Six Degrees Challenge, June 2021: From “The Bass Rock” to “Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows”

It’s time once again for the “Six Degrees” Challenge, one of my favourite challenges. Every month a book is selected as a starting point, and linked to six other books to form a chain. I love both selecting the books each month, as well as reading what others have selected. 

This month we are starting with “The Bass Rock” by Evie Wyld.

Once again I was unable to secure a copy of the first book in the chain, but it does sound intriguing.

From Goodreads:

“Surging out of the sea, the Bass Rock has for centuries watched over the lives that pass under its shadow on the Scottish mainland. And across the centuries the fates of three women are linked: to this place, to each other.”

Another book where the lives of women are interwoven—in this case two friends, Elena and Lila—is the Elena Ferrante book “My Brilliant Friend”. This book was a gift from my aunt who is usually spot on in her book gifts, but I admit that I didn’t really like it. I know that Ferrante has a lot of fans, but also that many are not a fan of this first book in the Neapolitan series.

Another gift from my aunt was the book called “Life after Life” by Kate Atkinson, and this one I loved. “What if you could live again and again, until you got it right?” A fascinating look at the many lives lived by Ursula Todd.

I’m not sure how many lives actually were lived by Ursula Todd, but I do know in one of the current books that I am reading “Bluets” by Maggie Nelson that there are 240 “propositions” (prose poems) that revolve around the colour blue.

Another current book I am reading is “Kitchens of the Great Midwest” by J. Ryan Stradal. All the stories are interconnected, and the character that binds them is star chef Eva. This book was recommended to me, but I am not sure I am going to finish it, as it is not at all what I thought it would be and I’m not enjoying it too much.

Another book that was recommended to me and that is on my TBR list is “Before We Visit the Goddess” by Chitra Divakaruni. This book is partially set in India and is about 3 generations of mothers and daughters.

Speaking of stories about Indian women, one of my absolute favourites is “Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows” by Bali Kaur Jaswal. “Every woman has a secret life . . .” Yes, indeed, and I had a thoroughly enjoyable time reading about these ones.

So what’s the link between the first and last books? Both deal with the interweaving of women’s lives. In fact, all the stories have some sort of interweaving going on. What do you think? Have I made a nice tapestry out of this month’s selections? 

Do you want to join the fun? Click here to read host Kate’s selections, as well as to find the link to read other lists. Or maybe you’ll even join us next month, when the starting selection is “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” by Lynne Truss.

Shoe’s Seeds & Stories

@Copyright 2021 Linda Schueler

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