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Six Degrees Of Separation – Jan 2021

Like in 2020, I am going to kick off the blogging year with a Six Degrees post. Six Degrees of Separation, my favourite meme, is hosted by Kate, who each month decides on a starting book, from which everyone builds a chain of six books. Feel free to join in and post your link here.

Starting point: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

This month, we start with Hamnet, a prize winning historical fiction novel, about Shakespeare’s family with focus on events after the death of his son Hamnet.

1. Wish you were here by Nick Webb

Hamnet revolves around a rather famous English writer and his family. In Wish you were here, we meet another English writer, Douglas Adams, whose The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has become a modern cult classic. I love his sense of humour and geeky science references.

2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

In Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the protagonist Arthur manages a last minute escape from disaster. In All the Light We Cannot See, it’s the young girl, Marie-Laure, who has a last minute escape, when the Nazis invade her home city, Paris. Beautifully written, this novel didn’t quite engage me the way I had expected it to.

3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Anne Frank is another young girl, who was caught up in the terrible events of WW2. She wrote about her experiences in The Diary of a Young Girl.

4. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Anne Frank spent years in hiding with her family in a secret annexe of a building. Talk about getting close to your family! Laura Ingalls was definitely close to her family, which she wrote about in the Little House on the Prairie series. I have fond memories reading this series as a kid.

5. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

Laura Ingalls suffered a terrible loss of a younger brother. The same is the case for John Berry, the protagonist in The Hotel New Hampshire. Besides from that there aren’t many similarities between the Ingalls and the Berrys, even if the Ingalls family actually helped running a hotel for a couple of years.

6. The Year of living Danishly by Helen Russell

In The Hotel New Hampshire, the Berry family temporarily relocates to a different country in order to work there. Helen Russel and her husband also relocate due to job opportunities, which she writes about in The Year of Living Danishly. As a Dane living in the UK, it was fun reading about the experiences of a Brit in Denmark.

In my last Six Degrees post, I tried to stick to a common theme. This month both my books and connections may seem a bit random. But actually there is a link in the form of a “hidden” message. Did you spot it? I can reveal, it doesn’t exactly qualify me for Bletchley Park, but still, let me show you:

  • Wish you were here
  • All the Light We Cannot See
  • The Diary of a Young Girl
  • These Happy Golden Years
  • The Hotel New Hampshire
  • The Year of living Danishly

56 comments

    • Thanks, I am so glad you enjoyed it! Hope you got off to a good start of 2021 given the strange situation we are in. Speaking of which, I think, I read that your country is ahead with the vaccination programme relative to the rest of the world.

      • Yes, already over 10% of the population vaccinated – including me and my husband. Our next shot is schedule for Jan 26 and then two weeks later we’ll get a “green passport” which will free us from the shackles of the shut-downs. I dislike this government, but even they couldn’t screw up our healthcare system.

        • That sounds quite efficient, it must be nice to get back to a more normal life. I have a feeling the process will be slower and more messy here in the UK…

          • Not normal yet. We get the second vaccine on Jan 26, then two weeks after that they’ll issue us a “green passport” and THEN we can get back to some sort of normal life. Mid-February is looking very good!

          • Well, if Mid-Feb holds, then it’s still pretty good. For the UK, if we speed up the number of daily vaccinations massively, we may get out of lockdown around Easter. The more pessimistic say around the summer holiday!

    • Thanks Callum, it will be interesting to see what the new year brings after a relatively subdued start. But as they say, things can only get better! πŸ˜‰

  6. Brilliant hidden message! Love it. Also love Hamnet, which I have just finished. It was terrific. I read all the John Irving novels many years ago. My favourite was The Hotel New Hampshire. Parts of it still make me laugh when I think of them, and there were a few quotes from it which my family used often.

    • Thanks so much! πŸ˜€ I am on the fence regarding whether to read Hamnet – it isn’t my usual kind of book, but I’ve seen so many positive reviews. The Hotel New Hampshire is my favourite Inving as well, although I haven’t read all of them. You are right, it contains some great quotes!

        • Ok, that is interesting, thanks for letting me know. I may give it a try. πŸ™‚

    • Thanks so much, Susan! I always enjoy doing these chains. Hope you had a good start on 2021 so far!

    • I am glad to hear that! You know, that is why Six Degrees is my favourite meme – there are so many different ways you can play around with it! πŸ˜€

  9. Oh wow!! Aren’t you the clever one! Love it!!! You put a lot of effort into this. Thank you!!

    May you also have a wonderful year and may all the best books come your way.

    Elza Reads

    • Aww, thanks so much! It is always fun to do these chains, because there are so many ways you can twist and turn them. I must admit, it’s my first attempt at creating a hidden message though. I wish you the same and look forward to lots of Six Degrees chains in the new year.

    • That is some coincidence! I don’t think, I’ve ever seen the television adaptation, but I loved the books. Haha, I think that is why I decided to read Hitchhiker’s Guide in the first place – I didn’t get all the 42 jokes!

    • Aww, thanks so much! Let’s hope 2021 will be a good one including lots of books and Six Degrees!

    • Glad you enjoyed it! I enjoyed putting it together as well. πŸ™‚ Thanks Sue, I hope you got a good start of 2021!

  14. The Diary of A Young Girl is one of my absolute favorites and I’ve read it every year since I was 11. There’s something about it that every time I read it, I realise something I missed earlier.
    I thought the link was home/family but it didn’t satisfyHamnet.
    That was quite a brilliant way of wishing a happy year ahead! Happy New Year to you too!

    • It really is a great book. It has been a while since I read it, perhaps a reread would be in order. I love, when you can come back to a book and still spot new details / new angles, you hadn’t realised earlier. Thanks so much, I had fun putting this post together!

  16. Haha, hiding a message is a brilliant idea! It wins you this month’s award for Most Unique Links – no prize but you may allow yourself an extra slice of leftover Christmas cake…

    Happy New Year!

    • Thanks FF! No leftover Christmas cake, but my local bakery handed out free blueberry muffins this morning, so that will be my prize πŸ˜‰

    • Thanks so much Marina Sofia. Yes, let’s hope so, even if the beginning of the year could have been better…

  19. Oh I loved the little surprise at the end! Happy New Year to you too!
    Such a great chain this week too, and The Diary of Anne Frank is hard one in my mind to find a link to another book but you did brilliantly there!!

    • I am glad you liked it! Yes, some books are easier to link than others, but since there are very few rules in this meme, I believe most books can in theory be linked to each other. Thanks Inge!

  20. Oh, how fun, and this one had β€œextra” creativity! I hope you are having a lovely start to the new year, even with a lockdown, and that you are feeling rested! Also, hope your 2021 is filled with great health and books you love! ❀️

    • Thanks Jennifer, I am definitely feeling rested and managed to read quite a few excellent books in the holidays. I also wish you a great 2021 with lots of books and hopefully some more bookish chats as well!

    • Thanks! I am definitely in the minority with All the Light We Cannot See, I think most readers loved it!

    • Thanks, I had fun working it out! I guess Anne Frank’s diary has become a bit of a classic – hope you will enjoy it!

  23. Douglas Adams was one of the funniest men who ever lived. He died far too young. I didn’t know about the biography, and must track it down.

    • He certainly was funny and I find that his sense of humour matches mine very well. I agree he died far too young. Thanks for stopping by!

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