The Six Degrees of Separation Meme: Room

Hosted each month by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, this meme picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six steps. This month’s starting point is:

Room by Emma Donaghue

This is a book that I haven’t read (nor have a particular desire to read). However, if the movie adaptation came on the box, I’d watch it – so I’ve picked the film tie-in cover.

For my first link, I decided to interpret the room of Room not as a prison cell, but as a locked room as in many mysteries – which leads me to:

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware – reviewed here.

This is a top-notch thriller set on board a luxury yacht with a locked cabin. Brilliant and twisty, I loved this novel – which has a number in the title, as does

Number 11 by Jonathan Coe – reviewed here.

There are 11s everywhere in Coe’s rich satire on 21st century life, including the Chancellor’s door of course!  There is a big contrast in this novel between the haves and the have nots, and there are some scathing comments on rich people and how they live, as does

Gorsky by Vesna Goldworthy – reviewed here.

I adored this modern retelling of the Great Gatsby and Goldsworthy’s Gatsby is Gorsky – a Russian. This novel is both hilarious and respectful of its source material and I loved it. My link is thus retelling of a story which leads to:

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman – reviewed here

Gaiman’s bold retelling of the fairytales of The Sleeping Beauty mashed up with Snow White has a distinctly feminist slant in its heroines, and is gorgeously Illustrated by current Childrens’ Laureate Chris Riddell – one of my favourite illustrators – I do so love his girls’ strong brows! Riddell also co-wrote and illustrated my next choice:

Hugo Pepper by Chris Stewart and Chris Riddell – reviewed here.

One of his lesser-known series – the Far-flung adventures are just delightful middle-grade stories. This one involves a boy called Hugo, which leads to my final book:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – reviewed here.

This book (which was adapted into the film Hugo) has a fascinating concept. It’s a chunkster for children of over 500 pages that can be read in just a couple of hours for over half the pages are pictures – black and white pencil drawings mostly. But it’s not a graphic novel, this book is full of a deep love for the pioneers of cinema. The sequences of drawings within are intentioned as sequences of frames in a film which you can flick through like a flip book to fully get the sense of movement in them – zooming in on a detail, or panning and scanning as you follow a character around between written scenes. It also happens to be beautifully designed with black edges which frame the pages and set off the drawings, and later some historic photos and film stills, to a T. Simply wonderful for all ages – I can’t recommend the book enough.

Next month’s starting point is The Slap. That’ll be fun.


13 thoughts on “The Six Degrees of Separation Meme: Room

  1. Elle says:

    Superb—and yes, I LOVE Chris Riddell’s illustrations. His work for the Literary Review is especially delightful.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      If you have any nieces, goddaughters etc to give presents to – you can’t beat his Ottoline or Goth Girl books! Feisty young heroines and simply wonderful illustration. I subscribe to the Literary Review, and I would miss his covers and other art inside hugely.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Both The Girl in Cabin 10 and Number 11 are brilliant. I’m a huge fan of Coe’s and this is up with some of his best, but if you’re a crime fan, the Ruth Ware is great.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      It was great – and didn’t suffer from second novel problems! I have her first in my piles now.

  2. Carrie @ Cat on the Bookshelf says:

    I love your connections and that you highlight each connection.

    I love the story line of and the illustrations in The Sleeper and the Spindle. It’s such a beautiful story, and I think it should be in every little girl’s library. Have you read Gaiman’s and Riddell’s other picture books?

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I’m building a collection Carrie – I have Odd and the Frost Giants and The Graveyard Book. Gaiman and Riddell are a winning combo. But I’ll read anything illustrated by Riddell (I have Hardinge’s The Lie Tree with his pix).

  3. Brona says:

    I’m a fan of Selznick’s other books, but haven’t read Hugo yet. It’s always fascinating to see where these links end up.

  4. Michele Dextras says:

    I am going to have to go back to Great Britain and raid the bookstores, so many books that I have not read! Great list and explanations! And I love the illustrations.

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