Six Degrees of Separation from Tales of the City to Gasa-Gasa Girl

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 Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. I decided to read this book this month, it was even better than I expected and now I want to read other books in the series. It amazes me that I missed it when it came out in 1978, since I was living in California at the time. That was a transitional time in my life so I guess other things were on my mind. The book is set in San Francisco, California, and it was originally published in newspaper columns.

Another book set in San Francisco is The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan,  published in 1989, a story about four immigrant Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters. It is many years since I read that book, and what I remember about it was the exploration of the mother / daughter relationships. But the present day portions of each story are set in San Francisco, including Chinatown, and now I want to reread the book.

From there I move to a book set in another California city, Santa Barbara. Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg was a fantastic read but it was very, very bleak. The depiction of Santa Barbara is perfect and fits in well with the telling of the story of a Vietnam vet and his gigolo friend.

I don't read that many books that are dark and bleak, but even before I read Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, I knew it would be about greed and depravity and unhappy people. Even so, I enjoyed it; it is a  very short novel, almost closer to novella length. That book was also set in California, in Los Angeles.

Next I link to another book by James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce, set in Glendale, California, during the Great Depression. This one is about a single mother and her relationship with her selfish and narcissistic daughter.

Another mother / daughter relationship is the focus of Concrete Angel by Patricia Abbott. In this case it is the mother who is selfish and narcissistic and the daughter is victimized. The story is told from the daughter's point of view and is a mesmerizing read. A chilling story, dark but not depressing.

My last link is to a book whose theme is a difficult father / daughter relationship.  Gasa-Gasa Girl by Naomi Hirahara is the 2nd book in a series featuring Mas Arai, a Japanese-American gardener in Los Angeles. Mas is seventy years old and the book starts as he arrives in New York City on his first visit with his daughter and her family. They have not gotten along for many years, but now she is asking for his help.

This month I have read every book in my chain. I noticed that each one of the books, even Tales of the City, has elements of the effects of family relationships, although it isn't obvious in all of the descriptions. Next month the chain begins with Atonement by Ian Ewan. Another book I have not read, although I do have a copy in the TBR piles.

Reading Summary for June 2018

In 2018, I have been reading more each month (than in previous years) and it still amazes me. This month I read 10 books and they were all good reads. And some of them were spectacular. As usual, most of the books were crime fiction, but I did read two books that were not mystery or crime related. Eight of these books were books on my 20 Books of Summer list.

My two non-mystery reads in June were ...

Auntie Mame (1955) by Patrick Dennis

A story about a young boy raised by his aunt after his father dies. The book reads like connected short stories, each highlighting a different stage in the boy's growing-up years.  It is wacky and entertaining, definitely not my usual fare, and I enjoyed almost every story. The story has been adapted for film and as a play.

Tales of the City (1978) by Armistead Maupin

I really have no idea how I missed this series over the years. Set in San Francisco, California, and very close to the year I visited the city the first time. Not mystery related, so that probably has something to do with it. I did learn about the books in 2014 at Clothes in Books, yet still wasn't tempted to try one. This month the time was right. It took me a while to get into the story, but I ending up loving the book and planning to read more in the series.

And now on to the eight crime fiction reads:

The Bone Garden (2003) by Kate Ellis

This is the fifth book in a series that has an archaeological theme and has two mysteries in each novel, one past, one in the present. This one had interesting characters and a decent story, but I did have some problems with it. Many readers are very happy with the series though, so if you haven't tried it, I do recommend it.

An Expert in Murder (2008) by Nicola Upson

Mystery novelist Josephine Tey is the sleuth in this one. I am not sure how much the sleuth in this book resembles the real Josephine Tey (whose real name was Elizabeth Mackintosh), but I did find the story compelling and enjoyed the setting, so I will read more of this series.

Death in the Garden (1995)
by Elizabeth Ironside

A historical novel, with story lines in two different time periods. In 1925, Diana Pollexfen was accused of killing her husband, but found innocent. Sixty years later, her grandniece decides to find out what really happened. Both stories and the way they tie together are excellent, and the writing is very, very good.

Murder is Academic (2002) by Christine Poulson

This is the first book in Poulson's Cambridge Mystery series, starring Cassandra James. After reading Poulson's most recent mysteries (Deep Water and Cold, Cold Heart) I wanted to go back and read her first series. That was a good decision; this was a lovely book, with interesting, believable characters and a great ending. The UK title is Dead Letters.

The Terra-Cotta Dog (1996) by Andrea Camilleri

The second Inspector Montalbano mystery, set in Italy, part of a long-running series. Montalbano finds a cave filled with artifacts and the bodies of two young lovers who have been dead for 50 years. I had read the previous book in the series but had forgotten how much of an independent loner the inspector is. The story is very complex.

White Sky, Black Ice (1999) by Stan Jones

This series stars Nathan Active, an Alaska state trooper, half Inupiat and half white, assigned to the remote village of Chukchi. The story has an interesting and unusual setting and the plotting is fine, but it is the character that I want to know more about. And it is that element that will bring me back to read more books in the series. 

Thunderball (1961) by Ian Fleming

This is the second James Bond book I read this year. It is the first of three novels featuring Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of the criminal organization SPECTRE. As always, a good read.

Faithful Place (2010) by Tana French

I read this for the European Challenge for Ireland. Set in Dublin, featuring Frank Mackey, a Dublin detective working in the Undercover department. Frank returns to his old neighborhood and the family he left 22 years earlier to investigate a possible crime. Another great story by this author, my favorite of her books ... so far.