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 Rachel Cusk’s Life of M which I’ve not read but I gather M is a celebrity film star.
Leading me to Joyce Carole Oates’s door stopping fictionalised life of Marilyn Monroe, Blonde.
Edward Carey’s Little is also a fictionalised biography of a celebrity: Madame Tussaud.
Carey’s The Swallowed Man is his take on Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio
Leading me to Stephen Fry’s The Liar for obvious reasons
Another comic actor, Steve Martin, also turned his hand to fiction with Shopgirl.
Reminding me of the endearing young female narrator who works in Hiromi Kawakami’s The Nakano Thrift Shop.
This month’s Six Degrees has taken me from a celebrated film star to a shop assistant by way of a few lies and laughs. 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.
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Oh, what a clever take on this month’s 6 Degrees! I’ve only read 2 and 6 from your choices, but I keep meaning to give Stephen Fry a go. And I imagine Carey’s take on Pinocchio could be fun.
Thanks, Margaret! I remember The Swallowed Man as quite melancholy. Wonderful drawings, as you’d expect.
Do I need melancholy in my life right now? We’ll see …
I have to say what a clever chain your is because we’ve used the same idea! 🙂
I’ll have to look out for The Liar. The Adventures of Pinocchio looks good, too.
Ha! Well, you know what they say about great minds…
That is an excellent first link – great chain!
Thanks, Cathy!
Nice links. – I haven’t had time to do mine yet – maybe later… I loved your last three – especially the Steve Martin. I have yet to read Little, but think I own a copy!
Thanks, Annabel. I’ll look out for yours. I think you’d love Little. Carey’s a one-off.
To twll the truth I love your link from The Swallowed Man to The Liar.
Ha! I have to say I was quite pleased with that one.
I love the Pinocchio/Liar link! I haven’t read any of these books, but I would like to read Little.
Thanks, Helen. Highly recommend Little. My hopes weren’t particularly high for it but it ended up being one of my books of the year.
This is such a fun chain, Susan, I loved it, particularly Pinocchio/Liar–The Swallowed Man and Little are going right on to Mount TBR!
Thank you, Mallika. Little’s an old favourite of mine.
I haven’t read any of these but Joyce Carol Oates married a classmate of my father’s and we always wondered if she would show up at one of their reunions!
Wouldn’t that be great!
Fry wrote a book called “The Liar”? Hm.. I’d read that! Lovely chain here.
Thank you, Davida. He’s written several other novels, and quite a bit of non-fiction, too, but that was his first. A talented guy!
I love this chain, Susan. I’ve read The Nakano Thrift Shop, and want to read everything else, other than The Liar and Shopgirl.
Thanks, Jan. The Nakano Thrift Shop’s an old favourite of mine. Hitomi’s such an endearing character.
Blonde is one of my favourite fictionalised memoirs of all time. A big book but so worth it. I am not sure whether I will read M. Celebrity-dom is a bit wearying at this stage. I won’t even watch Traitors!. Great meme once again.
I’m not a keen Cusk fan so I’ll be giving it a miss. I know what you mean about celebrities.
Fabulous links!
I also ended up in Japan: https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/10/03/six-degrees-of-separation-life-of/
Thank you!
What a cool chain!! I have very fond memories of reading The Adventures of Pinocchio [aka the “Real” Pinocchio] aloud to my kids back in 2008 when we moved here and knew no one. We read one of the nice short chapters after dinner each night. They were very skeptical 13 & 14 year olds. It is today a very fond memory for both!
Thank you, and I’m pleased it brought back happy memories!
I like the leap to Blonde – a book that has been on my radar for a while now.
Thank you. Definitely not one for #NovNov! I did wonder if I’d make it all the way through but stayed the course and it was worth it.
Good to know!
Loved your chain, especially from Pinocchio to The Liar!
Thanks, Jane. Have to admit I was pleased with that one!