This month’s starting point is a crime novel with difference – Butter by Asako Yuzuki. Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer,” Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan. —Goodreads This sounds like […]
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This month we begin with a novel longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize – The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop. Description from Amazon: Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, Patrick is much older than J.B.. But when they met, he seemed somehow ageless,
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For this month’s starting point we were told to look on our shelves for a travel guide. I have a bunch of badly outdated travel guides, but the most recent one added to the shelf is Lonely Planet’s Pocket Rome: Top Experiences – Local Life. There’s a reason why this book is on the shelf:
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This month we start with Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Last month (February) we were directed to start with the book our chain had ended with the previous month (January), which for me was . . . Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. So this time around, I’m accepting the challenge of taking the same starting
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This month we start with the book we ended with in January. That was Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. The title refers to a region in Michigan where the protagonist and her family own a cherry orchard. first degree My first-degree entry is a no-brainer: Anton Checkhov’s probably best known play, The Cherry Orchard. second
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This month we start with Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, which was My Most Surprising Read of 2022. Zevin’s powerful novel made me consciously re-examine how I read fiction, and I began putting together a list of books that, at various times in my life, have changed the way I read fiction.
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This month we start with Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder, which was published in July 2023. The book details the life of writer Eileen O’Shaughnessy, who married George Orwell in 1936. Anna Funder uses newly discovered letters between Eileen and her best friend to get to know Orwell’s wife, who has been
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I missed last month’s 6 Degrees because I was still on vacation in early July. But I’m back for this month’s exercise, which begins with Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love,
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This month we start with Elizabeth Day’s exploration of friendship, Friendaholic. Here’s part of the Goodreads description of the book: “ As a society, there is a tendency to elevate romantic love. But what about friendships? Aren’t they just as – if not more – important? So why is it hard to find the right
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Before we get started on this month’s exercise, here’s a bonus offering: What Does the Term ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ Mean? Moving on, we start this month with a book on the Stella Prize 2023 shortlist – Hydra by Adriane Howell. From the Amazon description, I think this novel would be squarely in my wheelhouse:
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