Tag Archives: Six Degrees of Separation

Six degrees of separation: from friends to home

Posted on by
21

6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION_MY LOGO

#6Degrees

Six degrees of separation:
from friends to home

Wow, fnally back to this meme. Last time I participated was in March!
I started with the theme of friendship and ended up home, in a book that does contain beautiful friendships.
And I was tired of the ugly logo I used before. Well, this is not the best looking, but at least I made it.

Using my own rules for this fun meme hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest
(see there the origin of the meme and how it works
– posted the first Saturday of every month).

Here are my own quirky rules:

1. Use your list of books on Goodreads
2. Take the first word of the title (or in the subtitle) offered and find another title with that word in it – see the titles below the images to fully understand, as often the word could be in the second part of the title
3. Then use the first word of THAT title to find your text title
4. Or the second if the title starts with the same word, or if you are stuck
5. To help you understand what I’m doing, you will find in orange the word that will be used in the following title, and in green the word used in the previous title

June 2023 six-degrees-of-separation

 

We are supposed to start from
Friendaholic, by Elizabeth Day.
I have not read it, nor plan to do so.

1. Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs (Roscoe Riley Rules #1), by Katherine Applegate

Roscoe Riley Rules #1 and #2 are short funny stories about a young boy getting constantly into trouble, although he means well and has always great reasons. This 7 book series is not as deep as the two novels I have read by Applegate. However, they are funny and do have nice life lessons. Set in the context of trouble in class, they remind me a lot of the French classics Le Petit Nicolas, by René Goscinny, though they are shorter and for younger kids.

2. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Hishiguro

Definitely my favorite by Ishiguro. I loved that for quite a while, you have no idea what’s really going on in this special boarding school. And then, oh wow. Dystopia at its best.

3. Let‘s Explore Diabetes with Owls, by David Sedaris

In this book, you will travel all over the world, not only to France, but also to Australia, to China and Japan, etc. I really enjoy his style, his views always right on target, with love and humor, and the way he knows how to suddenly give a final twist you were not expecting at all.
Read my full review.

4. Jasmine Toguchi, Brave Explorer (Jasmine Toguchi #5), by Debbi Michiko Florence

Here is a short review I write in December 2022:
I went to the kids floor of my library to check the illustrations on Kipling’s Just So Stories. They didn’t have it available, BUT on my way out, I looked at the display of new books, and I found this cute MG set in Japan. I’m going through a Japan/Japanese obsession right now, so this book was perfect.
Jasmine is quite a pistol, though once she understands what’s going with her sister for instance, she does all she can to make it work.
But anyway, the emphasis is on Jasmine’s discovery of her grandparents’ country: Japan. As she flies there for the first time, she learns some basic words and customs, and discovers a couple of must see places in Tokyo.
A lovely book, with cute illustrations as well. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, to come out in 2023, which whill also be set in Japan, as Jasmine will finally meet her grandparents after a long trip.
Oh, and there’s a super easy Dorayaki recipe at the end!

I’m glad I featured this book. It reminded me to check out volume 6!

5. Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate

Another book by Applegate today! She’s really a great author.
And this is the book that made me discover her.
I wrote:
OMG Home of the Brave, I started crying page 16 and didn’t stop until I reached the last page 2 hours later.
Very powerful book on immigrationand friendship.

6. Homecoming, by Kate Morton

This is Morton’s latest book, published in April.

wow, another excellent book by Kate Morton.
She has this flowing style that makes you at the same time want to keep turning the pages to understand what happened AND to slow down to enjoy each sentence, and to stop to smell the roses and other flowers present in the gorgeous descriptions.
As usual, there are two timelines, she’s really good at that and at eventually tying it all together. Plus some other timelines inserted through memories or even reading of books and journals – and sometimes the reader is different, which I thought was very neat.
And of course, an important character here is a gorgeous old mansion!
The terrible scene discovered very early on by Percy could be repellng for some readers, but please keep reading. Totally worth it.
It’s about love, loss, and families ties, and even though these themes don’t usually work for me, I really enjoyed this book.

Come to think of it, a lot of books featured today are about friendship, sometimes with an owl or a cow! You never know.

 

 

📚📚📚

Visit other chains here

📚📚📚

HAVE YOU READ AND ENJOYED ANY OF THESE BOOKS?
IF YOU HAVE CREATED A CHAIN,
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR LINK IN A COMMENT

Advertisement

Six degrees of separation: a passage to France

Posted on by
25

 

#6Degrees

Six degrees of separation:
a passage to France

This time, still using my key word technique, I have decided to focus exclusively on books present on my Goodreads TBR shelf (which contains 1,159 titles at the moment when I write this post – and it could have more the time you access it, lol), to be sure I don’t always feature the same books here.

Using my own rules for this fun meme hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest
(see there the origin of the meme and how it works
– posted the first Saturday of every month).

Here are my own quirky rules:

1. Use your list of books on Goodreads
2. Take the first word of the title (or in the subtitle) offered and find another title with that word in it – see the titles below the images to fully understand, as often the word could be in the second part of the title
3. Then use the first word of THAT title to find your text title
4. Or the second if the title starts with the same word, or if you are stuck
5. To help you understand what I’m doing, you will find in orange the word that will be used in the following title, and in green the word used in the previous title

six-degrees-of-separation March 2023

 

We are supposed to start from
Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life.
I have not read it, nor plan to do so,
as I rarely read self-help books.

1.  Another Life: On Memory, Language, Love, and the Passage of Time,
by Theodor Kallifatides

“A rewarding philosophical essay on memory, language, love, and the passage of time, from a Greek immigrant who became one of Sweden’s most highly respected writers.
“Nobody should write after the age of seventy-five,” a friend had said. At seventy-seven, struggling with the weight of writer’s block, Theodor Kallifatides makes the difficult decision to sell the Stockholm studio where he diligently worked for decades and retire. Unable to write, and yet unable to not write, he travels to his native Greece in the hope of rediscovering that lost fluidity of language.
In this slim memoir, Kallifatides explores the interplay of meaningful living and meaningful work, and the timeless question of how to reconcile oneself to aging. But he also comments on worrying trends in contemporary Europe–from religious intolerance and prejudice against immigrants to housing crises and gentrification–and his sadness at the battered state of his beloved Greece.
Kallifatides offers an eloquent, thought-provoking meditation on the writing life, and an author’s place in a changing world.”

2. Towards Another Summer, by Janet Frame

“Towards Another Summer is a meditation on the themes of exile and return, homesickness and not knowing where home really is. It is suffused with beauty and tenderness and shot through with self-deprecating humour and frailty.”

3. The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson

“An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Gradually, the two learn to adjust to each other’s fears, whims and yearnings for independence, and a fierce yet understated love emerges – one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the island itself, with its mossy rocks, windswept firs and unpredictable seas.
Full of brusque humour and wisdom, The Summer Book is a profoundly life-affirming story. Tove Jansson captured much of her own experience and spirit in the book, which was her favourite of the novels she wrote for adults. This new edition sees the return of a European literary gem – fresh, authentic and deeply humane.”

4. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading,
by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

I’m actually planning on reading this one very soon, to prepare for The #1940Club, as this classic was published in 1940.

“How to Read a Book, originally published in 1940, has become a rare phenomenon, a living classic. It is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader. And now it has been completely rewritten and updated.You are told about the various levels of reading and how to achieve them – from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author’s message, criticize. You are taught the different reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science.
Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests whereby you can measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension and speed.”

5. How We Think, by John Dewey

“One of America’s foremost philosophers, John Dewey (1859-1952) fought for civil and academic freedom, founded the Progressive School movement, and steadfastly promoted a scientific approach to intellectual development.
In How We Think, Dewey shares his views on the educator’s role in training students to think well. Basing his assertions on the belief that knowledge is strictly relative to human interaction with the world, he considers the need for thought training, its use of natural resources, and its place in school conditions; inductive and deductive reasoning, interpreting facts, and concrete and abstract thinking; the functions of activity, language, and observation in thought training; and many other subjects.
John Dewey’s influence on American education and philosophy is incalculable. This volume, as fresh and inspirational today as it was upon its initial publication a century ago, is essential for anyone active in the field of teaching or about to embark on a career in education.”

6. How the French Think: An Affectionate Portrait of an Intellectual People,
by Sudhir Hazareesingh

“Why are the French such an exceptional nation? Why do they think they are so exceptional? The French take pride in the fact that their history and culture have decisively shaped the values and ideals of the modern world. French ideas are no less distinct in their form: while French thought is abstract, stylish and often opaque, it has always been bold and creative, and driven by the relentless pursuit of innovation.”

E.M. Forster left us his great A Passage to India, but today, starting from a passage and landing among the French, I offered to you a passage to France!

📚📚📚

Visit other chains here

📚📚📚

HAVE YOU READ AND ENJOYED ANY OF THESE BOOKS?
Let me know if you think they should stay on my TBR.
And don’t hesitate to give me a link if you reviewed one of these.
IF YOU HAVE CREATED A CHAIN,
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR LINK IN A COMMENT

Six degrees of separation: from New York to the Atlantic

Posted on by
29

 

#6Degrees

Six degrees of separation:
from beach reading to beach walking

Time flies so fast, it’s only by visiting another blogger that I reaized I had missed to post last Saturday for this meme. I double checked that I have the date scheduled for next post in March!
My quirky rules were challenged with this one word title we had to start from. Apparetly, I haven’t read any book with the word trust in the title, which I actually find surprising.
I did read a book by another Diaz, but I found it so so bad that I certainly do not want to feature it here.
Trust was published in May 2022, so I went with another book published in May 2022 – at least in one of its English translations (I read it in the original – French).

Using my own rules for this fun meme hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest
(see there the origin of the meme and how it works
– posted the first Saturday of every month).

Here are my own quirky rules:

1. Use your list of books on Goodreads
2. Take the first word of the title (or in the subtitle) offered and find another title with that word in it – see the titles below the images to fully understand, as often the word could be in the second part of the title
3. Then use the first word of THAT title to find your text title
4. Or the second if the title starts with the same word, or if you are stuck
5. To help you understand what I’m doing, you will find in orange the word that will be used in the following title, and in green the word used in the previous title

six-degrees-of-separation 0223

 

We are supposed to start from Trust, by Hernan Diaz (published in May 2022).
I have not read it, nor plan to do so.

1. A Single Rose, by Muriel Barbery (published in May 2022)
Each word seems chiseled. The result is an amazing gem.
See my short review.

2.  The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
I so enjoyed it, but read it in French a few decades ago, way before the existence of this blog. Totally time to reread it, in Italian this time!

3. My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok
The comment for #2 fits perfectly for this one as well!
I so liked it that I devoured in a row all the books by Potok – yes, I was just as book obsessed in my younger years, lol.

4. The Year of My Life, by Kobayashi Issa
This was a book I cherished a lot last year. I have lots of notes, and haven’t published them yet!!

5. A Hundred Million Years and a Day, by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
VERDICT: Beautifully written and remarkable narrative about following one’s dreams, and human behavior in harsh conditions. I promise you, you won’t forget this expedition! 
Read my full review

6. Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories, by Simon Winchester
This is the most thorough “biography” I have ever read, and the most entertaining as well. One thing I would like to highlight, however, is the plan of the book, a genius idea I believe. 
Read my full review

So I didn’t have far to go: I started in New York, where Trust is set, and ended up in the Atlantic!

📚📚📚

Visit other chains here

📚📚📚

HAVE YOU READ AND ENJOYED ANY OF THESE BOOKS?
IF YOU HAVE CREATED A CHAIN,
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR LINK IN A COMMENT