Six Degrees of Separation - From The Beauty Myth to The Wine of Angels

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.

It is not a requirement that the books be ones I have read, but this month I have read all of the books in my chain.

The starting point this month is The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf. I have not read the book, had never even heard of it, and I was surprised to find that it was first published in 1990. I doubt that things have changed that much since then.

Having grown up in the American South in the 1950s and 60s, I am well aware of pressure to be beautiful, to fit the mold, etc. And in my family, although my intelligence was praised, beauty in women was very important. It was a relief to get to California, and especially Santa Barbara, where things were much more relaxed. I stopped wearing make up, only putting it on when I went back to Alabama for the first few years. At least in my everyday life, I no longer felt that pressure.

But rather than continue on the Beauty theme I will move to another non-fiction book. The Monuments Men is about a kind of beauty, the beauty found in art. This book tells the true story of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program established in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. Several hundred service members and civilians worked with various military forces to safeguard art works of historic and cultural importance from war damage. It is an amazing story.

My next link is to Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman, a novel that starts with the discovery of the Hungarian Gold Train, which contained valuables confiscated from Jewish citizens of Hungary during World War II. Where The Monuments Men focused on art treasures that were saved, this book focuses on the looting of everyday belongings (watches, jewelry, silverware, china), most of which were never returned to the owners or their families.

The next connection uses the time setting, another book related to World War II. The Holiday Murders by Robert Gott is a historical crime fiction novel, set during WWII in Australia. I like to read crime fiction set before, during and after that war, and this was especially interesting because I had not read much about Australia during that time. As the title indicates, the events take place from Christmas to New Year's Day. This was a somewhat gritty thriller.

 This leads to another mystery set at Christmas, Murder at the Old Vicarage by Jill McGown. This one is set in the UK in the 1980s, when it was published. The victim is the vicar's son-in-law, and he is found dead in a bedroom at the vicarage. The vicar, his wife, and his daughter are all suspects. This is a Christmas mystery that is not saccharine, and not cozy at all. This book is part of the Lloyd and Hill series, one of my favorite mystery series.

The link to my next book, Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie, is quite clear. Not only are the titles very similar but Jill McGown's book was written as a homage to Christie's book. This novel is the first in the Miss Marple series and was published in 1930. The story is set in the village of St. Mary Mead. A very unpopular resident of the village is murdered in the vicar's study. The first person narrator is the Vicar. Miss Marple  is very perceptive and sees the evil that is hidden underneath the surface in the village.

My final link is to The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman, a completely different kind of mystery novel, with a touch of the supernatural, starring a female vicar. I have enjoyed series with clerical protagonists, but mixing the supernatural in was questionable and the length was daunting (589 pages).  However, the book proved to be especially interesting because it highlights the difficulties of being a woman priest; it was an engaging read and I loved every page of it.

The Monuments Men: Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter

The full title of this book is The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.

At the beginning of the book, Robert M. Edsel describes the Monuments Men:

The Monuments Men were a group of men and women from thirteen nations, most of whom volunteered for service in the newly created Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section, or MFAA. Most of the early volunteers had expertise as museum directors, curators, art scholars and educators, artists, architects, and archivists. Their job description was simple: to save as much of the culture of Europe as they could during combat.
... Of the initial sixty or so that served in the battlefields of North Africa and Europe through May 1945, the primary period covered by our story, most were middle- aged, with an average age of forty. The oldest was sixty- six, an “old and indestructible” World War I veteran; only five were still in their twenties. Most had established families and accomplished careers. But they had all chosen to join the war effort in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section, and to a man they were willing to fight and die for what they believed. I am proud to introduce them to you and to tell, as best I can, their remarkable stories.

Finally I am reviewing this book two months after I finished reading it. I put it off because I had such mixed feeling about the book. I am very interested in World War II history in general and the looting of art in particular. I was glad to see this book get such wide attention so that more people would know about the Monuments Men. My husband introduced me to this subject; he was the one who bought the book, then gave it to me when he finished it. But I really had not understood the magnitude of the loss of art during World War II (both from personal collections and from museums and churches) until I saw the documentary The Rape of Europa.

The stories of individual men performing heroically to save art are amazing. I enjoyed the personal stories of the jobs and families the men left behind. Most of the men featured in this book volunteered for the work, and had to join the military and put their lives at risk to do it.

However, I did not find it a compelling read. It took me many months to finish it. Part of that is just because nonfiction in general is not an easy read for me. Many reviewers describe the writing style as plodding and tedious. Others loved the book. I suspect the level of enjoyment in reading this book may be somewhat dependent on knowledge and interest in the topic. Some reviews criticized the book because the author invented dialogue. I actually don't remember that so much.

I plan to read The Rape of Europa by Lynn H. Nicholas, and then view the documentary again. Robert M. Edsel was a co-producer of the documentary.

We have watched the movie based on this book twice and I will be doing a post on that soon.

Other resources:

At the Smithsonian website.

Katie at Doing Dewey liked this book more than I did. As did Bill at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan.

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Publisher:   Center Street, 2009
Length:       426 pages
Format:      Hardcover
Genre:       History, non-fiction
Source:      Received from my husband.