Six Degrees of Separation – from Daisy Jones to Fake

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 start with Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. When I wrote my review of this book, Anne at Head Full of Books pointed me in the direction of Reid’s inspiration for the story – a shared look between two people who love each other deeply. It immediately reminded me of that look between Marina Abramovic and her ex, Ulay during The Artist is Present. And I can’t mention that exhibition without linking to The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose. It’s an extraordinary novel focusing on the fictional lives of people who participated in the exhibition.

Rose wrote much of The Museum of Modern Love during a residency at MONA. I was fortunate to see a retrospective of Abramovic’s work at MONA some years ago and found the collection so strange and unnerving that I have been fascinated by her ever since. I’m hoping her memoir, Walk Through Walls, will give me some insight into her complex world.

When I think about complex artists, the character of Ingrid in Deborah Levy’s Hot Milk comes to mind. On name alone, Hot Milk links to Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena.

After a year of reading sample chapters of books I’m interested in, I select 10-15 books to buy. I’ve only bought two off the 2019 list – Soviet Milk and My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams.

My Friend Anna caught my eye because I’d read Fake by Stephanie Wood, another real-life story about a charming con-artist.

Musicians, artists and con artists – where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.

Next month (February 1, 2020), we’ll begin with a book that topped the critics ‘best of 2019’ lists, Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

41 responses

    • I thought Fake was really interesting because it highlighted how scams/ con artists usually work over a long period of time to groom their victims – all too often they’re presented in a 60 Minutes format and people are incredulous that the victim was sucked in…

  1. Very interesting. Now if I had read “Museum of Modern Love” and had it on my list, I know exactly what book I’d link it to – “Smash All the Windows” by Jane Davis, about an accident on the London Underground Tube where the survivors end up contributing to an art exhibition to remember those they lost. I don’t know this next book, but I look forward to working on February’s chain!

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    • I am confident you’ll love MOML – it’s an extraordinary book and very cleverly blends fact and fiction. I’m still astounded that Marina agreed to Rose using her as the subject…

  4. Happy 2020, Kate. Lots of interesting books in your list that I haven’t read. I love that shot of Marina and Uday too. Utter silence that speaks volumes.
    My chain went off in an unhappy direction. I’m blaming the book I’m currently reading for my focus on how unfairly women are treated in a world continuously biased towards men!
    https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2020/01/04/six-degrees-of-separation-from-daisy-jones-and-the-six-to-revolutionary-road/

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  8. I haven’t read any of Kate’s books but I have read Taffy B-A’s pieces in the New York Times Magazine and have read about her new book. I lived in NYC for 17 years so feel I know all the people she writes about – which could make the book interesting or annoying. It is getting a lot of buzz: I see my library system has several hundred copies and more on order!

    Here is my chain:

    https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2020/01/six-degrees-of-separation-from-daisy.html

    • I haven’t read any Taffy B-A yet but looking forward to Fleishmann (it’s next on my reading stack) – I figured a New York story gives a lot of scope for starting a chain.

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