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Reviews & Recommendations

6 Degrees of Separation: From Postcards from the Edge to The Last Bookshop

Melinda Tognini August 7, 2021 4 Comments
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Welcome back to Six Degrees of Separation, where we all start with the same book title and link it to six others in any random way our mind chooses to create connections. It’s fun and it’s free, so join in!

This month the starting book is Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher.

Image Description: The left two-thirds of the image is a bird's eye view of the tops of a stack of books. The words "6 Degrees of Separation" are inscribed over the top of the image. The right third of the image is the cover of the book Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher

Postcards from the Edge has been described as autobiographical fiction, so that was going to be my first link; however, the title immediately reminded me of a YA novel from the 1990s, LA Postcards by Glyn Parry.

I discovered LA Postcards while I was an English teacher, when I was always on the hunt for books that would appeal to the more reluctant readers amongst my students. Years later, though, I won a mentorship with Glyn for my first manuscript, also YA, and based on an experience from my teenage years living in remote Australia.

That manuscript was never published, but I did get to meet Meg McKinlay also a recipient of a mentorship with Glyn Parry. Meg has gone to to publish a stack of books, the latest being Bella and the Voyaging House (a sequel to the delightful, whimsical Bella and the Wandering House).

I can’t think of Meg McKinlay without a reminder of one of my favourite picture books of all time, Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros, about a rhinoceros who sets out to see the world despite having no idea where she is going. This book is particularly special to me as I read it to a young girl I had the privilege of mentoring, and it was the first book she ever really loved.

Unlike the small rhinoceros, we can’t venture far from home at the moment, so I’ll need to continue traveling vicariously through the pages of books. One that has recently been loaned to me is Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. Set in Italy during the Second World War, it’s about a young man who helps Jews escape over the Alps.

Another book on loaned to me is set in the same time period but in London. The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin is about a young woman who ends up working at a dusty old bookshop and discovers the power of storytelling during the Blitz.

This brings me to the final link in my 6 Degrees chain. With a similar title, The Last Bookshop by Emma Young is also an ode to books and bookshops, but it is contemporary fiction and much closer to home as it’s set in the city in which I live.

I hadn’t deliberately set out to connect this month’s 6 Degrees by the theme of travel, but I guess that’s the way the sub-conscious operates. I traveled from ‘the edge’ to LA before following the meanderings of a quirky house and a small rhinoceros. I was then transported across the world and through time to Italy and London during the Second World War and finally returned home to Perth, one of the most isolated cities in the world.

I guess I’ll have to be content with these armchair adventures for some time yet. Aren’t we fortunate to have so many good books to help us do that?

Over to You

Where will 6 degrees of separation lead you?

If you want to see where 6 Degrees led other participants, head over to booksaremyfavouriteandbest for links to other chains.

Next month (4 September 2021), the starting book will be 2021 Booker Prize nominee, Second Place by Rachel Cusk.

 

 

 

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Previous Tips for Young Writers: How to Write about Historical Events and People
Next Creative Writing Prompts: Animals
Melinda Tognini

story-gatherer & mentor

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4 Comments

  1. Davida Chazan says:
    August 8, 2021 at 12:00 am

    Fascinating. I’d like to read BOTH of the Last Bookshop books! Say, have you read the Penelope Fitzgerald book The Book Shop? Quite good (although I think I liked the film a touch better).

    Reply
    1. Melinda Tognini says:
      August 8, 2021 at 9:16 am

      I have seen the film of The Bookshop but haven’t read the book. I know others who enjoyed the film better, though, so you’re not alone in that view. It’s unusual, as books are often better than any film adaptation.

      Reply
  2. Constance says:
    August 9, 2021 at 7:49 am

    I picked up The Last Bookshop in London recently but haven’t read it yet.

    Back when I was in publishing, I worked on a dreadful book by Mark Sullivan called The Purification Ceremony. I guess I admire him for persevering with his career.

    I agree that armchair travel has been very important the last 18 months.

    Reply
    1. Melinda Tognini says:
      August 9, 2021 at 7:55 am

      Hi Constance, hopefully Beneath a Scarlet Sky is better than The Purification Ceremony then! I haven’t read it yet but was loaned it by someone who knew I was interested in Italy during the Second World War.

      Reply

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    I confess I wasn't sure if I would be able to read Lincoln in the Bardo, but I've had several writer friends who think A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is wonderful.
    In Six Degrees of Separation: from True Story of the Kelly Gang to My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Apologises
    So many links in our chains are tenuous, aren't they (family connections or links between books)?!? But you're right - who cares!
    In Six Degrees of Separation: from True Story of the Kelly Gang to My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Apologises
    That's so interesting, Lisa! There were certainly parts that made me sob, but I couldn't put it down - reading is so subjective, isn't it? How far did you get before you had to stop reading?
    In Six Degrees of Separation: from True Story of the Kelly Gang to My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Apologises

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