Six Degrees of Separation: Life of M to Champagne Widows

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month, the starting point if Life of M by Rachel Cusk. At first, I wasn't sure I had any ideas ono where to start with my first link. In the end though, I did three different chains with different ideas for each starting point, but eventually had to pick one and go with it.

My first link uses the initial M being part of the title as the connection. The Unselected Diaries of Emma M Lion Vol. 1 by Beth Brower is a book that I am desperate to read. I have downloaded the audio but just need to finish my current audio book before I can start it. I also have it requested it from the library but I am in the queue. I may still end up just buying the ebook so I can read it but I do have two books on the go already.

My next link is to Emma by Kaoru Mori which is the first book in a graphic novel series set in Victorian England. Whilst I have been read quite a few Japanese books over the last few years I had forgotten that I was reading this series more than 15 years ago!

Another first book in a graphic novel series that I was reading around 14 years ago is Fables: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham. This series feature many familiar fairy tale characters like Cinderella, Prince Charming who come to live in our modern world.

Good Spirits by B K Borison features a Ghost of Christmas Past who also finds himself living in our modern world where he is meant to be haunting a woman

I am going to take the word spirit and use it in a different context. A good spirit is whisky, so my next choice is The Whisky Widow by Karen Brooks, which tells the story of a woman trying to make her way in 18th century Scotland.

I was going to use the word widow as my next length and then I was pleased to see that Champagne Widows: First Woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot by Rebecca Rosenberg shares both the word and a form of alcohol in the title!

Next month, the starting point is to start with a novella that's on your reading list, in recognition of Novellas in November. Hmmm. Might have to start with a very short book LOL

Six Degrees of Separation: Wild Dark Shore to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings. 

This month the starting prompt start was to start with your book group’s current selection (or if you’re not in a book group, start with the book that you’re currently reading). my read on a theme book club theme this month was "environment" and I chose to read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey, so that is where I am starting this time!

My first link uses the word shore as the connection. Dawn on the Distant Shore by Sara Donati is the second book in the Into the Wilderness series.

Another shore, again distant, so my next selection is A Distant Shore by Peter Yeldham. 

My next connection only uses the word distant, and is The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

If I think about a different word for distant, I have the word far, so I have chosen The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. To be fair, it was only as I found the cover that I realised that the title is Faraway and not Far Away.

The opposite of far is close, and so I have chosen The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes. (review)

My final selection uses the word close as the link. My selection is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (review)

Next month, the starting point is Rachel Cusk’s latest novel, Life of M. Normally I find myself having an idea as soon as the prompt is revealed and I write the post straight away, but I must admit this time I am drawing a blank. Good job I have a month to think about it!

Will you be joining us next month?

Six Degrees: Land to Still Life

 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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month, the starting point is Land by Maggie O'Farrell, which is a book that I do intend to read but haven't yet. It's funny, I had already done my chain when I actually read the synopsis and I am pretty sure I could have come up with a completely different chain! Anyway, it's done now, and I am happy with it, so here we go!

Maggie O'Farrell is an author who I should have read more from, but I haven't. The only one of her books I have read is Hamnet, which I really loved. 

Hamnet tells the story of Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, particularly following the impact on their lives of the loss of their son. Last year, I listened to Dame Judi Dench's book Shakespeare: the Man Who Pays the Rent which was co-written by Brendan O'Hara. This was an excellent book and audio.

My latest audio book is Unruly Kings:The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell who not only wrote the book but is also narrating it as well. I am familiar with David Mitchell from the British panel show Would I Lie to You

One of our favourite regular panelists on Would I lie to You is comedian Bob Mortimer. Last year we started listening to his novel The Satsuma Complex, which he also narrates, while we were on a weekend away but we never finished it. 

An audiobook that I started listening to recently but decided to stop was The Names by Florence Knapp. It wasn't that the book wasn't good or that the narration wasn't good. Irish actor Dervla Kerwin was doing a great job. It's just that I felt like it is a book that I need to read so I can get through it quickly rather than listening to it over a number of weeks or month.

If I think of books that I have read set in Florence, one that immediately comes to mind is Still Life by Sarah Wingate. This book is almost a love letter to the city and it is a read that has stayed with me, despite it not being an absolute favourite!

Next month, the prompt is start with your book group’s current selection (if you’re not in a book group, start with the book that you’re currently reading).

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: Yesteryear to The Gilded Lily

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke.

For my first selection I am choosing another title which has two words joined together to create a word that  doesn't really exist. I absolutely loved The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson when I read it a couple of years ago. The title for this book has been changed post publication to The Lives and Loves of Becca Valentine, so originally my plan was to talk about books whose titles have been changed. However, I ended up taking different direction.

A couple of weeks ago I finished reading First-Time Caller by B K Borison. This is a book which is set on a radio show where the main announcer is called Aiden Valentine. 

Another romance featuring people working on a radio show is Lonely Hearts Radio by Adeline Knight. This was an Audible original and featured an Australian radio announcer living in New York in 1999.

Moving away from romance novels, but still using the radio link my next choice is The Radio Hour by Australian Author Victoria Purman. This time the setting is 1950s Sydney

My next link is through the word hour. I am choosing The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati which is also set in New York, but this time in the late 19th century.

The word gilded is not one that comes up every day these days, but it is in a few titles, including The Gilded Lily by Deborah Swift. If I needed to keep on going from her there are any number of flower books out there, which oddly is a theme that I quite often end up with on these posts. Good job I am stopping here today!

Next month, the starting point is Land by Maggie O'Farrell

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: The Post-office Girl to Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

 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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

The first book I thought of when I saw the title was The Postmistress by Alison Stuart, set in the goldfields of Victoria in the late 19th century. (my review)

Alison Stuart has written a mystery set in colonial Singapore under the name of A M Stuart. Singapore Sapphire is the first book in the Harriet Gordon series which is set in the early 20th century. 

A recent release that I really want to read is The Singapore Secret by Clare Willis which is set in WWII Singapore

I had some Singapore books in a recent Six Degrees post, so I wanted to make sure I didn't choose those same books again. Therefore, instead of choosing another book about Singapore, I am going a different route (pun intended). The last time I travelled via Singapore I was reading The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa, which was the first time I had participated in the Classics Spin. (my review)

I am participating in the Classics Spin again this time and the book I will be reading is Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliot which is set in 1920s Australia and won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 1963.

A recent Miles Franklin Literary Award winner that I have read is Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran, which won the award back in 2023. 

Next month's starting point is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: Wild Dark Shore to The Enlightenment of bees

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey, which is a book I intend to read at some point...maybe!

For my first link I am choosing Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. I read this book many, many years ago, back in the 1990s at some point.

Another book I remember loving back then was The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Our current read on a theme book club theme is Mothers and Daughters, and would both of those books would have been good for that theme. I am, however, reading another book by Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter. This was one of the books that I read on the plane on the way home yesterday.

From here, there are a gazillion books that are have the title of The something's daughter and I was tempted to go down that route. Instead though I am choosing The Astral Library by Kate Quinn because it was a book that I read while we were in Turkiye.

A Turkish author I love is Elif Shafak. In anticipation of our trip, I had borrowed her book The Forty Rules of Love from the library but had to return it unread as I ran out of time. I will be reborrowing it soon though. 

Another book that I was really looking for to reading but had to return unread was The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden. I will be reborrowing this one too!

Next month's starting point is a book by Austrian author Stefan Zweig – The Post-Office Girl. 

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: The Correspondent to Letters from Skye

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, which by coincidence I had already requested from the library and so I was able to read before doing this post. In some ways that should make it easier, but the reality is, with the type of book it is, I found multiple possible starting points. 

In the book, our main character Sybil writes letters to anyone and everyone. She writes to her family, to people she has known over the years, to college deans and to authors who sometimes write back. At one point I had a different option but as soon as I saw that Sybil had written to Diana Gabaldon, author of Outlander (or Cross Stitch as it was known here) I knew I had my starting point!

The Outlander books hold a very special place in my reading heart. They were almost like gateway books back to reading and also led me down the path to discovering many other great authors including one of my absolute favourite authors. I never miss an opportunity to include Susanna Kearsley in a Six Degrees post. The question is which book? I am going with The King's Messenger which I reviewed here.

Through Diana Gabaldon and then Susanna Kearsley I learned about the Jacobites. Another book I read which included a Jacobite story was The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick! (my review)

When I visited the Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow a couple of years ago I was very interested in the Jacobite artifacts but there was one display that really stopped me in tracks and that was about the removal of all the inhabitants of the island of St Kilda back in the 1930s. I had read about it in Karen Swan's trilogy which started with The Last Summer.

If I think about islands of Scotland then I can't go past the Isle of Skye which leads to the only non historical fiction books on my list this week. Sue Moorcroft has a trilogy set on the Isle of Skye which starts with the book A Skye Full of Stars (my review)

Also featuring the Isle of Skye is Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole which I reviewed here. This also happens to be an epistolary novel so that brings me full circle this month!

Next month's starting point is a book I would like to read, Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: Wuthering Heights to The Secrets of the Huon Wren

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. 

When Kate announced this as the starting point, she mentioned that it was in celebration of the current movie adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Another recent movie adaptation that I have seen is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, which tells a story about William Shakespeare and his family

I did have several different ideas about other movie adaptations, but instead I am choosing a non fiction read called Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea. In this book, Dame Judi talks about her life working in the theatre in many different roles. It's a fascinating book.

I don't read a lot of non fiction, but I did recently attend a book talk about a book called Survival in Singapore: The triumph and tragedy of Australia's greatest commando operation by Tom Trumble. It tells the story  of a daring raid on Singapore Harbour following the Japanese invasion in 1941 and the aftermath for the citizens of Singapore

I am casting my mind back many, many years now, to a book that has stuck with me. Tanamera by Noel Barber is a book that I remember with great fondness.  Tanamera tells the story of a white family and a Eurasian woman both during the Japanese occupation and in the years afterward during the Malayan conflict. I used to love Noel Barber's books when I read them back in the late 1990s but I am not sure how they would stand up now if I was to reread them. I do still own quite a few of them. Tanamera was made into a mini-series in the late 1980s. 

A more recent WWII and aftermath TV adaptation is The Narrow Road to the Deep North which also stars Jacob Elordi, and was adapted from Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan's book of the same name. 

Now, if this was a 5 Degrees of Separation post then I would have gone full circle back to the starting book given that Jacob Elordi starred in both adaptations but alas, I need to add one more link. I am choosing a book by another Tasmania author. I read both of Claire van Ryn's books last year and thought they were great, so for my final choice I am going to select her book The Secrets of the Huon Wren (my review)

Next month, the starting point is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans which I currently have out of the library!

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: Flashlight to The Stowaway

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month, the starting point is Flashlight by Helen Choi. I started to read this before Christmas and was on the verge of giving it up when I saw that it had been announced as the starting point for this month's Six Degrees of Separation. I finally finished it earlier this month. You can read my thoughts here.

Flashlight partially talks about the treatment of Korean people living in Japan up to the end of WWII. White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton also tells what it was like to be Korean and living in Japan. (my review)

My next couple of choices are all about fruit and flower. Using the idea that mulberry is a fruit, as is cherry, I have chosen my next book as The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Japanese author Takuya Asakura. I haven't read this yet but I have had it on my TBR for a few months now.

Sticking with cherry blossoms, my next selection is Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss. 

This time my blossoms are apples as I have chosen Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens, a book set in Tasmania. 

I have two reasons for my next selection. The first is using the hyphenated name of Mary-something. The last author was Mary-Lou. Mary-Anne O'Connor is the author of In a Great Southern Land. My second reason for choosing this book? Well, when you think about the Great Southern Land that is Australia you can't get much further south than Tasmania.

Which brings me to my final choice which is The Stowaway which is once again by Mary-Anne O'Connor. That should be enough of a connection, but actually there is a clue as to why I wanted to end up on this book. The day I went to buy my copy of Flashlight, I needed to buy a second book by the publisher so I could get the little Penguin you can see in the picture. This book was the other book I bought that day!

Next month, the starting point is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: The Four Dutchmen to Case Histories

 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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings

This month is a wildcard to begin the year so we start with the book that we finished last month’s chain with, which means I am starting with The Four Dutchmen by W Somerset Maughan. My instant thought was to o with a Dutch connection but I actually did a whole Dutch chain a couple of months ago so had to give it some more thought.

I very nearly still went with a Dutch related book for my first link but instead I am going in a completely different route. My first choice this month is The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. This is a book featuring dragons in a romantasy setting.

My next selection is also a book with dragons but this time the setting is real history, with a twist. Temeraire by Naomi Novik is set against the background of the Napoleonic Wars! This book was also published under the title His Majesty's Dragon. (my review)

From here, I had a decision to make. One choice would have taken me down the path of books published with different titles, but in the end I have chosen to focus on the word dragons, even though there was no sign of actual dragons in the book. My next selection is Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman which is one of a trilogy of books which tells the history of Welsh royalty

The book that I have read most recently that was set in Wales is Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas. (my review)

The most recent book that I read which was a Christmassy book was One December Morning by Emma Davies. (my review)

A book that was mentioned in that book was Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. (my review)

So there's my Six Degrees of Separation which has dragons and no dragons, a bit of time in Wales and some Christmas fun. 

Next month, the starting point is Flashlight by Helen Choi, a book that I am currently trying, and struggling, to read.

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: Seascraper to The Four Dutchmen

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is a novella called Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, which was fitting given that there was an event called Novellas in November. 

Keeping with short stories/novellas and the word wood, I am choosing The Yellow Wood by Minnie Darke.  This was an Audible original short story that I listened to last year. 

I am focussing on the word yellow for my next selection and choosing Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan, which was a short story collection. I really enjoyed Margo Lanagan's writing but she disappeared of the publishing scene years ago now, which is a real shame.

A full length novel from the same author is Sea Hearts. I did think about going down the route of books which have different titles in different markets as this one was called Brides of Rollrock Island elsewhere. 

However, I couldn't resist sticking with the sea connection so I have chosen Never Want to Sea You Again by Leonie Mack. This short story was a fun read from earlier this year. One thing about this story is that you can choose your own spice level, so if you like closed door action you can choose one version and if you like it spicy you can read the open door version 

If I think of the sea, the one thing we know is that there are plenty of fish in the sea, and so I have chosen The Fish Girl by Mirandi Riwoe. (my review)

The Fish Girl was inspired by a character from a short story called The Four Dutchmen by W Somerset Maughan. In Vaughan's story, the character is a nameless "Malay trollop", whereas in The Fish Girl she is given a name and a whole backstory. 

Next month is a wildcard to begin the year so we need to start with the book you finished this month’s chain with. That will be interesting given I haven't actually read The Four Dutchmen. I actually found this month a bit challenging so hopefully next month's will be a bit easier!

See everyone next year!

Six Degrees of Separation: We Have Always Lived in the Castle to The Girl Who Chased the Moon

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a book I have not and I am unlikely to read.

I did start reading The Sundial by Shirley Jackson a few years ago because it was a read along book for RIPXVI. I never did finish the book. 

The readalong book for this year's RIP (the 20th time the event has been held!!!) was Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which I ended up sending back to the library unread

I had a few books set in Mexico I could have chosen but I ended up going with the book Texas by James Michener. I know that sentence seems strange but a large part of the state of Texas was once Mexican territory. 

If I think about the early days of Texas as we know it now then Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry comes to mind.

I need to avoid going down the bird route because I end up doing bird related books quite regularly, so instead I am choosing the last book I read by Larry McMurtry which is Comanche Moon.

The word moon leads me to The Girl who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen.

Next month, the starting point is a novella that you may read as part of this year’s Novellas in November – Seascraper by Benjamin Wood.


Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: I Want Everything to Dear Mrs Bird

 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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point in Dominic Amerena’s novel about authors and publishing, I Want Everything. I must confess I found this book a bit difficult to find links from, which isn't normal for me. I tried a couple of different option but couldn't make them work through to the end. This was my third attempt. 

I love reading books set in places that I know. For example, I Want Everything is set in Melbourne and so I am choosing the last book I read set in Melbourne which is The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary (my review). This book tells the story of women living in goldrush Melbourne and working in a fancy brothel.

Another book with a goldrush connection which I read years ago was Mr Chen's Emporium by Deborah O'Brien. (my review) 

There aren't that many books with the word emporium in the title. I have read a number of books by Jojo Moyes but haven't yet read The Peacock Emporium, despite having owned it for years.

I have read and loved The Peacock Summer by Hannah Richell

It feels as though I end up with bird related books pretty regularly so was looking through my list of books read for one that I haven't used before too many times which lead me to Liar Bird by Lisa Walker

And sticking to the bird theme I am finishing the chain with Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce, which is a book I currently have out of the library.

Using that library link I could now go in multiple directions but that's it for this month!

Next month, the starting point is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson


Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees: Ghost Stories to A Brief History of Montmaray

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Ghost Cities by Siang Lu which was recently announced as the winnter of the 2025 Mile Franklin Literary Award here in Australia. I haven't read it, and I don't think I am likely too, but that doesn't mean that I can't make a chain from it!

A book I read earlier this year that featured a house that was haunted by ghosts was Lauren Westwood's The House of Light and Shadows. (my review)

I do love it when a house is almost a character in a book. In The Briar Club by Kate Quinn Briarwood House is a character in it's own right, telling part of the story. I listened to this book on audio recently and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next book I listened to on audio was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt which also featured an unusual character - a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus. I loved the voice of Marcellus in the audiobook so I am really pleased to hear that the same actor is going to be the voice in the upcoming movie version too! 

There are remarkably few books with the word remarkably in the title (at least in my reading lists) but there is Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier which is about a woman who was a fossil collector.

Which leads me nicely to The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper.

Choosing the final book was actually a bit harder, as there were almost too many directions I could choose from but in the end I went with the surname of Cooper and chose A Brief History of Montmoray by Michelle Cooper

Next month, the starting point is Dominic Amerena’s novel about authors and publishing, I Want Everything.

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees of Separation: The Safekeep to I Knew You Were Trouble

 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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month's starting point is the 2025 Women’s Prize winner, The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden.

A Dutch author I have read is Simone Van Der Blugt. Her book was called Midnight Blue and was about the distinctive Delft pottery, in particular the time when the art on the pottery changed from being of Asian scenes to being of Dutch scenes which we associate with it now.

Another art inspired book was The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley which featured a mother and daughter naturalists who drew flowers and produced amazing books. Part of this book was set in Suriname which was a Dutch colony. (My review)

When I first visited Amsterdam back in the 1990s I was a little surprised that we went to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner. The reason for this was that what we now call Indonesia was another Dutch colony known as the Dutch East Indies. Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe tells the story of fighting for Indonesian independence from the Dutch against the backdrop of WII. (My review)

The capital of independent Indonesia is now called Jakarta but it used to be known as Batavia. My brother in law and his family live in a town where there is a replica of the boat of the same name (and a shopping centre called Batavialand!). A new release that I am interested in reading is Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens

The Dutch played an important part in the history of European discovery of Australia. landing here long before the British arrived.  I have long been interested in the story of the Batavia, which was shipwrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1629. A book that tells the story of the Batavia is The Night Ship by Jess Kidd.

Finally, I am going to finish with a contemporary novel by an Australian author which is partially set in Amsterdam and features a tall Dutch man as the main male character. My husband is 100% Dutch blood even though he was born in South Africa, as both of his parents are Dutch. The book  is I Knew You Were Trouble by Sandy Barker but Robert is no trouble whatsoever! (My review)

So there's my Six Degrees of Separation with a Dutch flavour. Both the first and last covers feature the distinctive houses of Amsterdam so that is almost a full circle right?

Next month, the starting point is the winner of the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Ghost Cities by Siang Lu.

Will you be joining us?

Six Degrees: Theory & Practice to Sisters of the Resistance

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 Theory & Practice by Michelle DeKretser, winner of the 2025 Stella Prize.

I have only ever read one book by Michelle DeKretser and that was The Lost Dog which I read back in 2008. 

I could have picked one of many books with the word lost in the title. However, I decided to stick  with the dog theme so my next link is to To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. This is a book that I did a buddy read/joint review with Aarti from Booklust many, many years ago and it was a 5/5 read for me. (Part 1 post and then final post)

The most recent book that I did a joint review of was The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak which was with Bree from All the Books I Can Read but I have already used that book a couple of times, which is my limit, and so I am going to go even further back and use another joint review that we did as my next connection. We read and discussed The Dressmaker of Yarrandarah Prison by Meredith Jaffe.  I gave this book a 5/5 rating back when I read it  in 2021 and still think that the cover of this one is stunning! Here is the first part of our conversation and here is the second.

When I checked my spreadsheet where I record all my reads, I noticed that right before I read that book I had another 5/5 read and that was The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer. 

Kelly Rimmer has a new book coming out soon which is called The Midnight Estate. I am therefore going to use this as my link to The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte which is a book I gave a 5/5 rating to back in 2020.

I saw Steven Conte at the Williamstown Literary Festival back in 2022. In the same post where I talked briefly about that, I mentioned that I was reading Sisters of the Resistance by Christine Wells. This week I won a mug from Christine in a Facebook group I am in!

So there we have it. A couple of joint reviews, some 5/5 reads, and some WWII novels.

Next month, the starting point is 2025 Women’s Prize winner, The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden.

Will you be joining us?