Six in Six #sixinsix

Emma at Words and Peace is now hosting Six in Six, a flexible meme in which at or around the end of the sixth month one may list six titles in six categories chosen from books one has read so far during the year. As Chris at Calmgrove says: ‘for 2026 therefore it’ll be six books in six categories in the sixth month in the twenty-sixth year of this century, which is kind of neat’. I’ve now read 50 books, so duplications shouldn’t be needed… Here are my Six in Six, links will take you to my reviews.

Six non fiction books

• Homework by Geoff Dyer
• David Bowie: The Artists, the Albums, the Music by Philippe Margotin
• The Future of Fraud by Becky Holmes
• Ghost Stories by Siri Hustvedt
• The Wrong Son by Neil Griffiths
• Adrift: The Crious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea by Tracey Williams

Six debut novels

• Sycorax by Nydia Hetherington
• Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
• The Names by Florence Knapp
• Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
• To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
• The Portrait Artist by Dani Heywood-Lonsdale

Six 20thC novels

• 1935: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers
• 1947: The Rose and the Yew Tree by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
• 1960: The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien
• 1961: Marnie by Winston Graham
• 1963: Ice Station Zebra by Alastair MacLean
• 1979: Kindred by Olivia Butler

Six novels with interesting structures

• Timelines & Voices: The Expansion Project by Ben Pester
• Meta / biography: The Cauliflower® by Nicola Barker
• Mystery within a mystery: Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
• Polyphonic: The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
• Dual timeline: Borderline fiction by Derek Owusu
• Story cycle with ppt: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Six novels with settings around the world

• Iceland: Stop Dead by Katrín Júlíusdóttir
• Japan: Heaven by Meiko Kawakami
• Italy: Venice Requiem by Khalid Lyamlahy
• South Africa: Wilderness of Mirrors by Olufemi Terry
• New Zealand: The Reaper by Vanda Symon
• Kuwait: An Unlasting Home by Mai Al-Nakib

Six genre-ish novels

• Horror: The Sauna Elf by Aki Mäkiaho
• Folk horror: Paradise by Ben Tufnell
• Spec fiction/Pandemic: How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
• SF/genre-busting: The Delusions by Jenni Fagan
• Dystopian Western: The Westward Hours by Dennison Smith
• Spies: The Interpreter’s Secret by Andrew Rosenheim