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 Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes is labeled as ‘a breakthrough Dangerous Liaisons for our time’. The novel is described as a feminist piece, and follows an epistolary structure.
Also described as a feminist piece, and a story where letters play a pivotal part in the plot, is I Love Dick by Chris Kraus.
I recently watched the series of I Love Dick on television. It was absolutely bananas (couldn’t believe it was based on autofiction!). I haven’t read Kraus’s book yet, but the last television series I saw based on a book that I have read was Fake by Stephanie Wood.
Still on television and books – I’ve been watching The L Word because there were so many references to it in Anna Dorn’s Perfume & Pain. It was the perfect beach read, as was Banal Nightmare by Halle Butler, which I also read when I had a sea view.
Butler refers to lots of books in Banal Nightmare but one of my favourite scenes drew on Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth.
“The reason I like House of Mirth,” said Moddie in the parking lot, “is not because I think it’s a morally pure feminist examination of patriarchal structures, in fact I know Edith Wharton said point-blank she wasn’t a feminist. I like it because I’m a fucking masochist with a weak ego, and I love being emotionally manipulated by a master pervert, duh.”
“Yeah, duh,” said Nina.
Classics book-ended contemporary literature this time. Where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (March 1, 2025), we’ll start with the 2023 Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
