(Thirty) Six Degrees of Separation

It's 36 degrees Celsius in Canberra at the moment. Rather than standing in front of the open freezer door, I'm thinking about different degrees ... of separation. I'm sure you know that Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman began the 6 Degrees of Separation meme in 2014 and now it is managed (is that the right word?) by Kate at Books are my favourite and best. The idea is that Kate nominates a book and, on the first Saturday of the month, participants reveal chains of six books that all connect in some way. If you are curious to see where other people's reading leads them, Kate's blog is a good place to begin. But I owe my introduction to Whispering Gums, another very good place to start.

The year begins with Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Now, I haven't read any of the books in this series, despite the fame and love showered on its heroine, Precious Ramotswe (could she have a more delightful name?). But over 10 years ago, a dear friend gave me the first two books in what is now called the Isabel Dalhousie series, The Sunday Philosophy Club and Friends, Lovers, Chocolate. Set in Edinburgh, Isabel is an independently wealthy philosopher, the editor of a small magazine, who solves problems for friends and strangers. I'm delighted to see the 12th in the series will be published this year. I'm still reading along.

Next up could be a series (Harry Potter is too obvious, right?), a female detective (perhaps Aimee Leduc?), or a book set in Edinburgh (Ian Rankin?). But thinking about philosophy reminds me of Sophie's World: A novel about the history of philosophy. Written by Jostein Gaarder, this was a publishing phenomenon in 2007. I bought it hoping it would provide me with a quick guide to Philosophy. Perhaps I read it too quickly - none of it has stuck.

Jostein Gaarder is Norwegian and, as I'm starting to melt sitting here at the computer, I think we need to be somewhere cold for a few moments. Jo Nesbo is Gaarder's compatriot but his crime novels featuring Harry Hole (another detective, another series) have become a different kind of publishing phenomenon. The first in the Harry Hole series, The Snowman, is the only one I have read - although there is another on my TBR pile. I think I could become quite fond of Harry.

Let's keep with the 'snow' theme. Do you remember reading Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson? I can't quite believe it was published in 1994! I'd forgotten that it, too, is a murder mystery but I have a very strong memory of its depiction of anti-Japanese sentiments on the west coast of the United States in the 1950s. Much of the story is told in flashback and, if my memory serves me correctly, the novel also depicts Japanese Americans being interned during the war.

Internment takes me to my next book - I'm thinking of Always Afternoon (1981), a novel by Gwen Kelly, set in Australia during World War 1. Internment stories intrigue me. My grandfather was a chaplain at the Hay Internment Camp during World War 2. A beautiful television adaptation of the novel lead me to the book, which tells the story of German internees living in Trial Bay, NSW, during the war. Kelly published five novels, many short stories, and was awarded four Henry Lawson prose awards. You can read a little bit about her here.

I'm a bit stuck for where to end, partly because I'm thinking about the book I have been reading this afternoon, George Saunder's Lincoln in the Bardo. Maybe it's a bit of a cheat, but being interned is a little like being stuck in the 'bardo', that no-man's land between life and death. And both books are set during ugly, horrific wars. I'm so close to the end of the Lincoln in the Bardo, that there's only one thing left to do: go and finish it, while standing in front of the open freezer.

Wishing you many great and cool reads in 2018.

Six Degrees of Separation - Following Bret Easton Ellis

Would you pick this up in a bookstore?

Oh dear! I've never read any of Bret Easton Ellis' novels. He was the enfant terrible of young writers in the 1980s. I have a memory of American Psycho appearing on bookshelves sealed in plastic. His first novel, Less than Zero, is the subject of Six Degrees of Separation this month.

While I agonise about where Less than Zero will lead me, regular readers will know that Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman began the 6 Degrees of Separation meme in 2014 and now it is managed (is that the right word?) by Kate at Books are my favourite and best. The idea is that Kate nominates a book and, on the first Saturday of the month, participants reveal chains of six books that all connect in some way. If you are curious to see where other people's reading leads them, Kate's blog is a good place to begin. But I owe my introduction to Whispering Gums, another very good place to start - I also owe her for some mentoring on how to set up comments. Hopefully that's under control now.

But back to Less than Zero. The online blurbs suggest its reminiscent of Luke Davies' Candy - but I haven't read it either. The book I remember reading when Easton Ellis what at the height of his fame was Donna Tartt's The Secret History. The Paris Review, via Google, tells me that Tartt and Easton Ellis attended the same college and shared early drafts. Saved by Google.

The Secret History is set in a college and starts with a murder. I'm going to take the easy route and follow the crime. This time to Tana French, the Irish crime writer, I read In the Woods earlier in the year, looking for a new crime series to follow. She was getting a lot of press at the time, although her novels were quite hard to find in local bookstores. It was an enjoyable read but I didn't get the bug and haven't read any others yet.

I'm now in Ireland, though, and thinking about Irish fiction. Probably the first Irish novel I read was The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien. I read it a very long time ago. It was one of a number of books I read that helped me explore what being a feminist might mean.

Simone de Beauvoir is another writer I read around about the same time (surprise!). I discovered her via the marvellous biography by Deirdre Bair. I ended up reading all de Beauvoir's novels but the one that remains foremost in my mind is The Mandarins. Set in France in the aftermath of the Second World War, it is believed to be based on the group of intellectuals who surrounded de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Satre. The truth disguised as fiction, perhaps?

Now reading

Another novel based on life is Alex Miller's new book, The Passage of Love. I'm reading it at the moment (up to chapter 5) and, while it might be based on his early years in Australia, I've quickly stopped second-guessing and am becoming immersed in the story of Robert Crofts, who travelled from England at 17 to become a stockman in the far north before becoming a writer.

Another book about a writer is Stephen King's Misery. (I love the cover text I've linked too: 'Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he's writing to stay alive'.) Funnily enough, Misery has some connections to Less than Zero. The first is that I haven't read either - although the film starring Kathy Bates and James Caan is forever etched in my memory. The second is that Stephen King is apparently one of Bret Easton Ellis' influences.

Now how's this for a coincidence: I've just looked at Books are my favourite and best to find out what December's book is ... Stephen King's It! I don't think I'm going to read it (I'm not good with horror and scary clowns) but I look forward to seeing where it leads me.