#6Degrees of Separation: From Postcards to Letters

Posted on by whatcathyreadnext
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It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation!

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own six degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees

Postcards from the EdgeThis month’s starting book is Postcards From The Edge by Carrie Fisher, the bestselling work of autobiographical fiction.

Postcards From The Edge isn’t a book I’ve read so I’m focusing on the autobiographical element plus a postal theme with the first book in my chain, Please, Mr Postman by Alan Johnson. The second volume in the former Labour Home Secretary’s series of memoirs covers his time as a postman in Slough and describes family and community life on the Britwell Estate in the 1970s and 1980s.

The main character in This Lovely City by Louise Hare, Lawrie Matthews is also a postman, finding employment with the Post Office after arriving in Britain from Jamaica in 1948 aboard the Empire Windrush.

Returning to postcards, an item that Lawrie, or Alan Johnson, might have delivered, my next link is Cartes Postales from Greece by Victoria Hislop. In the book, postcards arrive, week after week, addressed to someone Ellie does not know, each signed with an initial: A.

In Yours, Cheerfully by A J Pearce, Emmy is also in receipt of letters, this time sent by readers to Woman’s Friend magazine seeking advice on their problems.

Staying with the communication theme, Business As Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford is an epistolary novel in which the story is told by means of telegrams and memoranda, as well as letters.

For my final link in the chain we’re into the world of undelivered mail.  In The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen the ‘letter detectives’ of the Dead Letters Depot work to solve mysteries in order to reunite letters with their intended recipients.

My chain has taken me from postcards to letters. Where did your chain take you?

24 thoughts on “#6Degrees of Separation: From Postcards to Letters”

  6. I like your chain.

    The Alan Johnson diary sounds very good and I will look out for it. I also enjoyed AJ Pearce’s Dear Mrs Bird, though I’ve heard mixed things about this new one – did you enjoy it?

    I read Business and Usual on the recommendations of many bloggers, but I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not – I didn’t NOT like it, but I’m not sure that I’d rave about it either.

    (My own chain also went the way of letters, but then diverged into holidays:

    https://sconesandchaiseslongues.blogspot.com/2021/08/six-degrees-of-separation-august-2021.html)

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    1. Alan Johnson has, I think, written four volumes of memoirs starting with About A Boy. Although Yours Cheerfully doesn’t feature the formidable Mrs Bird, I still enjoyed it but perhaps not as much as the first one.

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  7. So far this month, I think your chain is my favorite! Love the Postman, postcard and letter theme. I also used Cartes Postales from Greece!! Loved that book. I’ve just added The lost letters of William Woolf to my toppling TBR pile, sounds like something I will enjoy.

    Have a good August!

    Elza Reads

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  10. I worked in Slough for a while and know the Britwell estate and its fearsome reputation, so I really enjoyed that book by Alan Johnson. (Was also surprised to see a politician who can write). I love the postal theme you have gone for!

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    1. My husband worked for the Post Office many years ago and although he didn’t meet Alan Johnson at the time, they did have a mutual acquaintance. My husband was thrilled to finally get a chance to talk to Alan at Henley Literary Festival a few years ago. Alan is appearing there again this year to talk about his latest book, a crime novel. I read an ARC of it and it’s good. He really is a clever man.

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      2. They are live streaming some events this year, including Alan Johnson, if you can’t make in person. Tickets are £5 if I recall correctly. I’m only planning to attend one in person at the moment – Sebastian Faulks talking about his new book – but I’ve got tickets for live streams of a few others.

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  11. Very clever theme! I loved the first AJ Pearce and the new one is on its way to me now – can’t wait to read it.

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  16. This is very cool! I have focused on epistolary novels too this month, but I don’t think our selections match. Business as Usual is what caught my eye, and Cartes Postales from Greece by Victoria Hislop seems to be pretty popular. Want to try out both, thanks!

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  17. Great list. I also started with the postcar element though chose another book as the first one. I first wanted to use the Victoria Hislop book. I love that author and have read all her book, just finished her latest book yesterday.
    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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  18. I thought about using the Hislop book in one version of my chain. Ended up starting again and going down a different direction.

    I enjoyed your chain this month!

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