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 Butter by Asako Yuzuki. It’s billed as a food-related-murder story – I wasn’t so sure about the murder bit but there are certainly lots of descriptions of food.
Another book about food and death is N. M. Kelby’s White Truffles in Winter. I didn’t think much of this novel either!
But a ‘foodie’ book that I did love was Kitchen Table Memoirs by Nick Richardson. It’s a collection of anecdotes from Australian writers and the kitchen table plays a starring role in each.
Similar, but about pools not kitchen tables, is The Memory Pool by Therese Spruhan. One of the authors featured in this collection is Trent Dalton. I read his latest, Lola in the Mirror, earlier this year.
The Brisbane River plays an important part in Lola, as does the Knox River in Richard Russo’s Empire Falls.
My last link is via ’empires’ and I can’t go past Patrick Radden Keefe’s much talked about exposé, Empire of Pain.
Food, places that are important parts of our memories, rivers and empires – where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (July 6, 2024), we’ll start with the 2024 winner of the International Booker Prize, Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated by Michael Hofmann).
