I’ve seen the Six Degrees of Separation meme going around a bit, and have been waiting until I spotted it starting with a book I’ve read. If you’re not familiar with it, there are guidelines over at Books Are My Favourite And Best – but, essentially, you start with one book and keep linking to another and see where you end up!
Atonement by Ian McEwan
I read this novel in about 2003 – my first McEwan, and one of my first “modern novels”. Still not a category I know an awful lot about, but I was struck years later by how similar the tale of a childhood action causing a person lasting confusion and regret was to…
Virginia by Jens Christian Grondahl
This short novel is about how a man fears he may have accidentally betrayed someone to the Nazis in his youth, and how haunted he continues to be about it. It’s brilliant. It’s one of the few Virginia books on my shelves that has nothing to do with Woolf, but… well, it obviously made me think of Woolf. But rather than go to one of her novels, let’s look at one which subtly puts her in the title…
Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar
Vanessa is Vanessa Bell and ‘Her Sister’ is Virginia Woolf. Framed through imagined recollections and letters, Parmar portrays the Bloomsbury Group rather well in her novel that puts the lesser-known sister in centre stage. I do rather love novels about closeness between two women – such as…
One of her quieter novels, this looks at two women who share a remote island – closely based on Jansson and her partner. It has Jansson’s trademark insightfulness and subtle poignancy – even more subtle than other of her books. And she writes rather wonderfully about the character of the sea too. And while we’re at the seaside, let’s take a trip to…
A Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff
This Persephone novel about a family holiday to the seaside somehow has all the ingredients of the perfect Persephone novel – extremely readable and relatable, but also funny, moving, unexpected. It’s a joy with a rough edge. And, as a novel about a holiday with a month in the title, it naturally led me to…
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Her most charm-full novel, this depicts a group of women who try to escape their lives and unhappinesses by going away for a month to Italy, sharing a beautiful house and garden. At first, they don’t get on – but soon Italy and the atmosphere starts to work its magic…
That was fun! I look forward to joining in further months of this meme.
You’re off to a flying start, well done!
Well done, Simon… and so much fun to read! Love that we both included The Enchanted April in our chains. It’s a wonderful novel. This was also my first month participating in Six Degrees and I’m already looking forward to the next round.
A lovely chain with some nice links – I hope you join in again Simon.
Well done I keep wondering whether I should have a go at this. Though I don’t know how good I would be at finding those links.
I’ve often considered the meme although the starting books aren’t usually ones I’ve read. Maybe one day… we’ll done though – nice chain!
Yay! Someone else who has read Vanessa and Her Sister! I loved that book – thought it was so beautifully written (especially given that so much has been written about the Bloomsbury group).
Elizabeth von Armin and Katherine Mansfield were cousins …
Glad you decided to join in with the Six Degrees fun, Simon! I love The Enchanted April and am looking forward to picking up Vanessa and Her Sister and A Fortnight in September in the future.