It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up!
This month we begin with William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic, Vanity Fair.
When I was in high school I won a book prize – the books I selected were Vanity Fair and Come in Spinner by Dymphna Cusack .
I suspect I was keen to read Come in Spinner because I’d seen the movie. I discovered another Australian classic the same way – Sumner Locke Elliott’s Careful He Might Hear You.
Elliot’s book is accepted as a fictionalized autobiographical novel, as is Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.
Winterson has said that she wrote the story as a novel as a way of distancing herself from the immense trauma of her childhood. However, when her mother died many years later, Winterson published her memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Authors revealing their traumatic childhoods in memoir? I automatically think of one that’s on my TBR list – Rose Tremain’s Rosie.
Tremain has published a number of short story collections as well as novels, as has Curtis Sittenfeld. I thought Sittenfeld’s short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It was extraordinarily good.
As always, I end up in a place I didn’t expect! Where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (December 1, 2018), we’ll begin with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
This month we did not take the expected route to follow Vanity Fair up with more Victorian books even though the Muse & Views Book Club has a number of them to choose from and instead twisted our way to The Boy in the Moon. Here is our link: https://bookclub9.blogspot.com/
Thanks again for playing.
That was such a creepy book, My Sister’s Keeper!
Interesting connections! I’ve only read Rose Tremain’s Gustav Sonata. A Christmas Carol should be a lot of fun
Which is funny because until this year I’d only read Tremain’s short stories! (I read Music & Silence and loved it).
Great links as always!
It was one of those months where the links came easily – no thinking required!
This is a great exercise to remind me how many books I’ve read over the years. Vanity Fair took me to Grimms’ Fairy Tales. My post is here: https://soundslikewish.org/?p=11606
Yes, always gets me thinking back to pre-blogging days.
I am impressed, translating such interesting French books! It takes talent, French is my mother tongue and some of these books I found difficult to read let alone translate them or even explaining them in English. Congrats!
For the first time I am stumped, but I am still trying to do connections. However, I do like how you have made your connections.
Characters you love to hate? Or “I’m the only reader who loves Becky Sharp and another character I love that everyone hates is…” Or books that have been made into lavish BBC productions? Hopefully those prompts get you started!
My chain took. VERY different path evdn though I also got Vanity Fair at university: https://whisperinggums.com/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-vanity-fair-to/
Excuse typos… I blame the iPad’s keyboard.
Oh, and A Christmas Carol… Good choice.
Was the first festive book to pop into my mind!
And why not – hard to beat.
I am also intrigued by memoirs of traumatic childhoods. Maybe because mine was quite fine. My links ended up in magical realism. You just never know where you will end up! https://kathryngossow.net/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-vanity-to-solitude/
Same re: childhood. I work in counselling and have often wondered whether my very ordinary childhood is an advantage or a disadvantage (because I haven’t experienced what they have) – my supervisors assure me that it’s an advantage!
Kathryn, WP is being tiresome and won’t let me comment on your blog today, so I’ll just say here that I enjoyed your choices:)
Mine didn’t go the way I expected it to either: https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-vanity-fair-to/
Off now to read everyone else’s…
PS I do like it when people put their links in the comments, it makes it so easy to follow them:)
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I read extracts from Oranges are not the only Fruit when I was at uni, but you’ve got me interested enough to want to read it from start to finish now! I haven’t read Come in Spinner, although I loved the movie, although for some reason my memory thought it had been a television series (my memory is clearly wrong because I just checked whether it had been both). It was one of the first soundtracks I bought for myself, too.
My chain took a Bunyan and Buchan themed route: https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-vanity-fair-to-mr-standfast/
Excited about starting with A Christmas Carol next time – one of my all time favourites!
I’ve bought a Sumner Locke Elliot (Fairyland) on Kim’s recommendation at Reading Matters. Have you read that one? Loved both Why Be Happy… and You Think It I’ll Say It.
It’ll be bah humbug for me next month then!
I love this chain, Kate – a lovely mix for me of authors I already know and love (Winterson, Tremain) and new-to-me reads – fabulous! Here’s a link to my offering https://leapinglife.blog/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-vanity-fair-to-the-underground-railroad/
I enjoyed putting this month’s chain together, as for once I have actually read the first book! I haven’t read any of your other choices, but I’ve read other books by Rose Tremain and Curtis Sittenfeld. Looking forward to starting with A Christmas Carol next month!
https://shereadsnovels.com/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-vanity-fair-to-the-red-lily-crown/
Great chain, I’ve never read Rose Tremain’s Rosie but enjoyed Merivel so I’ll have to give it a go. I’m a newbie blogger and it’s the first time I’ve stumbled over this meme. Looks like a lot of fun!
All of these are new to me, although I had at least heard of Vanity Fair. Still, I am always happy to discover new-to-me books, and these all sound like ones I should take a closer look at. It’s so interesting to see where we end up in the end. I love how you have connected your list of books. Thank you for sharing and hosting! Have a great weekend.
I do like to make personal links between the books – it’s usually easier that way! 😀
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Good gravy, I’ve never read *any* of the books in your chain! Shame on me. Shame shame shame.
Thanks as always for hosting! I always love 6 Degrees!
https://nevernotreadingblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-vanity-fair-to-ella-enchanted/
In fairness, I have some obscure choices in my chain this month! (Although, if you like short stories, the Sittenfeld is brilliant).
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nice links. Here is my post: https://wordsandpeace.com/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-fair-to-dining/
I’ve been meaning to read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for ages! I must get round to it soon. Ditto Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? They sound rather difficult to read from an emotional point of view.
There were bits in Why Be Happy that I remember to be quite distressing but Winterson has a way of finding the cracks to let the light in.
I always love seeing where the chains end up. I haven’t read a single book on your list, though I remember seeing the covers of couple of them. And I love next month’s starting point – maybe just Christmas all around…l’ll think on it.
Seems a few bloggers are excited by the Christmas Carol starting point!
Loved this – I’ve been meaning to join in Six Degrees for ages 🙂 I went from Vanity Fair to the Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale in Canterbury Tales. Looking forward to Christmas Carol!
Love Jeanette Winterson too – Why Be Happy is one of my favourites by her.
I read Why Be Happy before Oranges… wish I’d done it the other way around!
My first time participating and I had so much fun putting together my list! Hope I did it right.
I love your connections — all of them are books I haven’t read, so I’ve got a few more titles for my endless TBR list. Thanks for hosting this!
Hi Joy – I wasn’t able to leave a comment on your blog (??) but what I wanted to say was this – You made it look easy! Thanks for joining in.
I love that your links always have a really personal connection, like your book prize!
I guess that once I’ve read a book, it does become quite personal… If a book makes an impression on me, I have strong memories of where and when I read it.
Really interesting chain Kate! I’ve never read any Rosie Tremain but I want to. I loved both the Wintersons.
Her short stories are fantastic but that said, I read one of her novels earlier this year (Music & Silence) and LOVED it.
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I participated but then forgot to link up, so apologies for the delay!
Hahahha of course I don’t really recognize the books you chose but I love how twisted your chain gets in how they all link up. Vanity Fair was a great pick to start from… I love reading about books I don’t know anything about! Thanks <3
Interesting links! I ended up at Phantom Tollbooth this month, so at a very different point than your chain. It’s fascinating to see what direction everyone goes with these!
I used Vanity Fair a few months back, so I forced myself to take a different path from it this month. Vanity Fair – to – 1984. https://100greatestnovelsofalltimequest.blogspot.com/2018/11/six-degrees-of-separation-from-vanity.html
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Hi! I’m trying this out. Had fun with it! I did ramble on a bit…
https://livingajourney.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/6-degrees-november-2018/
I am not familiar with any of the books you’ve mentioned. I don’t believe I have read any Australian Literature either… I think the only Australian author I have read is Colleen McCullough…