Tag: 6Degrees

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.

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For this month’s starting book we’re given the choice of either the book we finished on in January or the last book we read. I’ve chosen to start with the last book I read – All Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman. I haven’t got around to writing my review yet so the link from the title is to the book description on Goodreads.

This Mortal Boy was the first book I read by Fiona Kidman. An account of a real life case, it depicts the events leading up to one of the last executions in New Zealand. In a possible miscarriage of justice, twenty-year-old Albert Black was convicted of murdering another young man in Auckland in 1955.

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed depicts another real life miscarriage of justice, this time in the Tiger Bay area of Cardiff in 1952. Mahmood Mattan, a recent immigrant from Somalia, was hanged for the brutal murder of a shopkeeper despite the eyewitness evidence being shaky at best. To quote from my review, ‘the final chapter of The Fortune Men made me cry; the epilogue made me angry’.

From one brutal murder to three brutal murders, this time in the Scottish Highlands in 1869. His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet comprises a collection of documents including witness statements, medical reports and a trial transcript. But the key document is a detailed memoir written from his jail cell by Roderick Macrae, the young man who admits to committing the murder. But should we believe all the evidence presented to us?

So far, we’ve focused on the victim but in Those Who Know by Alis Hawkins it’s the investigator who takes centre stage. The third book in the Teifi Valley Coroner series sees Harry Probert-Lloyd and his assistant, John, investigate the death of a pioneering schoolteacher whose death may not be the accident it first appeared.

The death of a former schoolmaster also features in The Teacher by Tim Sullivan, the latest book in his crime series featuring DS George Cross.

The previous book in the series was titled The Monk which leads me to book which features a monk turned detective, namely Brother William of Baskerville in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, memorably portrayed in the film version by Sean Connery.

My chain has taken me from a book referencing the movies to a book made into a movie. Where did your chain take you this month?

It’s the first Saturday of the month (and a new year) 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.

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This month’s starting book is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, a book I’ve heard a lot about but haven’t yet read.  Unfolding over several decades, it’s the story of two young people with a shared love of video games.

Zevin’s previous novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is the tale of a grumpy bookshop owner whose business is failing. The protagonist of Back Trouble by Clare Chambers is in a similar predicament. His publishing business has failed and his debts are mounting up. Laid up with a bad back, he starts to write the story of his life.

In The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller, recovering alcoholic Stephen Rose is also writing the story of his life. In this case, the prompt is receipt of a letter that revives unwelcome memories of a traumatic event during his time as a soldier in Northern Ireland.

The film Letter From an Unknown Woman, in which a man receives a letter from a woman he has met three times before but failed to recall, is cited by author Neil Jordan as one of the inspirations for his novel The Well of Saint Nobody.

Neil Jordan is a film director known for films such as The End of the Affair, based on the 1951 novel by Graham Greene. Greene’s other novels include The Quiet American, published in 1955.

Staying with lack of noise, The Quiet People by Paul Cleave involves husband and wife crime writers who fall under suspicion when their seven-year-old son goes missing.

Beach Read by Emily Henry also features two authors. In this case, they are both struggling with writer’s block and so agree to swap genres. This last link takes me full circle as it’s the book we started with in January 2023!

My chain has taken me from a Sunday Times bestseller to a New York Times bestseller. Where did your chain take you this month?