Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.
The starting point for this month is Long Island by Colm Toibin.
I wasn't really sure which direction I wanted to go this month. There are always options, but in the end I decided to spin off of the word island and chose Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak.
Elif Shafak has recently released a new book called There are Rivers in the Sky so this is my next choice.
From there I am taking the word sky and choose He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters, which is part of the Amelia Peabody series set in Egypt.
I could have gone in several directions, but I have chosen to use the first name of the author, Elizabeth and I picked To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick
Using the word King, I have chosen Lady Macbeth by Susan Frazer King. When we were in Scotland we heard a bit about Macbeth, about how he was a real king although some of the other history was incorrect, and along with how historically incorrect the move Braveheart was.
Another historical figure we heard a lot about was Mary Queen of Scots so I have chosen the book by Margaret George about her, Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. I would say that almost brings me to back full circle to our starting point!
Next month, the starting point is Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. Whereas I normally think of a starting book pretty much straight away, I am coming up blank so far. Good job I have a month to think of something.
Great chain. I really enjoyed To Defy a King. I also have Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles on the TBR and will get round to reading it one day!
ReplyDeleteThat's a chunkster Helen, but from memory a good read.
DeleteLovely chain here. And I understand about the next book. I was so put off by the gratuitous, underaged sex in Rooney's debut Normal People, I couldn't even watch the TV series. That put me off her altogether. Plus... YA isn't my thing. So, I'm also drawing a blank.
ReplyDeleteI've come up with something I think Davida!
DeleteI love to see where these chains take you. One of the best historical fiction books I've ever read was about royalty and I've always wanted to read more. A book about Mary and a book about Lady Macbeth both sound fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIntermezzo reminds me of The King's Gambit, but where I'd go from there I don't know!
Well, let me see - a book about kings? or there must be at least one book with chess pieces on the cover or a book about Rome...lots of options
DeleteI really need to read more of the Amelia Peabody series! So far I've only read the first book. Fun post!
ReplyDeleteI think I have read 12 or 13 but it's been a long time since I read one
DeleteGreat chain! It’s interesting to see what you do with these chains. Unfortunately I cannot read the first few words at the beginning of each sentence though as they are cut off. I’m not sure why.
ReplyDeleteSorry. I have my zoom at about 90% and that seems to be fine.
DeleteThat's cool how you link it. I liked Long Island, what did you think about a possible sequel?
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Long Island yet. Hopefully, if there is going to be another sequel, it will be a bit quicker than this one.
DeleteI always think these are so cool.
ReplyDeleteThey are a bit of fun!
DeleteGreat chain!
ReplyDeleteI actually didn't know that Macbeth's historicity had been questioned
It's more about correcting some of the history from the play by Shakespeare which isn't quite right.
DeleteI like the direction you took your chain! I haven't had a chance to read any of these books. I do want to read the Elif Shafak book. I read a short story of hers last year and really liked it. I hope you have a great month of October, Marg!
ReplyDeleteElif Shafak is so good! Hope you get to read more from her soon.
DeleteThinking about the Six Degrees of Separation must take some time, or you have to know a lot of books! I have not read any you have listed here :)
ReplyDeleteIt's like a game of word association. Just let your mind wander and see where it takes you!
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