Six Degrees of Separation: Land by Maggie O’Farrell

It’s time for the super monthly tag Six Degrees of Separation, which is hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation #6degrees picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Links to my reviews are in the titles of the books chosen. The starter book this month is:

Land by Maggie O’Farrell

I don’t think I’ll be reading O’Farrell’s latest. I read little historical fiction, and DNF’d Hamnet! Harriet reviewed Land for Shiny New Books here., so I’ll go straight to my link instead – a ‘land’ is also a ‘country’…

Joe Country by Mick Herron

This is the 6th book in Herron’s wonderful Slow Horses series set in the world of MI5 – Slough House being a home for the service discards, who, under Jackson Lamb have a habit of getting involved in operations. This book has River as the lead character. However, if you’ve not read these books, you need to begin at the beginning with Slow Horses. Another Joe is…

Armchair Nation by Joe Moran

Subtitled ‘An Intimate History of Britain in Front of the TV’, Moran’s book is superb (as all of his are!). This brought back so many memories of telly in the 1960s and 1970s in particular as I grew up. From Top of the Pops to wrestling on ITV on Saturday afternoons. We watched it all. More furniture is…

As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem

I rediscovered Lethem when I read and very much enjoyed , The Arrest, which was a story of small town post-apocalyptic dystopian life. Although most celebrated for Motherless Brooklyn, a noir whose protagonist has Tourettes, he began his novel writing with a SF book – but not just SF, it was SF-noir (and I must re-read Gun With Occasional Music). His 1997 novella, As She Climbed Across the Table is best described as contemporary SF with a metaphysical bent, but with some classic fantasy touches, but don’t let the SF clothing put you off. It’s more (Alice) Through the Looking Glass than that! A table is a type of chart, also found in…

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Egan’s 2010 intergenerational New York novel is famed for its inclusion of a lengthy powerpoint presentation. That bit was rather well done I thought. One of the strands is set in the record business. Another book about the music business is…

How Music Works by David Byrne

This book remains a highlight of my non-fiction reading. David Byrne, founder and idiosyncratic front man of Talking Heads – one of the best punky/art-rock bands there has ever been, friend and collaborator with Brian Eno and Robert Fripp amongst others, could never be expected to write a conventional memoir or book about the music business! Another book written by a musician is

The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa

Not so much a memoir as an appealing opportunity to “say stuff in print about tangential subjects” this book is an absolute hoot.  Forthright,  and by turns and hilarious and serious, Zappa is a brilliant host as he intersperses anecdotes from his life with his views on music, musicians, politics, life in general and rock’n’roll. 

My links this month have only travelled from the UK to the USA, and split between fiction and non-fiction.

Where will your 6 degrees take you?