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You might already 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.
So Wild Swans it is.
First published in 1991, Wild Swans provides the biographies of Chang's mother and grandmother, followed by her own autobiography. I've never read it but there is a copy on the bookshelf behind the front door waiting to be read ... one day. I thought of travelling down the Chinese history route but I've decided to go with another book about three generations of women.
Georgia Blain's The Museum of Words is my first choice - I finished reading it last night. It's Blain's last book, a wonderful, thoughtful, heartbreaking reflection on life, illness, aging, growing, reading, writing, teaching, learning. Written as she knew she was dying of brain cancer, it is also the story of her mother, Anne Deveson, who has been brought to her knees by Alzheimers; Georgia's friend and mentor, the writer Rosie Scott, who is diagnosed with brain cancer shortly before Georgia; and Georgia's daughter, Odessa. If that sounds bleak, it's not. It's a beautiful celebration of living and remembering and mothering.
On my to-be-read pile is another book about parents and children, Richard Ford's Between Them: Remembering My Parents. I think, though, I may need to leave a little space between Richard and Georgia.
Let's skip quickly on, then, another author reflecting on family history. Ann Patchett's This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. This collection of essays is the place to go to if you want Ann's writing guidance (beginning with "sit down at your desk everyday"), are curious to learn how she became a bookseller, or what it's like to go on a book tour.
Ann makes a cameo appearance in Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic, a generous, comforting, inspiring book about creativity and how to make it part of your life. I recommend it to everyone who is feeling stuck in the day-to-day of life.
I had the opportunity to recommend Big Magic to Maggie Alderson (fan girl moment) who was recently at the Canberra Writers Festival. This is all the link I need to recommend The Scent of You. It's the story of a troubled marriage but also of a gorgeous family. Along the way, you'll learn a lot about the history of perfume, which is more fascinating than I would have guessed. One to read when you need some joy in your life.
The combination of perfume and history reminds me of Paris: The Secret History by Andrew Hussey. This is the best book on the history of one of my favourite cities I've ever read (well, it may be the only history of Paris I've read). And with that we've travelled from China through Australia and the US to England and France. Around the world in six books.
Until next month - assuming I remember - when it's a book I read perhaps 25 years ago: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.
