The Six Degrees of Separation meme is hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. The idea behind the meme is to start with a book and use common points between two books to end up with links to six other books, forming a chain. Every month she provides the title of a book as the starting point.
The starting point this month is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, thus this is a perfect first post for December. I am sure I have read this story long ago, but then maybe I am just familiar with film adaptations. (My favorite is Scrooged with Bill Murray.) I do have the illustrated edition pictured here, and I will be reading it this month.
For my first link I will make the obvious connection, another book with a Christmas theme.
The Shortest Day by Jane Langton is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Homer and Mary Kelly are teaching a class at Harvard University. Mary is participating in the annual Christmas Revels when a young singer in the event dies in an automobile accident. When other deaths follow, Homer resists getting involved, even though he was once a homicide detective.
I next link to another book featuring an academic setting ... Murder is Academic by Christine Poulson. The UK title is Dead Letters. This is the first book in Poulson's Cassandra James series. Cassandra becomes the Head of the English department at St. Etheldreda's College at the University of Cambridge, after the former Head, a close friend, dies. This is one of my favorite academic mysteries.
I move on to another book set at the University of Cambridge, The Cambridge Theorum. The main character, Derek Smailes, is a police detective assigned to investigate the death of an undergraduate. It is a combination of a police procedural and an espionage novel.
My next choice would be The Becket Factor by Michael David Anthony, which also includes elements of espionage with another subgenre, this time a clerical mystery. Published in 1990, politics, local and national, are also touched on. The main setting for this book is a cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, and its surroundings, which leads me to another book set in a Cathedral close.
Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert was my first exposure to life in a Cathedral close, which made it doubly interesting. That book was published much earlier, in 1947, and is very much a traditional puzzle-type mystery.
My last book in the chain has even more of a religious emphasis, and takes us back to the Christmas theme. Mr. Ive's Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos is a novel that tells the story of a man's life and the grief he suffers when his son dies in a senseless robbery a few days before Christmas. Mr. Ives' religious beliefs and faith are at the center of this book, but family relationships and friendships are also stressed.
My chain this month began and ended with Christmas stories, and in the middle there were books with academic or ecclesiastical settings. I look forward to seeing the direction of other Six Degrees posts.
20 comments:
How lovely to see Oscar Hijuelos popping up here! I enjoyed this one but my favourite of his is Empress of the Splendid Season.
I've heard others recommend Christine Poulson to me, as I love academic mysteries, especially Cambridge. I can't think why I haven't explored her further by now...
You've got some great choices here, Tracy, and very happy to see Poulson's work! I really like her Cassandra James series, and her new one is well-written, too. Recommended if you haven't tried it yet.
Very flattered to be included here, Tracy! So glad you like the novel.
Do you know, I think I have read and enjoyed all of these! A great collection, love your links.
Nice chain, Tracy. I really enjoy books with academic or ecclesiastical settings so have made a note of several of your books. One of my own favourites is Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey.
Empress of the Splendid Season is one I have not heard of, Susan. I would like to read something else by Hijuelos.
Marina, you should try this series by Poulson. And she has a newer one also is that is very good too.
I have read Poulson's series with Katie Flanagan, also, Margot. My favorite is Cold, Cold Heart but that is just because I am partial to a setting in Antarctica.
I did like it very much, Christine, and I have the second in the series to read.
You introduced several of these books to me, Moira. And I am glad you did.
Miss Pym Disposes is on my list to reread, Cath. I will have to make a point to do that in 2019.
I think I bought the last one but never read it, unsurprisingly. Probably not too much else that that rocks me if I'm honest. (Sorry!) I did have a role as Bob Cratchit in our school play about a zillion years ago.
I can actually see you as Scrooge, Col. But you were younger then. Of all the books, the one I think you might like is the Tony Cape, because it actually is more espionage than police procedural. But you have enough books as it is. As I do, but I just cannot stop.
Very interesting list, indeed. I'll have to put a couple of those on my Wish List.
I am glad you liked it, Rick. I enjoyed all the books, any of them would be a good read.
Scrooge - ouch that hurts!
Sorry, Col, but Scrooge is the most interesting character, and he shows the most growth. I look forward to reading the book this month and seeing what the character is like there. Any Dickens I read was years ago.
I'm kidding - I think if you spoke to my family they might compare me more to the Grinch than Scrooge! That said they both saved themselves by the end of the day - there's hope for me yet!
Very true, Col. And the Grinch is also an interesting character, and another story about redemption. I will have to find a copy to read some Christmas.
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