It’s time for #6Degrees – I promise it’s ace fun, so join in and link up!
We begin this month’s chain with Kazuo Ishiguro’s creepy Never Let Me Go – is it a glimpse into the future? It seems too far-fetched but there were elements of the story that felt horribly possible, as there were in Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last.
One of the funniest parts of Atwood’s novel is the use of Elvis and Marilyn impersonators as characters. Marilyn is the focus of Colin Clark’s memoir, My Week With Marilyn.
Marilyn was apparently a keen reader. I haven’t read many of the books that were listed as part of her library, however one that caught my eye was How To Talk at Gin by Ernie Kovacs. Alas, it’s about gin rummy, not gin gin.
A card game features in Henry James’s The Golden Bowl, although the game is more about codified glances around the table than the cards in hand.
I love (love, love) Henry James and over the years have worked my way through all of his books. Needless to say I was crushed to discover that one of my favourite contemporary authors, John Irving, found James incredibly tedious (it’s mentioned somewhere in Irving’s memoir, The Imaginary Girlfriend, but referred to again in this interview). Obviously it’s ridiculous to expect my favourite authors to like each other but…
The Imaginary Girlfriend focuses on Irving’s time as a college wrestler. Another book that examines college and sports is Chad Harbach’s brilliant novel, The Art of Fielding (if you haven’t yet read it, do).
From future worlds and the glamour of the fifties, to favourite authors and universities – where will other chains lead?
Next month (December 3rd, 2016), the chain will begin with the Richard Yates modern classic, Revolutionary Road.