Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.
This month we’re starting with Heather Rose’s The Museum of Modern Love which I read on Kate’s recommendation. It imagines the lives of several people who sit with artist Marina Abramović during her 75-day performance piece at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Douglas Bruton’s With or Without Angels also fictionalises an art work, taking as its starting point the artistic response of the late Alan Smith to Giandomenico Tiepolo’s ‘Il Mondo Nuovo’.
Bruton’s novella includes many photographs as does W G Sebald’s Austerlitz.
Austerlitz is the name of Sebald’s main protagonist and also a Dutch village which made me think of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch named after Carl Fabritius’ painting which hangs in The Hague’s Mauritshuis, much visited in the novel.
Another novel with a bird in the title is Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders in which the sudden death of a bestselling author sends his editor on the hunt for clues.
Set in the New York publishing world, Jonathan Galassi’s smart, funny Muse is about another editor, somewhat taken aback when he finally meets his literary idol.
Galassi has spent much of his working life in publishing as has literary agent Bill Clegg whose first novel Did You Ever Have a Family? explores the aftermath of a family tragedy survived by just one member.
This month’s Six Degrees has taken me from a novel which features a famous piece of performance art to one by a well-known literary agent. Part of the fun of this meme is comparing the very different routes other bloggers take from each month’s starting point. If you’re interested, you can follow it on Twitter with the hashtag #6Degrees, check out the links over at Kate’s blog or perhaps even join in.
As expected, a smartly-constructed chain – I’ll add the Jonathan Galassi to my TBR I think. I ALMOST had The Goldfinch in mine – but it flew away at the last minute.
How nice, thank you! The Galassi is the perfect slip-your-brain-in-neutral read while The Goldfinch isn’t.
Slip-your-brain-in-neutral sounds perfect for August!
I hope your library has it. It’s getting on a bit, now.
It hasn’t. I’ll have to try a different strategy.
Hope you manage to track a copy down.
Very clever links – I enjoyed your chain!
Thank you, Joanne.
Great chain Susan and With or Without Angels has now gone on my list!
Thanks, Cathy. He’s a brilliant writer with a strong interest in art.
I like your bird link. I loved Magpie Murders and have been meaning to read The Goldfinch for years!
Thanks, Helen. I must admit I haven’t read Magpie Murders but I did watch a very entertaining TV adaptation earlier this year.
Great chain again. Rose’s book sounds innovative. And I still haven’t got around to reading Sebald, a writer on my radar.
Thanks, Lucy. Highly recommend the Rose. A very clever take on the piece and enjoyed by the artist, apparently!
I recently came across the idea of performance art in Lisa Ko’s Memory Piece. Although it has been getting very good reviews I think it is over-rated. Quite dense with description and I found it hard to empathise with the characters. And if you don’t have some empathy a book can be a bit of a struggle.
I read the Ko earlier this year but I think I got on with better than you!
I liked how your chain went into different artistic/creative forms–mine stuck to art and paintings this time. The only one I’ve read of yours is Magpie Murders though at one point I did mean to read Donna Tart. enjoyed your chain.
Thanks, Mallika. I’ve not read the Horowitz but can recommend the TV adaptation which I think he did himself.
I haven’t seen that yet but enjoyed the book very much. Hoping to get to the second…
Oh, really nicely done chain here!
Thank you, Davida!
I love the sound of the Bruton – I’ll look out for it.
Can’t recommend it highly enough, Annabel.
I, too, enjoyed this chain and reading how one book lead to another.
Thank you, Laurie. I love this meme!
I like your chain. I’ve still got to get around to reading The Goldfinch, a friend loved it when it came out, I just haven’t found the time to fit it in yet.
Thank you! It is a bit of a doorstopper.
Definitely one to read as an ebook then.
Good thinking!
Fun links! I loved Magpie Murders.
https://wordsandpeace.com/2024/08/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-love-to-murder/
Thank you!
A clever chain with great links, with two very different books in The Goldfinch and Magpie Murders. I enjoyed it.
Thank you, Margaret. Two very different birds as well – the sweetly chatty gold finch and the raucous magpie!
Nice work! I’ve never heard of Jonathan Galassi before–I’ll look into his work. I forgot this month
Thank you. There’s always next month! The Galassi would make a good summer read.
I love the great variety in your links – and the methodology used to link them (never predictable). I tend far too often to fall into the ‘name of the author’ or ‘word used in the title’, less imaginative ways of linking.
Ah, but you usually travel further! Thank you, Marina.
Magpie Murders is one I really want to read! I enjoyed your chain.
My #6Degrees is here:
https://darkshelfofwonders.com/six-degrees-of-separation-museums-the-plague-horses/
Thanks you!
Fun to follow through this set of links. I loved The Goldfinch. I have just one of her novels left to read and was thinking it would make a lovely summer doorstopper, but it hasn’t happened yet. (The Little Friend)
Thank you, Marcie. We must be due another Tartt although I’ve seen nothing to suggest a new one. Perhaps she’s decided to call it a day.
She was “slow” enough as it was, and I wonder whether the unbridled success of The Goldfinch wouldn’t have exacerbated that tendency.
Perhaps you’re right. It’s eleven years now.