Sunday, March 05, 2023

Six Degrees of Separation: Passages to Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

 

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's starting point is book called Passages by Gail Sheehy. Apparently this was a very popular self help book in the 1970s.





My first link is using the word passages. Great Passages by Shion Miura is about the creation of a dictionary, and is set in Japan.






I thought about choosing a book with great in the title, but instead chose Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi  which is also set in Japan, this time in a cafe in Tokyo.






I did think about trying to do a whole chain set in Japan, but decided against it. Instead I am choosing another book set in a cafe - Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber






I have no shortage of books that feature cafes or restaurants, but instead I am chose to link using the word birds. The book I chose is Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany.





One thing that Aussies pride themselves on, rightly or wrongly,  is the idea of mateship. Much of the ideal of this comes from the Australian campaign at Gallipolli in WWI. Thomas Keneally's book, The Daughters of Mars tells the story of a nurse during that campaign.




I don't often try to go full circle with Six Degrees, but this time I think I have managed it. We started with a self help books from the 70s. Let's finish with another one, this time from the 90's. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray was everywhere back in the day.


I found the starting point this month quite easy and had done a couple of other full chains before deciding on this one.

Next month's starting point is an autobiography, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. 

Where did your chain take you this month?



24 comments:

  1. I enjoy books set in cafes too.

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    1. Cake and community, what's not to love!

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  2. I've read in your chain this month:) Mateship with Birds, and the Keneally. He's amazing the way he manages to put out a book nearly every year and every time they are a different slice of Australian life.

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    1. Yes! I do need to have a look and see what his latest book is about!

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  3. Interesting that you made a complete loop with your chain. I'm not sure where I would go with something like that. My brain is a blank when I try to make connections most of the time.

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    1. It's unusual for me to complete a circle Mark!

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  4. I'm really not a self-help book kind of person and avoided both our opening book and your last one. But yeah, they were pretty popular in their day! Congrats on going full circle!

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  5. There's something satisfying about going full circle with this fun game and returning to where you started with a self-help book. And, in the process, you've shared a number of very intriguing books.

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  6. Very cleverly done! This is the second time I see Before The Coffee gets cold today. I still want to read that one!

    Have a lovely March!

    Elza Reads

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  7. Before the Coffee Gets Cold sounds interesting (well, so do the others in your chain), and I love how you linked them.. .
    Here is my 6 Degrees of Separation post

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  8. The only book on the list that I've read is your last book. My husband still refers to me as speaking in Venusian. But then what does he know? He speaks Martian. Ha!

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  9. I think the key is not to overthink it Vicki. Just go with your first thought!

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  10. I don't often try to go full circle but I appreciate it when it does happen!

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  11. How lovely to see The Great Passage as your starter book. That's one I enjoyed very much. Before the Coffee Gets Cold though is still waiting on my TBR. And I find myself with quite a few cafe books on my TBR as well!

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    1. There is something very comforting about cafe books for sure Mallika!

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  12. Sometimes you just need a moment of inspiration right?

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  13. I found the Mars and Venus book to have a lot of truth to it, but self-help books are like fortune cookies -- general advice, but you can read into them and apply it to yourself and your situation. I love this meme that you participate in, and one of these days I'm going to try it, too! I finally did a Sunday Salon post, so maybe I'm on a roll.

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