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Six Degrees Of Separation: From Moscow to Cape Town

Six Degrees of Separation for books is a monthly meme hosted by Kate. Each month Kate decides on a starting book and based on that everyone builds a chain of six books. Feel free to join in and post your link here.

Starting point: Moscow (A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles)

This month’s starting point is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I promise this will be the last you hear about this book from me. When I started reading it, I thought about never having been to Moscow. I love many of the metropolises of the world and since I already did a traditional chain with A Gentleman in Moscow, I will use this post to pay tribute to some of my favourite cities.

1. New York (The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.

I lived in Manhattan for a while and had the time of my life. I remember walking to the office every morning with a big smile on my face. I don’t think that has happened ever since.

2. London (Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf)

In people’s eyes, in the swing, tramp, and trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June.

New York was love as first sight, whereas London has won me over little by little. By now, London is my favourite city.

3. Sydney (Down in the City by Elizabeth Harrower)

The city, to her, meant a few particular blocks – the best blocks – lying together in a neat rectangle, linked by arcades and department stores … Three or four times a week she walked the streets of these blocks, smelt the coffee, the flowers, the rich expensive leather, the cosmetics.

Sydney was the first city I visited outside of Europe. Beautifully located with beaches, mountains and the iconic bridge and opera house. It took my breath away!  

4. Barcelona (The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón)

She let herself be lulled by the perfume of the words and was soon lost among them, succumbing to the torrent of images and rhythms that oozed from the story of Ariadna’s adventures and her descent into the depths of that enchanted Barcelona.

Every time I visit Barcelona I walk along the beach. Even at winter time, it is wonderful. Add to that Gaudi, Picasso, Miro, Sagrada Familia, Tapas,…

5. Berlin (Berlin Childhood around 1900 by Walter Benjamin)

Not to find one’s way around a city does not mean much. But to lose one’s way in a city, as one loses one’s way in a forest, requires some schooling. Street names must speak to the urban wanderer like the snapping of dry twigs, and little streets in the heart of the city must reflect the times of day, for him, as clearly as a mountain valley.

I love how the presence of history can be felt when walking around in Berlin and after the unification the city seems to attract artists and creative people in abundance.

6. Cape Town (The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor)

Yorkshire had none of the color I’d known in Cape Town- the vivid pinks and purples of the freesias and arum lilies in the flower sellers’ baskets. Yorkshire had none of the fragrant floral perfume, or the tang of salt in the air from the ocean.

Cape Town can fight Sydney for ‘best location’. The view from the Table Mountain is spectacular and a visit to Robben Island is a grim reminder of the country’s history.

These were some of my favourites. Which cities do you like to visit, in the literature or in real life?

39 comments

      • Really! I’m glad I had the chance to go. Our trip included Melbourne as well, but I feel we hardly scratched the surface. Hope to go back again some day!

        • I spent 4 weeks in Australia and we had a very busy schedule. Still, it would be lovely to revisit, but with limited time and budget, I tend to choose countries I haven’t visited before.

    • Good to hear! I haven’t been to Amsterdam (besides from the airport), but I would love to go.

    • I like Paris, but besides from that (and the odd skiing trip) I haven’t really traveled in France. Would love to go to Quebec as well!

  7. Such a clever way of escaping the dilemma with Towles’ book! I’m having a pleasand daydreaming session now, thinking about cities and books ….. 🙂

    • Mmmm, I know the feeling! You have no idea how much time I generally spend, daydreaming about all the places, I would like to go.

    • Yes! I have been to Brussels twice, it is so easy to get there by train from London. First time was a business trip in December. I distinctly remember the aroma of waffles and chocolate all over the Centre-Ville. Very charming 🙂. The second time I went privately for a long weekend during the summer. It was lovely to walk around and see all the buildings and sights. Magritte is amongst my favourite painters, so seeing the amazing Magritte museum was one of the highlights, I spent hours there.

      Ok, now you have seen what happens when you ask me about travel, I go on and on and on… 😉. Are you from Brussels?

      • An aroma of waffles and chocolate? I…. no I never noticed this, damn. I love Magritte too, but I’ve never been to the museum. I don’t mind at all that you want to go on and on :-). I’m not ‘from Brussels’ but I do work there, near the Brussels Central trainstation, which is really Centre-Ville. I hope you give me a message when you come next time and I can say hi (so far I’m thinking 34 year old female but I’d love to see if I’m right)!

        • You should definitely go to the Magritte museum, that is such a great experience! Sure, if I ever go back to Brussels, I will let you know! It will of course spoil all the mystery to actually meet up… 😉

    • Thanks, I thought I would do something different, since I already did one chain (last month) starting with A Gentleman in Moscow

    • Thanks! 😀 I hope you get a chance to visit Manhattan, but if not, it is nice to go there via the literature; there are so many great novels taking place in New York.

  11. I love the direction you took this month. I’ll check out your berlin pick – I’m in the middle of reading a fascinating book about Berlin at the moment – Hannah’s Dress by Pascale Hugues – it tells the story of one Berlin street and its residents over the course of 1900 to the present.

    • And I will check out your Berlin Pick as well! I realised when doing this chain, that I haven’t read that many books with a Berlin location and I need to rectify that. Focusing on one street over a long period of time sounds like an interesting angle!

    • Thanks! Cape Town really is a lovely place and fully deserves its place on this list 🙂

        • Wow, you have lived in Malawi, that is quite exotic! Whilst I love traveling in Africa, I am not sure I would want to live there. Ok, perhaps a couple of years in Cape Town if hard pushed 😉. Victoria Falls are amazing (and the river rafting starting at the Zambesi river after the falls is one of the most insane things, I have ever done…).

  13. Great idea for a chain! Gosh, you’re well travelled! I’ve always preferred bookish travel to the real thing – I regret not having been to places wihout having any real desire to actually go to them. Haha – I need a clone that I could send off to travel on my behalf. 😉 London is always a favourite bookish destination (plus I lived there for a few years) – especially Victorian London, Dickens, Holmes, Jekyll and Hyde, etc. I think it’s the fogs that appeal. Paris, too, though oddly I can’t think of too many books I’ve read that are set there…hmm! Maybe I need to seek out more books…

    • Thanks! I love to travel and hope to see all the countries in the world (and yes, I do have a spreadsheet 😉). But travel means a lot of different things, it can be via books, theatre, movies or even by pushing one’s own limits and move to a different place mentally. Bookish travel of course has the advantage that one can travel across space and time and even between parallel universes! London is my favourite bookish destination too. I didn’t know you have lived there, did you enjoy it? I don’t know if Dan Brown is really your thing, but The da Vinci Code is a great one for Paris locations. I once went to Paris with a da Vinci Code fan and we spent quite a bit of time, tracking down the locations from the book.

      • Yes, I did enjoy living there, but only as a long-term visitor if you know what I mean. I never felt it became home, and always knew I’d move back to Scotland after a few years. But I especially loved having access to the West End and spent every spare penny on seeing some of the theatrical greats – happy memories indeed!

        • Yes, I know exactly what you mean – that is how I felt about living in NYC. Today I might have been braver, but back then it just felt too far away from family and friends.

    • Thanks 😀. Yes, I lived in NYC for a while, but it was only a temporary thing. Although I fell completely in love with the city, I felt it was too far away from my friends and family. Oh, you have been to Barcelona as well, glad you agree!

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