Six Degrees of Separation: From I Capture the Castle to The Six Iron Spiders

 

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 books, forming a chain. The common points may be obvious, like a word in the title or a shared theme, or more personal. Every month Kate provides the title of a book as the starting point.

The starting book this month is I Capture the Castle (1948) by Dodie Smith. I had never read this book and it is on my Classics list, so I decided to get a copy and read it right away. This book seems to be almost universally loved, but I was disappointed, although I didn't really have any expectations. Nevertheless, I am glad I read it.

From I Capture the Castle I move on to another book with Castle in the title, The Man in the High Castle (1962) by Philip K. Dick. This book is in the alternate history subgenre. Philip K. Dick creates a world in which the Axis countries won World War II and the United States has been split into three sections. The Western coast is under Japanese rule, the East coast is governed by the Germans, and in between is a neutral zone, sort of. The year is 1962 and the story starts out in the Japanese sector. 

Again linking via a word in the title, my next link is to The High Window (1942), by Raymond Chandler.

Chandler's novels feature the private investigator Philip Marlowe. In The High Window, Marlowe is called in by a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Bright Murdock, because a coin in her late husband's coin collection is missing. She thinks that her daughter-in-law took it, and she wants Marlowe to find it. You would think that she could ask her son about it, but apparently no one in this family talks to anyone else. The coin that is missing is a Brasher Doubloon, in mint condition and very valuable. This novel was not as good as the previous two books in the series, The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely, but it is still an excellent book. Where this novel does live up to the earlier promise of the two previous ones is in the beauty of the writing. Cover art is by Tom Adams, who also illustrated the covers for many Agatha Christie paperbacks.

Using the word Window in the title, I next link to Bedrooms Have Windows (1949) by Erle Stanley Gardner. A.A. Fair is a pseudonym used by Erle Stanley Gardner for the Bertha Cool and Donald Lam series. They are private investigators. Flamboyant, fast-talking Bertha Cool is the boss; Donald Lam works for her. I have not read this book in the series. My copy has a lovely cover illustration by Darryl Greene. 

I have read another book by Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A.A. Fair. Gold Comes in Bricks (1940) is about the same private investigator team. This is the second book in the series and Bertha Cool is still trying to mold Donald Lam into the employee she wants him to be. At the beginning of the book, Donald is studying jujitsu with a master named Hashita. Bertha wants him to be able to protect himself. He is not a tall, handsome, beefy detective. He is short and lean, brains not brawn. Henry Ashbury happens upon the training session and contracts with Bertha to hire Donald to find out how his daughter, Alta, is spending her money. He is concerned that it might be gambling or payments to a blackmailer. He brings Donald into his home as a physical fitness trainer and potential business partner so that he can get to know his family. While following Alta, he also uncovers a scheme to sell gold mine shares which Ashbury's stepson is part of. A very complex plot. The cover of my edition has an illustration by Robert McGinnis, my favorite illustrator for novels of this period.

Using Gold in the previous title leads me to The Golden Spiders (1953) by Rex Stout. Rex Stout is my favorite author. I have read all of the Nero Wolfe titles multiple times. This is a good one, although not in my top ten list for his series. In this novel, Nero Wolfe uncharacteristically agrees to work with a young boy from his neighborhood on a potential case of possible kidnapping. Before long, Archie and Wolfe and his pack of freelance detectives are investigating a group of people taking advantage of poor immigrants who are seeking help in getting settled in this country.

Spiders in the previous title leads me to my last book in the chain, The Six Iron Spiders (1942), by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. This book is a later entry in the Asey Mayo series. Taylor wrote 22 Asey Mayo mysteries between 1931 and 1951. This one was published in 1942, set during World War II. Asey has a job in the Porter Motor Tank Plant but has returned to his home on Cape Cod for two days. I haven't read this book, although I did read the first book in the series, The Cape Cod Mystery. See Kate's review of this novel at Crossexaminingcrime.

My Six Degrees took me from the UK in the 1930s to various locations in the US. The Man in the High Castle covers from the West Coast to the East Coast and two characters take a road trip though the middle of the US. Most of Raymond Chandler's and Erle Stanley Gardner's books are set in California, on the West Coast. Nero Wolfe lives in New York City, and Asey Mayo lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, both on the eastern side of the US. Not only that, but all of the books, including the starting book, were published between 1940 and 1962.

Have you read any of these books? I am especially interested in any one who has opinions on Bedrooms Have Windows or The Six Iron Spiders, since I haven't read those yet, and I am motivated to do so soon.

If you are participating in the Six Degrees meme this month, where did your links take you? 

The next Six Degrees will be on November 4, 2023, and the starting book will be Western Lane by Chetna Maroo, a novella that is part of the read-along for Novellas in November 2023. 

The Man in the High Castle: Philip K. Dick

I have been meaning to read Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle for years, but I finally got motivated and bought a copy when I watched the first season of the TV adaptation, produced by Amazon Studios. The book was not what I expected, especially based on the TV episodes.

In The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick creates a world in which the Axis countries won World War II and the United States has been split into three sections. The Western coast is under Japanese rule, the East coast is governed by the Germans, and in between is a neutral zone, sort of. The year is 1962 and the story starts out in the Japanese sector.

There are elements of science fiction in this novel, but most of all it is just a story about an alternate version of the world following World War II. Other authors have written books along the same lines; two that I know of are Len Deighton's SS-GB and Robert Harris's Fatherland. I have not read either of those. Jo Walton wrote a trilogy of books based on a similar idea. The Small Change books consist of  Farthing, Ha’penny, and Half a Crown, which I have read and enjoyed. That series is in a universe where Britain made peace with Hitler before the US entered in the war.

The Man in the High Castle has three story lines, which only touch each other tangentially. One centers around Tagomi, a Japanese trade official. Two men, one from Japan and one from Germany, are trying to meet with him to allow the transfer of some information between the two countries. The second one features Frank Frink (a Jew, born Frank Fink) and his friend, Ed McCarthy. They go into business producing jewelry. Also important to this story line is Robert Childan, who runs an antique store, very popular with the Japanese, who are very interested in American memorabilia. In the third plot line, Julianna Frink (Frank's ex-wife) meets young truck driver Joe Cinnadella in the Rocky Mountain States and they go on a road trip. This is the part of the story I found the most interesting, but I also want to say the least about it because I don't want to spoil it for readers.

The three story lines are linked by references to one or more common characters. Tagomi, the trade official, is a buyer of American antiques in Frank Frink's story line, for example. They are also loosely linked by a book which is circulating in all parts of the American states, titled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Joe Cinnadella is reading it and lends his copy to Julianna. A Japanese couple interested in antiques discusses the book with Robert Childan. This book within a book is an alternate history detailing how the Axis powers lost the war.

One element of the book I found very interesting was the pervasive use of the I Ching, often referred to as the oracle. Frank consults the I Ching. The question is: "Will I ever see Juliana again?" The answer is not comforting: "The maiden is powerful. One should not marry such a maiden."

This leads Frank to reminisce about Juliana:

Juliana—the best-looking woman he had ever married. Soot-black eyebrows and hair; trace amounts of Spanish blood distributed as pure color, even to her lips. Her rubbery, soundless walk; she had worn saddle shoes left over from high school. In fact all her clothes had a dilapidated quality and the definite suggestion of being old and often washed. He and she had been so broke so long that despite her looks she had had to wear a cotton sweater, cloth zippered jacket, brown tweed skirt and bobby socks, and she hated him and it because it made her look, she had said, like a woman who played tennis or (even worse) collected mushrooms in the woods. 

But above and beyond everything else, he had originally been drawn by her screwball expression; for no reason, Juliana greeted strangers with a portentous, nudnik, Mona Lisa smile that hung them up between responses, whether to say hello or not. And she was so attractive that more often than not they did say hello, whereupon Juliana glided by.

The story is very complex and, even though at times it was hard to follow, I have no complaints. It had a lot of depth and I am glad I finally read it.

The TV adaptation is very different from the novel. Philip K. Dick's book takes average, ordinary people in this alternate universe and explores how the situation affects them and their reactions. Although there are elements of a spy novel here, related to the political maneuvering of the two major powers, it is a small part of the story.  The TV series includes many characters from the book, but in some cases they have different names and most have very different story lines. It also adds many more people to the story; there is more emphasis on the people in power in both the Japanese and the Nazi areas and more emphasis on direct resistance to those groups. Readers who are purists when watching an adaptation might not find the TV version satisfying.

Both the book and the TV series present a picture of a very scary alternate history, at least for me. That was less a problem for me reading the book than watching the TV episodes, but it is the reason I put the book off for so long. I don't want to imagine that world. The adaptation has more thriller elements than the book. Each show has been a very tense viewing experience for me.

The TV series is very well done and well worth watching. The actors are mostly new to me, but they all do a very good job. The production values are very good. My husband especially likes the photography and the title sequence.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Mariner Books, 2011 (orig. pub. 1962) 
Length:       274 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Setting:      US states, occupied
Genre:       Alternate History
Source:      I purchased this book.

Reading in December 2016

I read seven novels in December.

I read one book for the Sci-Fi Experience, hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. That was The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, an alternative history set in 1962 after Nazi Germany and Japan won World War II. Although I have planned to read this book for a long time, I was motivated to read it at this time because I have been watching the TV adaptation produced by Amazon Studios.

I will have more to say about the book in a future post but I can say the book was stunning, although it was not what I expected, especially based on the TV episodes. Having read this book, I want to try more of Philip K. Dick's novels and also his short stories.

As usual, most of my reading during the month was crime fiction. Here's the list:

• Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods:  Quoting from The Black Female Detective in Mystery Literature at Martin Hill Ortiz's blog:  "Misogyny and racial tension are up-front and center as Det. Justice is plunged into the midst of the "Rodney King" riots and becomes involved in solving the mystery of who killed the man who killed her husband and child. The internal politics and prejudices of the LAPD make a formidable, albeit uncomfortable, backdrop to the novel which went on to win the Macavity Award and spawned three sequels."
• Christmas is Murder by C. S. Challinor:  A contemporary country-house mystery, set at Christmas. Review HERE.
• Kill Now, Pay Later by Robert Kyle:  This is the book I read for the Crimes of the Century meme for December, hosted at Past Offences. Published in 1960. Review HERE.
• Cursed to Death by Bill Crider:  The 3rd mystery to feature Dan Rhodes, Sheriff of Blacklin County, Texas. It was published in 1988. Review HERE. 
• Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson:  This is the start of a series starring Charles Boxer, former homicide detective who has becom a kidnap consultant. Set in London. The mechanics of the business of kidnap response is interesting. 
• The Alamut Ambush by Anthony Price:  The 2nd book in the Dr. David Audley series, published in 1971. Audley features in some way in each book, but some of the books are from the viewpoint of other characters who work with Audley. This time Squadron Leader Hugh Roskill is at the forefront.