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 Jane Harper’s best-selling debut, The Dry.
The Dry passed the ‘Ham’ test, so my next book is Rosalie Ham’s latest, The Year of the Farmer.
I loved The Year of the Farmer but still haven’t written a review. In fact, I have a bunch of reviews to write, including that of another recent read I loved (and my first five-star read of 2019) – Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton.
The were many elements of Boy Swallows Universe that reminded me of Lisa McInerney’s The Glorious Heresies– both feature boys living a life on the edge of crime; both have families that love, despite how their circumstances appear to others; and both made me laugh and cry.
I find it quite difficult to review books that I loved – how can I ever do them justice?! Such was the case with The Glorious Heresies, so instead I put together a literary mixtape. I did the same for The Ice Storm by Rick Moody.
A party is critical to the plot in The Ice Storm, as it is in Linda Grant’s Upstairs at the Party.
Upstairs at the Party is set at a university. If a book is described as ‘campus-lit’, count me in. I’ve read a few from this list, including I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. I can’t remember much of the story but do recall thinking the cover was unappealing!
From droughts and five-star reads to parties and campus-lit – where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (June 1, 2019), we’ll begin with the winner of the 2109 Wellcome Prize, Murmur by Will Eaves.
