Sunday, April 04, 2021

Six Degrees of Separation: Shuggie Bain to A Rose for the Crown

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.



I decided to make this exercise a bit harder for myself this month because I knew the starting point, and I knew where I wanted to end up. Normally, you just see where you end up, but by having the end in mind meant that it took me a few attempts to get from point A to point B, but I got there in the end!



The starting point this month is Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart which is a book I don't see myself reading any time soon. What I did know about that book is that it is set in Scotland.




The Shakespeare play Macbeth is often known as the Scottish play, so my next link is Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King which I read an enjoyed many years ago because you can't get more Scottish than that really.




A more recent read about a Scottish woman is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman




Moving away fromm Scotland, this time I am linking with the name Eleanor. Eleanor of Aquitaine  was queen of both England and France, the only woman in history to hold both of these titles. There are a number of books about her I could have chosen but I have chosen to use The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick as my title. This is the final book in a trilogy about Eleanor.




Eleanor is part of the Plantagenet dynasty from whom the houses of Lancaster and York derived. In turn these were the two sides of the War of the Roses, which was part of the inspiration for A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin.




From fantasy inspired by the War of the Roses, I am turning back to history with The Rose of  York: Love and War by Sandra Worth. This is a story about Richard, Duke of Gloucester and his wife, Lady Anne Neville.




Another book about Richard, who eventually became Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet kings is A Rose for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith, which is where I wanted to end up because, well, it is Easter Sunday!



Next month's starting point is Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary.



16 comments:

  1. If you're interested in Eleanor of Aquitaine, you should read the play "A Lion in Winter" which is about here. It was made into a movie with the most amazing, late, great Katharine Hepburn playing her part, opposite Peter O'Toole! OMG!

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    1. Have seen A Lion in Winter a number of times now. It's a great movie Davida!

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  2. I love how you moved from book to book in this meme. The only book on your list that I've actually read is Eleanor Oliphant, but it went onto my list of favorites. I think of all the books you mentioned, I'd most like to read the one about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Based on what I've read about her, she was a strong character.

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    1. Elizabeth Chadwick is such a great writer so it would be a good read! Start with The Summer Queen!

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  3. Very clever. I have a hard time creating these lists if I haven't read the first book. So I admire that you were so successful. My Easter Sunday Salon post

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    1. I suspect the links would be different if I had of read it Anne!

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  4. I love this 6 degrees post. The books look good too :) Have a great week!

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  5. I did not know that Game of Thrones was inspired by the Wars of the Roses!!

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    1. It does make sense when you think about it Lisa!

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  6. Great chain! I've read about half of these, although somehow missed that Elizabeth Chadwick and must quickly add it to my collection!

    I didn't expect to like Eleanor Oliphant which my book group read but I thought it was very well done.

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    1. I enjoyed that one more than I expected to too CLM.

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  7. Starting in Scotland is also a great idea. I started with "Booker". But I loved your chain.

    My Six Degrees of Separation led me to Dreams of a Red Chamber by Xuequin Cao.

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    1. I thought about doing a whole Booker theme! Another time.

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    2. Prizes are always a good theme. Looking forward to it.

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