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 Jamie Oliver’s breakout cookbook, The Naked Chef. Back in the nineties, I loved his television show and his cookbooks are an auto-buy for me.
Also on auto-buy are those by Hetty McKinnon. Her first cookbook, Community, is sensational (and the recipe for beetroot, turnip, edamame and radish salad is a family favourite).
So for a tenuous link… when I think ‘community’, my mind goes to another book that made a big impression on me in my younger years – Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putman – it examines the loss of social structures that give a sense of community.
Based on title alone, my next link is to Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken.
I’ve only read one book by McCracken, her heartbreaking memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.
Exact Replica was lent to me by a friend. She gave me two books on the same day, and the other was Leslie Jamison’s The Gin Closet.
The Gin Closet is a fictional account of alcoholism. Jamison’s memoir, The Recovering, describes her personal struggle with alcohol.
Cooking, community and alcohol! Where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (December 3, 2022), we’ll start with The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.
