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 The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. I read this book decades ago, after hearing one of my favourite authors, John Irving, say it was one of his favourite books.
The obvious link is to Irving, but instead I’m jumping to The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje, which Irving also recommeneded. I haven’t read it yet, but it sits in my stack with another book with ‘cat’ in the title, Herding Hemingway’s Cats by Kat Arney.
Arney’s book is about genetics. I have loads of popular science books about genetics on my shelves, but instead I’ll switch genres to memoir, with Dani Shapiro’s Inheritance. Shapiro’s memoir explores her experience with genealogy, and accidentally discovering that her father was not her biological father.
A novel that focuses on inheritance of the material kind is The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. The Nest centres around four siblings, and the events triggered after one of the siblings leaves rehab and returns to his reckless habits.
Families and drugs? Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe describes the dynasty of the Sackler family, responsible for making OxyContin, the painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis.
Another notable US family dynasty is that of the Kelloggs. They feature in T. C. Boyle’s novel, The Road to Wellville, which describes Harvey Kellogg’s controversial Battle Creek Spa.
My chain has darted all over the place this month, but one thing unites – apart from the starter, all of the books are in my TBR stack. Where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (April 2, 2022), we’ll start with a hot favourite to make the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.
