#6Degrees Of Separation Book Challenge From How To Be Both to Miss Emily

My April #6Degrees challenge

Hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite And Best The idea is to start at the same book as other readers, then find themes that link six books, and see where you end up!

The starting point this month is How To Be Both by Ali Smith

How to be both is a novel all about art’s versatility. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it’s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There’s a Renaissance artist of the 1460s. There’s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real—and all life’s givens get given a second chance. Have you read this book?

Art can take many forms and my first link is to the art of film.

Cinema Lumiere by Hattie Holden. This book is about Hannah’s journey through life and how she learns to forgive, trust and let go of her past. We meet Victor an older Frenchman who introduces Hannah to the world of French films and the Lumière brothers. Her own fascination with films culminates in the Cinema Lumière with just one plush red seat for private viewings.

My second link used the artist’s ‘journey‘, this time that of a budding author.

Inkker Hauser Part 1: Rum Hijack by Phil Conquest. It’s a short story full of dark humour. The protagonist is an obsessive depressive wannabe author and the tale is the first book in a series. One day he will write the masterpiece that renders critics speechless and seats him on the throne of literary infamy.
It’s inside him…somewhere.

My next link is to a book with a poet.

Gind by Edward Vukovic. It is a contemporary piece of literature set in Melbourne, and follows five different characters towards an end when it is revealed how they are all connected. Throughout the story coffee is a common thread linking them all. One owns a bar, he mourns the loss of his wife who died several years ago, he owns a dog he names Dante and he writes poetry. Danielle is a schoolgirl who brushes the lives of all the other characters as they meet her one by one at a traffic light crossing.

For my fourth link I’ve chosen the art of music.

The Secret Piano by Zhu Ziao-Mei. It is an autobiography or true-life memoir of a talented Chinese pianist. It deals in detail with the Cultural Revolution in China which took place between 1966 and 1971 and how extreme it was. From Mao’s Labor Camps to Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

My next link was ‘creation’. I leapt to engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Here, set in a #steampunk tale.

The Sunken by S.C. Green. The setting is Industrial London in the 1800s, but set in an alternative reality. King George III is on the throne, but dubbed a mad man and “The Vampire King”. There is great steam invention rivalry between Robert Stephenson and Isambard Brunel. In the heart of London lies the Engine Ward, a district forged in coal and steam, where the great Engineering Sects vie for ultimate control of the country. For many, the Ward is a forbidding, desolate place, but for Nicholas Thorne, the Ward is a refuge.

My sixth book is also linked to the 1800s and turns back to poetry.

Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor. Emily Dickinson’s life is reimagined in her own voice and through eyes of a young Irish maid.

If you’d like to join in with this challenge the next one is May 4th with The Dry by Jane Harper

#6Degrees Of Separation Book Challenge From The Arsonist to My Antonia

My March #6Degrees challenge

Hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite And Best The idea is to start at the same book as other readers, then find themes that link six books, and see where you end up!

The starting point this month is The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper, a true crime novel. (I have not read this, but I have read my six books).

I chose fire as my link to my first book.

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. I’m sure I don’t need to tell readers about Harry Potter!

My next link goes from Goblet of Fire, to The Column Of Burning Spices by P.K. Adams. Book two of the Hildegard of Bingen series. Hildegard is regarded as Germany’s first physician; this book takes place in the twelfth century.

I chose burning as my link to my third book. The Burning (Spirit Warriors #3) by D.E.L. Connor. This is a #YA series, set in Montana around a group of teenagers and their connections to animal spirits revered by the Native Americans.

Spirit was my link to book four. Trusting The Currents by Lynnda Pollio. Told through a form of conscious storytelling. It is the story of two women: Lynnda Pollio who reached a point in her life when she was ready for a spiritual journey, and Addie Mae, a Southern African-American woman who chose to speak about her own teenage life through Lynnda.

My next link is about journeys. The Call Of The Canyon by Zane Grey. A western set in the 1920s. Parts of Arizona, particularly around Sedona, are said to be filled with strong cosmic forces conducive to healing and spiritual experiences. The author’s story of Glenn and Carley highlighted the effect the land can have on people.

The link to my last book is early settlers. My Ántonia by Willa Cather. Classic American historical fiction set in Nebraska in the 1880s. This story tells of harsh pioneering times, when people spread across America in search of a better future. They tamed the land, withstood the seasons and the hardships that Mother Nature threw at them and many thrived.

If you would like to take part, April’s challenge begins with How To Be Both by Ali Smith. (Posting date is April 6th)

 

This is my Review of the Month for the review collection on LovelyAudiobooks.info

#6Degrees Of Separation Book Challenge From Fight Club to We That Are Left

Welcome to my first #6Degrees challenge

Hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite And Best The idea is to start at the same book as other readers, then link six books, and see where you end up! I first saw this challenge on @bookertalk ‘s blog. Here is a link to her February list.

This month the starting book was Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk The book features an unnamed narrator who leaves his lackluster job when he comes under the thrall of Tyler Durden, an enigmatic young man who holds secret after-hours boxing matches in the basement of bars. There, two men fight “as long as they have to.” This work exposes the darkness at the core of our modern world.

(I have not read Fight Club, but I have read my six books).

I chose the unnamed narrator as my link to the next book in my chain.

The Golden Orphans by Gary Raymond has an unnamed narrator. This is a mystery set on Cyprus. An artist is asked to paint the dreams of his mysterious Russian benefactor.

I chose Russia as my link to my next book.

Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward. An English human rights lawyer is asked to find a man who has been languishing for decades without trial in the Gulag system. He’ll uncover hidden cold-war secrets during his search.

I chose the cold war theme as the link to my next book.

Nighfall Berlin by Jack Grimwood This book is set mainly in Berlin. In a plot with plenty of twists, British Intelligence, the East German Stasi and the Russian Communists are all involved.

I chose spies as my link to my next book.

Transcription by Kate Atkinson is historical fiction with three distinct settings. It is about a young women recruited by the secret service into the world of espionage. The second part of the story is set in 1950 where she is a producer of radio programmes for schools.

I chose the post World War Two period as my next theme.

Call Nurse Millie by Jean Fullerton For 25-year-old Millie, a qualified nurse and midwife, the jubilation at the end of the war is short-lived as she tends to the needs of the East End community around her.

I chose nursing in war as my last book.

We That Are Left by Juilet Greenwood – Set during WWI it features three friends: Alice finds work in a hospital, Elin makes plans to grow more foodstuffs to feed the local community, and Mouse heads off to France with a truck full of medical supplies.

I’m a little late posting this. If you’d like to join the challenge in March (posts should go out around March 2nd) The starting point book is The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper, a true crime novel.