Tag: 6Degrees

#6Degrees of Separation: Ethan Frome to Two Storm Wood

whatcathyreadnext17 Comments
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Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

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.

This month’s starting book is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Once again, it’s a book I haven’t read but it concerns a poor New England farmer trying to eke out a living whilst in an unhappy marriage.

A character called Ethan also appears in Girl A by Abigail Dean. This Ethan is the brother of Lex, the eponymous Girl A who, having overcome her traumatic childhood experiences, has become a lawyer. Her current assignment is representing a company offering DNA testing.

DNA testing forms a key part of My Secret Sister by Lauren Westwood in which a genetic match reveals previously unknown family connections.

Sisters, this time twin sisters, feature in The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett in which Stella and Desiree choose very different paths in life.

In The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal, Iris risks estrangement from her sister Rose when an opportunity arises for Iris to pursue her ambition of becoming an artist.

Art of a different kind, namely photography, is the focus of The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott. In the book, Harry travels through post-WW1 France photographing the grave sites of fallen soldiers for their grieving families whilst also searching for evidence about his brother, reported missing in action.

Similarly, in Two Storm Wood by Philip Gray, Amy travels to the abandoned WW1 battlefields of France determined to discover the fate of her fiancé, Edward, also reported missing in action. (Interestingly, bringing us full circle, Edith Wharton travelled to the frontline in WW1 recording her experiences in a series of articles, published as Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belport.) 

My chain has involved siblings and the search for answers. Where did your chain take you?

#6Degrees of Separation: From What Are You Going Through to A Woman Made of Snow

whatcathyreadnext10 Comments
background book stack books close up
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

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.

This month’s starting book is What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez. Once again, it’s a book I haven’t read so for my first link I’m going to another book by the same author, The Friend – which I also haven’t read!  However, I understand it’s a story about how a bond forms between a woman and a dog.

This leads me to a book I actually have read – The Writer’s Cats by Muriel Barbery – a charming illustrated book in which the author reveals just how crucial a role her cats play in her writing.

My next link is the book that first introduced me to the work of Muriel Barbery, A Single Rose. In the book, Rose travels to Kyoto for the reading of the will of the Japanese father she never knew.

In Connectedness by Sandra Danby, an established artist asks a journalist to find the baby she gave away when she was an art student.

Staying on the theme of missing relatives, in The Vanished Child by M. J. Lee a genealogical investigator attempts to discover what happened to an illegitimate child given up for adoption many years before.

The final book in my chain is A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford in which a woman tries to discover the identity of her husband’s grandmother, a woman who seems to have been erased from the family’s history.

My chain has involved bonds formed and bonds broken. Where did your chain take you?