Six Degrees of Separation: Sandwich to Agnes and the Hitman

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 Sandwich by Catherine Newman.

I thought I would do things a little bit differently this month. Whereas normally this is an exercise in word and thought association. This time, I am going to make....a sandwich

When you are making a sandwich you need to start with bread. In this case, I am choosing a collection of short stories called Bread and Chocolate by Philippa Gregory. I had completely forgotten about this book until I recently revisited the first few book reviews I ever wrote and this was one of them.

Next, I am going to add Butter by Asako Yuzuki

I then need to decide what protein. Will it be ham, or turkey or something else. Maybe chicken, using the book Mr Chicken Goes to Paris by Leigh Hobbs. I read this book many years ago to my nephews  when we were visiting the State Library and I have never forgotten it.

Next up tomatoes. I am choosing Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, although I probably wouldn't normally fry them!

The next filling was a little trickier. In the end I have chosen a book about Lettice Knollys, cousin and rival to Queen Elizabeth I. I first read about her in high school in a book called My Enemy, the Queen by Victoria Holt, which is a pseudonym of the prolific author Jean Plaidy.

The final link was even trickier. If I was making a chicken, lettuce and tomato sandwich I would want to add mayonaisse, but there aren't many books where this fits. I am therefore choose a book that was co-written by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (Mayer/mayo is close right?) called Agnes and the Hitman.

So there you have it, my chicken, lettuce and tomato sandwich!

Next month, which will also be next year (!!!) the starting point is Orbital by Samantha Harvey, which is a new book to me.

Top Ten Tuesday: Childhood favourites

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is Books for My Younger Self (These could be books you wish you had read as a child, books younger you could have really learned something from, books that meshed with your hobbies/interests, books that could have helped you go through events/changes in your life, etc.). I am not sure I can find books that fit, so I am instead going to talk about childhood favourites instead.

From a very early age, books were my escape, my sanctuary from everything in life! I would read at any opportunity and my family often used to say that I would read the back of a cereal box if there was nothing else available.

Here are some that I remember, as well as a couple that I have appreciated as an adult.

Beatrix Potter - While I don't remember reading Beatrix Potter, I did have a set of Bunnykins plates, similar to the one picture, when I was a baby. I did enjoy finding a bit more about Beatrix Potter when I listened to Lucinda Riley's The Shadow Sister not too long ago.

For books I did read, I thought I would start with some Australian childhood classics, some of which may not stand up quite so well in terms of political correctness, but I have a lot of fond memories of.

The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay - This book features a cantankerous pudding named Albert which changes flavours to whatever one you might fancy (savoury or sweet) and magically refills itself! It also features anthropomorphic animals and lots of adventure. The pudding is always getting his friends in trouble!

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs - Another Australian childhood classic, this time featuring gum nut babies which and the bad guys are banksia men. With lots of native plants used as inspiration for the characters this is another Australian childhood classic, at least for my generation and those that proceeded us. I am not sure whether they are read now or not.

Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall - Blinky Bill is a koala  and his friends are a platypus, kangaroos and marsupial mouse, as well as a wise old wombat. With a strong conservation theme, this is another classic which has spawned cartoons, merchandise and more over the years.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham- One of the earliest specific books that I have memories of reading is Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I have no idea what edition it was that I read, but I have clear memories of borrowing this book from my school library when I was about 6 or 7, and being so proud of myself because the book was so huge and I read it in no time at all. The print must have actually been huge, or there must have been a lot of illustrations or something because it really isn't that big a book but I didn't realise it at the time. In later life this was also one of my grandmother;s favourite stories so there is that connection as well.

Trixie Belden series - Fast forward a few more years, and my books of choice were the Trixie Belden mysteries. For anything else I may have found to complain about my mother, she did buy me the whole series that was out at the time. I loved reading about Trixie and her brothers Martin and Brian, along with their friends who made up the rest of the Bob-Whites, especially Jim who was my first red headed literary crush, but not my last.

Summer of my German Soldier by Betty Greene  - I remember reading this at school, maybe in early high school. A few years  ago now, I reread it for nostalgia's sake. You can read my thoughts here. 

Jean Plaidy - It was in my early teens that I discovered Jean Plaidy, and I think that my love of historical fiction was cemented. I read through basically every novel that my school library had by Plaidy, and I particularly loved reading the books that she wrote about the queens of England. I couldn't tell you about individual books that I read, but my goodness, I devoured them as quickly as I could get my hands on them.

The Hobbit - I first read The Hobbit in either year 8 or year 9 - the first couple of years of high school anyway. I remember liking it a lot at the time, but my overwhelming memory is the title page that I did for the book report. 

Edward the Emu and Edwina the Emu by Sheena Knowles - This wasn't one of my childhood favourites, rather it was one of my son's favourites when he was a child. They are therefore books that I have read over and over.

Mr Chicken In Paris by Leigh  Hobbs -  A couple of years ago now I went to our State Library for an exhibition on kids books with my nephews. This was one of the books that was part of the exhibition and we had so much fun reading the story.

What a trip down memory lane!