Hey bookworm friends, happy weekend š¤! The first Saturday of the month Kate over at Books Are My Favourite And Best hosts Six Degrees of Separation. This fun meme plays around with the idea that everyone in the world is separated from everyone else by just six links. Check out the rules below and join in on the fun if you wish!
How Does #6Degrees Work?
- Every month, a book is selected to begin the chain. Link books together in a chain however you’d like. Be creative!
- Check out the host’s post and add your link to Mr. Linky.
- Spend some time checking out the other bloggers’ chains
The Chain
The book that was selected to begin the chain this month is The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose. I had never heard of this book before but apparently, it’s a meditation on love, art and commitment. According to the synopsis, at least part of the book is set in The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
Thinking about museums, the first book that popped into my head is A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor because he was the Director of the British Museum when he wrote it. I especially enjoyed this book’s format: it tells a sweeping narrative in puzzle-piece-like chapters that each focus on a small, distinct but related topic.
I’ve since seen various titles with the same format. A History of Blank in some # of Something. I have History of the World in 100 Animals by Simon Barnes on my TBR. I’m hoping to like that one too. The description says “…Simon Barnes selects the 100 animals who have had the greatest impact on humanity…” One example given is a species of flea that came close to destroying human civilization in Europe.
That reference to the plague reminded me of when I read Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. It was a great book but so very bleak.
Around the same time I read Doomsday Book, I watched two courses on The Black Death on The Great Courses. The professor, Dorsey Armstrong, PhD (whom I love) mentioned Doomsday Book in one of her lectures, along with Year of Wonders (TBR) by Geraldine Brooks. Both these books convey a visceral sense of life during a plague and feature strong female characters who fight to survive and help others. Wow, I didn’t realize my chain was gonna take me to such a dark place, sorry about that!
Since I want to read Year of Wonders, I was looking at other works by Geraldine Brooks. She has one called Horse which has a book cover of a similar style and colour palette.
Don’t worry, my chain ends in a much nicer place, with horses! If Wishes Were Horses is a lovely novelette by Anne McCaffrey that I read earlier this year and enjoyed. It’s a coming-of-age fantasy story where a young boy wants a horse he can ride; his legs are now too long to keep riding the pony. But times are tough and they can’t afford to buy a new horse.
Let’s chat in the comments!
Would you read any of the books in my chain? Or, feel free to share your link below if you joined in on the meme š!
Very nice! Is this your first time doing this meme? I don’t recall seeing your posts before!
Hi Davida, yes it’s my first time doing this meme! Thank you š Let me go pop over to your chain and check it out!
Welcome to this fun meme, and you did a great job!
I have added Barnes’ book to my TBR, thanks!
Thanks also for visiting my blog
Thank you, I really enjoyed thinking through the connections š & My pleasure! Yeah, Barnes’ book sounds great, I hope you like it if you pick it up !
That’s an interesting chain! I have read The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks and would like to read more of her books. Year of Wonders sounds like a good one.
Oh interesting I have not read anything by this author yet but she seems to have a few books that sound good to me! How did you like The Secret Chord?
Very nice chain. I especially loved your first link–to a book by a Museum director. Not read any of the ones in your chain but the 100 animals books sounds like one I’ll enjoy (even with the plague).
Thanks Mallika š I’m glad you enjoyed my chain and hopefully the 100 animals book will be to your liking! (& not too depressing haha)
Ooh I haven’t seen this meme before but it looks fun. I imagine seeing how different everyone’s results end up being is interesting too. It definitely took you through a few very different books. I haven’t really heard of most of them before either. I think I’ve heard of the objects one and I do recognised the title for Doomsday Book although I didn’t have a clue what it was about. I haven’t heard of the book you’ve ended up on either, although the authors Dragon series is on my priority TBR.
Yeah, I think that’s the part I enjoy most about it (this was my first time joining). Seeing the paths start in the same spot and end in very different places is fun and I think it shows you a lot about different people’s reading tastes. š
The objects one was one that a professor recommended to the class during my Masters and I ended up loving it. The Doomsday one, I saw someone on Instagram reading it and I picked it up. It’s sci-fi that involves time-travelling to the middle ages. Hehe yes her dragon series is on my TBR as well and has been for FAR too long š
That’s very true as the books included are going to differ vastly based on what books readers are most familiar with. I haven’t actually tried a meme before but they look like so much fun and seem to be a great way to connect with other bloggers.
I’m glad you enjoyed it (: I think I saw it in a Waterstones newsletter. Yeah its the time travel thing I’m unsure of. Although idk why as I’m not particularly against it. I’ll read the full blurb in a minute and try to make my mind up about it š well at least neither of us are alone in that regard then š
That’s basically why I like doing them, because it gives me a list of other bloggers who posted about a similar thing to me that day and I’ve found other blogs I enjoy like that š Plus since I don’t read as fast I don’t always have reviews to post haha
Oh cool š & that’s fair I guess you would have to see how you feel about stories with the time travel plot device. I like it sometimes but not always, I guess it depends how hard into the science it goes. I like it if it’s just like “oh look we’re in another time and isn’t that interesting” not like “here are the physics of how we made that happen” or whatever šš
Hahha Yes šš
It is a wonderful idea and ive seen how people connect via them. Im going to try one out sometime, although I may leave it until next year once I’ve gotten a few of my draft posts shared š I think it’s nice sharing a variety of content too. And I always love looking at people’s TTT lists.
Yeah I like it for exploring different aspects of time but not the science. Although not if it throws believability out of the window too. I mean I don’t mind if the actual travel is believable as I wouldn’t know š but someone in the 16th century wandering around in jeans would frustrate me š
I’ve added the book to my list to check out eventually. Although it won’t be for quite some time as the priority TBR I’ve been doing is massive š
Yes I really enjoy the community aspect of blogging. oh wow do you have a lot of drafts saved? If you ever do a meme I definitely want to see it and I love looking at the TTT posts, that was the first meme I found given how huge it is!
Yeah I know what you mean, like glaring anachronisms where you know the author didn’t bother doing the bare minimum research, lol. haha ok no problem. the tbr never ends & adding books to the tbr is a separate activity šš
Around 300 šš most of them are reviews though which are complete I just didn’t get around to sharing them on here. Thank you š„° it’s probably the first I saw too.
It’s so frustrating when that happens. And too true. I’d probably get more read if I spent less time looking at my TBR š
Oh my gosh that is so impressive!! :O I only have one and it’s the one I use as a template haha.
Sameeeeš
It’s mostly where I’ve written reviews for everything since I started doing them but took a break from my actual blog. Plus a backlog of tags from before that absence and a couple of things that will need a major update to share. I need to make a template tbh. Atm I copy an old review with the same rating as a template instead and the other week I forgot to change the title š
Oh I see that makes sense, it’s where you store all your thoughts and then you post them as you want š I find a template helps me save time but then every time I write a new type of post I spend forever figuring out what layout I want šahahha