stargazer

Six Degrees Of Separation – books about writers

Happy new year everyone! As usual, I start the blogging year with my favourite meme.

Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate, who each month decides on a starting point, from which everyone builds a chain of six related books. Feel free to join in!

Starting point: Beach Read by Emily Henry

Beach Read is a romance between Augustus, who writes literary fiction and romance author, January. Yes, that is really their names… Beach Read appeared in my last Six Degrees, when I wrote a little story inspired by books about books. Don’t worry, I won’t write another story, but I’ll continue to utilise the book’s theme about books and writers.

1. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Magpie Murders is a great example of a book inside a book. When a popular crime author dies, the publisher looks into his death and discovers trails left inside his last manuscript. I enjoyed reading the manuscript and got annoyed when remembering it’s a fictional series and the other books mentioned don’t actually exist. Like Beach Read, Magpie Murders explores how authors find inspiration. Also, the esteem of literary fiction vs. more commercial genre fiction is discussed in both books.

2. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

The author portrayed in Magpie Murders is a highly unpleasant person. His characters are unflattering versions of *real life* people and his publisher suspects the key to his death is to be found in his manuscript. In The Silkworm, it’s the author Owen Quine, who dishes the dirt on *real life* people in his manuscript, including influential authors and publishers. No need to say, he also gets himself killed.

3. Original Sin by P.D. James

The Silkworm doesn’t depict a very flattering picture of the literary community. Gigantic egos, backstabbing and malicious rumours are just the beginning. Original Sin, which is centred around a well-established publishing house, doesn’t do much to improve this image. I loved the fact that Peverell Press is located on the Thames and the employees go to work on a boat. I do that from time to time as well. It’s a wonderful journey along the Thames with plenty of spectacular London views.

4. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

Whereas I enjoyed the previous three books despite a fair amount of unlikeable characters, I didn’t get on with The End of the Affair. The protagonist is a self-centred, whiny, middle-aged, obsessed writer, apparently inspired by the author himself. His struggles with his religious beliefs didn’t appeal to me either.

5. Hunger by Knut Hamsun

Knut Hamsun’s Hunger is also based on the authors own experiences. A young aspiring writer is struggling with hunger, poverty and despair. Written in 1890, it’s an early example of how living on the edge affects the human psychology. I found the writing impactful and the bleak, uncomfortable content is softened by the author’s underlying humour.

6. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Let’s finish with another semi-autobiographical novel. Similar to the fictional writers in Magpie Murders and The Silkworm, Sylvia Plath based her characters in The Bell Jar on real life people, perhaps in a less flattering version. Avoiding these people being recognised was part of the reason why The Bell Jar was first published under the pseudonym, Victoria Lucas.

So there you have it. Six books about writers and the literary community. We started with lighthearted romance and ended with serious mental illness. How did that happen? Did your chain take an unexpected turn as well?

43 comments

  1. What a great idea for a chain. You remind me that I’ve yet to read any Anthony Horowitz, which is quite an achievement on my part since he’s so prolific. But I’ll put that right – soon. To add to your list of books about writers, have you read Patrick Gale’s Mother’s Boy, a re-imagining of Charles Causley’s early life? I loved it – but then Patrick Gale is always a winner in my eyes.

    • Thanks Margaret, I seem to have come across quite a few books about writers recently. Out of my five reads in December, three of them were about writers. Magpie Murders is my first Horowitz, so you are not far behind. No, I am not familiar with Mother’s Boy, but I just checked it out. It sounds interesting and has got stellar reviews on Goodreads. Will note it down!

    • Thanks Cathy, Magpie Murders was actually my first Horowitz, but I thought it was good fun (and slightly confusing) to have a book inside the book.

    • Thanks! πŸ˜€ Normally I don’t mind a few unsympathetic characters in my books. Adds a bit of colour!

    • Thanks! I agree, Magpie Murders was good fun. It was my first but won’t be my last Horowitz. I found it interesting that both Magpie Murders and The Silkworm have nasty authors being murdered.

    • Generally, I like P.D. James’ Dalgliesh books. It is the kind of slow and character focused crime fiction, which I normally enjoy.

    • Oh no, that happens sometimes, which is annoying! Better luck next month!! 😊

  10. Great chain. I really enjoy both the book, Magpie Murders, and the recent mini-series, which had great actors and charming interviews with Horowitz after each episode.

    I also read The Bell Jar years ago. As she grew up near me (I drive about a block away from her childhood home when I go to work), she is never long out of the news here. Also, weirdly, her brother was in my father’s class at Harvard, although I doubt anyone ever asked him about Sylvia.

    • Thanks! πŸ˜€ I haven’t watched the mini-series of Magpie Murders, I am curious how it handled the book inside the book. That is interesting that you are from the same area as Sylvia Plath. Understandable that you wanted to read the novel, I can imagine you’ve heard a lot about her over the years.

  11. Very enjoyable chain Stargazer. I’ve heard of a few of these authors but have only read The bell jar. I haven’t heard of Hamsun but I do like writers who can wnk bleak stuff with some underlying humour.

    • Glad you enjoyed it! Hamsun is Norwegian, so it’s no wonder that you haven’t heard of him. I often think, I should write more about Scandinavian literature on my blog. I think it’s nice that you promote Australian authors. Maybe one day!

  12. Happy new year to you too! Magpie Murders sounds really intriguing. This is a very curious idea for a chain and I loved the premises. I loved The Bell Jar and can’t wait to check out Magpie Murders soon!

    • Magpie Murders was certainly different and quite original, which is difficult to achieve these days. I really enjoyed the writing in The Bell Jar. You could definitely tell, Sylvia Plath was a poet as well.

    • Yes, the chain took quite a turn! I guess, I read more crime fiction than romance books. πŸ˜† I can absolutely recommend The Bell Jar although I didn’t love it unconditionally (review coming soon…).

  15. I love books about writers, so thank you for this really fun chain! I keep getting told by non-writing friends that no one wants to read about self-absorbed writers, but as long as they are not too whingey, it can be fun!

    • Glad you liked it! I also love books about writers. A lot of them were pure entertainment, but I also find it interesting to learn about the writing process and where authors find inspiration.

  16. Nice how you linked all of these. I’ve read The Silkworm, Hunger, and The Bell Jar … but it’s been a while ago now. I’m trying to think of a writer novel …. drawing a blank but maybe the novel The Plot … by Jean Hanff. It’s starts off very slow (I found) but at the end it has a good twist.

    • I’ve come across The Plot before, but for one reason or another, I decided not to pick it up. Maybe I should check it out again?

    • Yes, I actually think it’s good. She writes interesting characters, which is important, since the books tend to be rather long. By now, I’ve given up on the series, but that normally happens sooner or later with every series I start on.

  18. Neat! Yes Horowitz is amazing, and including himself in the novel in the whole series.
    I was far from impressed by The End of the Affair as well

    • Phew! I am glad not to be the only one, who wasn’t impressed by The End of the Affair. It seems to be such a popular classic. And yes, the Horowitz book was so original, I loved how the two layers of fiction blended together.

  19. A fun post and great list. Stephen King definitely comes to my mind, Misery, The Shining are about writers and their, well, shall I call them, adventures. I think there is this prototype of a “failed writer” in many novels and the plot likes to link this lifestyle to alcohol and misery. I often wondered whether to try The End of the Affair, now I don’t think I will. Graham Greene is generally not my type of reading, but I do enjoy the film adaptations.

    • Thanks Diana, I believe Misery and The Shining are great examples. I haven’t actually read the novels, but I love the film adaptation of both of them. On the other hand, I haven’t seen the adaptation of The End of the Affair. I can easily believe, I’ll enjoy it more than the novel, though. So far I am not a fan of Graham Green, but I am willing to give him another chance.

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