memes – Page 211 – What Cathy Read Next…

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post. Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists. Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Books I’d Gladly Throw Into the Ocean. I’d consider it sacrilege even to think about throwing a book into any kind of water. Plus I don’t generally talk about books I didn’t care for, preferring to shout about books I loved. So instead here are ten books set mainly at sea.

Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge – memorably bringing to life the events of an April night in 1912 when 1,500 people lost their lives as a result of the sinking of the Titanic
In Hazard by Richard Hughes – a tale of suspense on the high seas as the crew of the Archimedes battle a hurricane
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat – a ship and her crew defend Atlantic convoys in WW2, memorably brought to life in the 1953 film starring the wonderful Jack Hawkins
Slow Boats To China by Gavin Young – Inspired by great sea writers like Jack London, Herman Melville and Joseph Conrad, Gavin Young decides to port-hop to some far destination on the other side of the world
The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O’Brian – the eighteenth instalment in the acclaimed Aubrey & Maturin series
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – A murder on the high seas. A remarkable detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – the classic story of a Cuban fisherman and the giant marlin he kills and loses

Links from the titles of the following three will take you to my reviews:
Fled by Meg Keneally
Dangerous Women by Hope Adams
Storm of Steel by Matthew Harffy

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 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. It’s a book I’ve not read but heard a lot about not least of which because it was the winner of the 2020 Booker Prize. Douglas Stuart was only the second Scottish writer to win the Booker Prize in its 51-year history.

The first was James Kelman in 1994 for How Late It Was, How Late. I haven’t read that one either but I know from the blurb that Sammy, its protagonist, becomes completely blind.

The leading character in Alis Hawkins’ historical crime novel None So Blind, Harry Probert-Lloyd, is also coming to terms with encroaching sight loss, putting paid to his career as a barrister.

The Great Darkness by Jim Kelly also features a leading character with damaged sight but in this case it hasn’t stopped him pursuing his career solving crimes in World War 2 Cambridge. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke’s experiences at the hands of the enemy during World War One has left him extremely sensitive to light.

Corpus by Rory Clements is also set in Cambridge, just before the outbreak of World War 2. History professor, Tom Wilde, an expert on Tudor spymasters Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Robert Cecil, finds himself drawn into the investigation of a murder.

Sir Francis Walsingham turns up in The Incendium Plot, the first in A. D. Swanston’s historical mystery series featuring lawyer, Christopher Radcliff.

Another real life historical figure to make an appearance in The Incendium Plot is Sir Philip Sidney. His sister, Mary Sidney Herbert, is the focus of Naomi Miller’s historical novel, Imperfect Alchemist.

This month my chain has embraced blindness, spies and alchemy. Where did your chain take you this month?