and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together."

I start with the word Song.

Liao, Yiwu "Testimonials or: For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet's Journey Through a Chinese Prison" (CHN: Zheng-Ci) - 2000

Yiwu Liao received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2012.

García Márquez, Gabriel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (E: Cien años de soledad) - 1967

Gabriel García Márquez received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982 "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts".

Giordano, Paolo "The Solitude of Prime Numbers" (I: La solitudine dei numeri primi) - 2008

Paolo Giordano won the Premio Strega literary award with this, his first novel.

Simmonds, Jeremy "Number One in Heaven – The Heroes Who Died For Rock 'n' Roll" - 2006
A fantastic book about all the rock stars we loved and who left us far too early.

Mulisch, Harry "The Discovery of Heaven" (NL: De ontdekking van de hemel) - 1992
Harry Mulish received several international awards, and the NRC Handelsblad readers voted this novel the greatest Dutch book ever written.

Nadolny, Sten "The Discovery of Slowness" (GE: Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit) - 1983

Sten Nadolny received many German and Italian literature prizes, i.a. the prestigious  Ingeborg Bachmann Prize.

We always try to find a connection between the first and the last degree. I think a prophet could be very helpful in the search for slowness.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Dangerous Liaisons

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
"Dangerous Liaisons" - 1782

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Dangerous Liaisons (Goodreads) to Corinne: Or Italy

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

The starter book this month is Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. I had never heard of him, even though I love classics. So, I have not read the book.

Here is a description:

"Published just years before the French Revolution, Laclos's great novel of moral and emotional depravity is a disturbing and ultimately damning portrayal of a decadent society. Aristocrats and ex-lovers Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont embark on a sophisticated game of seduction and manipulation to bring amusement to their jaded lives. While Merteuil challenges Valmont to seduce an innocent convent girl, he is also occupied with the conquest of a virtuous married woman. Eventually their human pawns respond, and the consequences prove to be more serious—and deadly—than the players could have ever predicted."

But, as I have read many classics, I thought I'll start with the one from one of the following years and carry on like that.

Schiller, Friedrich "Intrigue and Love" (GE: Kabale und Liebe) - 1784

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (Goethe German) "Iphigenia in Tauris" (GE: Iphigenie auf Tauris) - 1787

Austen, Jane "Lady Susan" - 1795

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (Goethe German) "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" (GE: Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) - 1795/96

Austen, Jane "The Watsons" - 1803/05

Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine de "Corinne: Or Italy" (F: Corinne ou l'Italie) - 1807

We always try to find a connection between the first and the last degree. This time, the books are both in French.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Orbital

Samantha Harvey
Harvey, Samantha "Orbital" - 2024

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Orbital (Goodreads) to A Clockwork Orange 

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

The starter book this month is Orbital by Samantha Harvey. As so often, I have not read the book. 

Here is the description:

"A book of wonder, Orbital is nature writing from space and an unexpected and profound love letter to life on Earth

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.

Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?"

Sounds interesting but I have been really disappointed by the last Booker Prize winners I read, so it might take a while, if ever, until I pick this up. But I have read other books about space travel and I will start with my favourite one of them and then go back to using words in the titles.

Weir, Andy "The Martian" - 2011

Bradbury, Ray "The Martian Chronicles" - 1950 

Kadaré, Ismail "The Fall of the Stone City" (aka Chronicle in Stone) (AL: Darka e Gabuar) - 1971

Löwenstein, Anna "The Stone City" (Esperanto: La Ŝtona Urbo) - 1999

LeBor, Adam "City of Oranges. An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa" - 2006

Burgess, Anthony "A Clockwork Orange" - 1962  

What do the first and the last book have in common? Well, they both are a work of science fiction.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Sandwich

Catherine Newman
Newman, Catherine "Sandwich" - 2024

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Sandwich (Goodreads) to The Big Green Tent 

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

The starter book this month is Sandwich by Catherine Newman. 

Here is the description:

"For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves."

This is not really my kind of literature, so I couldn't find much to link to this book. And there were no words in the title that I could use, so I went to another author with the first name Catherine.

Martin, Catherine "The Incredible Journey" - 1923

Mistry, Rohinton "Such a Long Journey" - 1991

Tsumura, Kikuko "There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job" (Konoyoni tayasui shigoto wa na/この世にたやすい仕事はない) - 2015

Perry, Matthew "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing" - 2022

McCall Smith, Alexander "The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party" (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #12) - 2011

Ulitzkaya, Lyudmila "Imago" or "The Big Green Tent" (RUS: Зеленый шатер = Zelenyi shater) - 2010

I could have even swapped the two last books since the both have Big and Tent in their titles.

What do the first and the last book have in common? Well, they both take place in extremely difficult times for the protagonists.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Intermezzo

Sally Rooney
Rooney, Sally "Intermezzo" - 2024

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Intermezzo (Goodreads) to East of Eden 

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

The starter book this month is Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. 

I still have Normal People (Goodreads) on my TBR pile. So, as usual, I didn't read the starter book. Therefore, here is the description.

"From the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller Normal People, an exquisitely moving story about grief, love and family.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women - his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude - a period of desire, despair and possibility - a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking."

I often use words in the title for my links. However, I don't have a book with the word "intermezzo" in the title. But, this is a book about two brothers. And I have read quite a few of them, so, this is what I chose. Books with siblings.

Guterson, David "The Other" - 2008
The story of the prince and the pauper, two boys with completely different backgrounds, John and Neil.

Konar, Affinity "Mischling" - 2016
The twins Pearl and Stasha, two Jewish girls, end up in Auschwitz and are brought into the "Zoo", the experiment chambers of Josef Mengele, also known as "The Angel of Death".

Lamb, Wally "I know this much is true" - 1998
This is a very moving book, wonderful and awful at the same time, about the twins Dominick and Thomas. It's incredible how much a person can bear if they have to.  

Setterfield, Diane "The Thirteenth Tale" - 2006
A gothic novel about an author and her biographer. They find they have something in common, they are both twins. Through Emmeline and Adeline, they find a lot of connections.

Smith, Zadie "White Teeth" - 1999
A great book with interesting plots, good descriptions, good language. It tells the story of different groups of immigrants to London in the seventies. Especially the next generation, for example the twins Millat and Magid show what they have to deal with.

Steinbeck, John "East of Eden" - 1952
This is the story of Cain and Abel retold, only here they are called Caleb and Aaron (the father is still Adam, though), and they live in his native California.

All the books have in common that they talk about siblings, mainly brothers.

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Six Degrees of Separation ~ Long Island

Colm Tóibín

Tóibín, Colm "Long Island" - 2021

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Long Island (Goodreads) to Croatian War Nocturnal 

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

The starter book this month is Long Island by Colm Tóibín.

As so often, I have not read this one and I doubt I am going to because I really didn't like the author's first book, "Brooklyn". So here is the description:

"From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving and intense novel of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love, the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work, twenty years later.

Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family that lives and works, eats and plays together. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.

One day, when Tony is at his job and Eilis is in her home office doing her accounting, an Irishman comes to the door asking for her by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting.

Long Island is about longings unfulfilled, even unrecognized. The silences in Eilis’ life are thunderous and dangerous, and there’s no one more deft than Tóibín at giving them language. This is a gorgeous story of a woman alone in a marriage and the deepest bonds she rekindles on her return to the place and people she left behind, to ways of living and loving she thought she’d lost."

The best way to deal with books that I haven't read is usually to go by words in the title. So it was this month. The starter word is Long.

Ingalls Wilder, Laura "The Long Winter" in Little House Books" - 1932-71

Stachniak, Eva "The Winter Palace. A Novel of Catherine the Great" - 2011

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Midnight Palace" (El Palacio de la Medianoche) - 1994

Rushdie, Salman "Midnight's Children" - 1981

Stroyar, J.N. "The Children's War" - 2001

Štimec, Spomenka "Croatian War Nocturnal" (Esperanto: Kroata Milita Noktlibro) - 1993

Both the first and last book are written by a young girl/woman and based on their life in harsh circumstances, none of which we would ever wish on a child nowadays but, unfortunately, there are still too many who have to live like that.

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