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 Orbital by Samantha Harvey. This links to Judith Schalansky’s An Inventory of Losses , in which Schalansky refers to the time capsules on board the Voyager space probes – ‘…the authors of this space-age message in a bottle themselves conceded… [that the chances of the time capsules being found are], …so slim that this undertaking can be viewed as the product of a kind of magical thinking that lives on in the scientific community…’.
One of my favourite essays in An Inventory of Losses was about a ‘lost island’, which provides a snapshot of Schalansky’s first book, Atlas of Remote Islands.
Based on name alone, my next link is to Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart.
Atlas of the Heart is organised according to emotion, as is Garth Risk Hallberg’s incredibly creative novel, A Field Guide to the North American Family.
I was so impressed by Field Guide that I rushed to Hallberg’s back catalogue, which features his award-winning debut novel, City on Fire.
City on Fire is a door-stopper at over 900 pages. Do I dare…?! The last door-stopper I read was 11/22/63 by Stephen King, which totalled 849 pages. I only have the strength for one a year – maybe it will be City on Fire in 2025.
Where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (February 1, 2025), we’ll begin with a classic – Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
