Sunday, August 08, 2021

Six Degrees of Separation: From Postcards from the Edge to Queen of the Road

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.




This month the starting point is Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher. I actually had a number of different ideas about how to start this chain, from using the names Carrie or Fisher to something about postcards or stars, but in the end I have gone in another direction. Carrie Fisher's most famous role is undoubtedly that of Princess Leia in Star Wars, and so my chain this month is about princesses and queens. 





Another famous movie princess is Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride by William Goldman. As I was preparing this post I searched for some key words on my blog and found that I participated in a readalong for this book more than 10 years ago which I had completely forgotten about.



Whereas I intended to go to a fantasy book about a queen, now I find myself wondering about other readalongs that I have participated in, but wait, I think I can get this back on track.  Many of the readalongs I have participated in over the years have been for blog events such Once Upon a Time that Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings used to host which was about reading fantasy, myth, folklore and fairy tale.




Now it's a generalisation but if we work on the basis that fantasy is a genre that starts with the words "once upon a time" and the fact my next book, Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner is a fantasy novel which is part of a great series there's my link. There was a really long gap between books 4 and 5 in this series, and I still haven't read the latest books.




Speaking of series where there has been a big gap between books and I still haven't read the final book, my next choice is Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop. This is the third book in the Black Jewels series and looking back at my review, I loved it!




In my mind, if The Princess Bride is fantasy light, then Queen of Attolia is fantasy medium whereas the Black Jewel books are pretty dark fantasy. I therefore need to dial it back a little so my next queen book is more magical realism style of fantasy.  I have enjoyed a lot of Sarah Addison Allen's books, and The Sugar Queen ties in nicely with my next book.



I reviewed The Jam Queens by Australian author Josephine Moon yesterday. You definitely need sugar of some kind to make jam right?




My final choice is by another Australian author, Tricia Stringer, with one her earlier books, Queen of the Road. This book is about a female truck driver who finds love and was one of the earliest rural romance novels I read



This month we started with a princess and then graduated to fantasy queens and ending up with two Australian authors.



Where has your string taken you this month?



Next month we start with Second Place by Rachel Cusk.








31 comments:

  1. A truly royal chain here! Lovely. (And Princess Bride is still a favorite. Now if only I could find out who stole my copy of it... GRRR!)

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    1. Princess Bride has been on several lists this month! It's definitely annoying when you lose favourite books!

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  2. I read the Attolia series this year, back-to-back, and loved it to pieces. My favorite from among them is King of Attolia -- but I agree with you, those queenly ones do win the day! :)
    ~Lex (lexlingua.co)

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    1. Oh,how fun to read it back to back. It is so long since I read the first book in the series I probably should revisit it!

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  3. Love how your chain developed. We share The Princess Bride - wonderful book. Will be checking your list out.

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  4. sounds like a great pile of reading books

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  5. The princess Bride made it onto another six degrees as well. Just can't remember whose now. But it is a great link and I love the Princess and Queen theme that you went with.

    Hope you are well Marg!

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    1. It was on several lists I think, but for all different reasons.

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  6. I forgot to mention yesterday that The Jam Queens sounds like a good book.

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  7. That's absolutely delightful. Thank you for sharing all these wonderful books that you enjoyed.

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  8. I love this post. What a great list of books and you connected them so well.

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  9. Ooh I like the PRincess Bride inclusion. :)

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    1. It was fun to revisit my readalong posts about Princess Bride Greg.

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  10. Fun to see the meanderings of your mind at work!
    I have recently participated in several buddy reads/readalongs.
    Keep an eye on my blog, I'm planning on announcing one tomorrow, on The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie (for November)

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    1. Sometimes I try to hide the meanderings but this week they are on display.

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  11. I love the theme! The Black Jewels Trilogy is one of my favorites.

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    1. It's been a long time since I read one Itskoo!

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  12. So many different queens. What fun!!! And the idea to start with Princess Leia is priceless.

    Thanks for visiting my Six Degrees of Separation earlier which led me via a few other books about language to Santa Lucia by Nobel Prize Winner Selma Lagerlöf.

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    1. I had fun talking through the Princess Leia starting point with my Star Wars mad husband - a big explanation of how it is that she is a princess etc!

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    2. "Star Wars mad husband"? Welcome to the club. We also added two Star Wars mad sons. LOL

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  13. Ah! I'm not into fantasy at all, so it looks as if at least this chain will not contribute to my TBR list! Which sounds rude - I enjoyed reading your cleverly put together list.

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    1. I'm not into fantasy, either, but I loved this list. And even if we don't like the books someone else loves, this example shows how much fun it still can be to read their blog.

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    2. Margaret21, I definitely wouldn't start with The Black Jewels series, but the Sarah Addison Allen is certainly very accessible and fun easy read

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  14. Thanks Marianne! There are so many books to go around right! And no rules in this meme to say that we can't explore other genres!

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    1. Nope, not at all. I just love it. So many different books to carry on after the first one, it's amazing.

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  15. Oh that jam book does look good - I enjoy books that combine stories and cakes, and I love jam (regarding which we seem to be having a bit of a crisis here in the UK - fewer and fewer jars on the shelves, which may be good for the waistline but definitely is not good for the spirits...)

    I read your separate review of The Jam Queens, and have to agree with the people who commented on the cost of scenic train trips. In the past we have thought about going on holiday to Europe by train instead of plane (we live in northern Scotland) but the cost is huge compared to the far less eco (but much quicker) flights. Add to that the fact that there is never anything like enough storage for luggage on trains. Even within the UK, long distance train journeys can be very costly. I hate driving, but the train companies don't exactly encourage you to travel with them.

    I'll look out for the Jam Queens book.

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