In 1929, Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy wrote a short story called Chains in which he coined the phrase six degrees of separation. Of course the 1993 film, Six Degrees of Separation, starring the incomparable Stockard Channing, cemented the phrase (and concept) into everyday parlance. Based on the concept of six degrees of separation, Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith created a neat meme, where bloggers share links between books, in six moves.

This month, the chain begins with The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. I haven’t read it and my reason is pathetic – it’s just such a big book and I’ve done a few big books of late. That said, it is on my reading list (propping up the chunky end along with Harry Quebert). But the beauty of this meme is that having read the book is not a prerequisite. Continue reading →