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 Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
Prophet Song is ‘dystopian-lite’ (set in the future but so similar to the present it feels possible), as is Lionel Shriver’s Mania.
Characters in Mania are shamed online, which relates directly to Jon Ronson’s, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed.
I heard Ronson speak recently. I booked it at the same time as the tour of another international author – Elizabeth Gilbert. Gilbert gave a general lecture but also made mention of her forthcoming grief memoir, All the Way to the River.
I’ve already read four grief memoirs this year but I’ll link to Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks. Brooks’s husband died on Memorial Day in 2019. She traveled from their home in Martha’s Vineyard to the remote Flinders Island, off the coast of Tasmania, to mourn him.
I’ve only read one other book featuring Memorial Day – Chances Are… by Richard Russo. Coincidentally, it’s also set on Martha’s Vineyard.
Russo’s novel focuses on a group of friends away for the weekend, as does Life After Truth by Ceridwen Dovey.
Where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (April 5, 2025), we’ll start with Salman Rushdie’s memoir, Knife.
