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 I begin with Air by Christian Kracht. I have two reasons to link it to Douglas Stuart’s stunning novel, John of John. Firstly, both are set on remote Scottish islands. Secondly, the main character in Air, an interior designer, is tasked with finding ‘the perfect shade of white’. In John of John, one of the characters sorts seemingly identical seashells into a graduation of shades of white. Isn’t that a glorious similarity?
I listened to Douglas Stuart speak about John of John at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. I also listened to Cory Doctorow discuss his book, Enshittification.
Stay with me for a tenuous link… Doctorow also appeared at Melbourne’s recent Now or Never Festival. The Festival combines technology and art. One of the installations I saw there used plant pheromone (stress hormones), which reminded me of Peter Wohlleben’s book, The Hidden Life of Trees.
Books about trees… one that I haven’t read came to mind – The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara. It’s about an anthropologist on an expedition to a remote Micronesian island in search of a rumored lost tribe.
Similar, but set in the Amazon, is Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder (also not read!).
And making this chain into a circle, I’ll finish with Ann Patchett’s latest, Whistler, which she spoke about at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
I went from Scottish islands and shades of white to trees and the Amazon – where will other chains go? Link up below or post your link in the comments section.
Next month (October 3, 2026), we’ll start with Rachel Cusk’s latest novel, Life of M.
