6 Degrees of Separation: From Vanity Fair to The Alchemist
It’s once again time for Six Degrees of Separation. Start with the same book as other readers, link it to six other titles, and see where you end up.
This month, we’re starting with the classic Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.
My Fair Lady has a word in common with Vanity Fair, and is based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pgymalion. Technically, this is a play rather than a book; however, I read the script while studying theatre at university.
George Bernard Shaw is apparently the only person to have been awarded with both an Oscar (1938) and a Nobel Prize for Literature (1925). Another winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature is Chilean Poet, Pablo Neruda. He won it in 1971 ‘for poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent’s destiny and dreams’. One of his poetry collections is simply called Selected Poems.
Isabel Allende is another writer from Chile. I know I mentioned her in the previous Six Degrees of Separation, but I’ve been reading her work a lot lately. She wrote her first novel The House of the Sprits while in exile in Venezuela, after escaping Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1975.
Another book in which a house is a central character is Bella and the Wandering House by Meg McKinlay. Bella wakes to discover her house has moved in the night. At first, her parents are too busy to notice, until one morning they find the house perched on the edge of a lake. Bella sets out to solve how and why her house feels the need to wander.
One of the students we mentor through the not-for-profit organisation, 12 Buckets, loved Bella and the Wandering House. Another student adored Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros by the same author. Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros is essentially a book about following your dreams despite the naysayers, and about encouraging others to do the same.
Like Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros, Paul Coelho’s book The Alchemist has a main character who wants to travel the world. Santiago’s journey ‘teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, or recognising opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams’. I confess I haven’t read Coelho’s book yet, but it is on my to-read list.
This month, I began with two stories set within the English class system of the 19th and early 20th centuries, before heading to the Chile in the 1970s. From there I travelled with a house, a rhinoceros and a young boy, whose journeys all explored notions of being true to yourself.
Over to You
Where will Six Degrees of Separation take you?
Join in and post in the comments, or provide a link to your blog post.
And be sure to head over to booksaremyfavouriteandbest, to see where it led Kate and other readers.
Next month (1 December 2018), we’ll be starting our chain with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
I love that Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros jacket. The rhino looks so proud and happy!
Don’t you just love her?!? The small rhinoceros has become one of my favourite picture book characters, and the way she deals with those who try to disuade her from following her dreams is just delightful.
That’s an interesting fact about Shaw!
I’ll have to get hold of Rhinoceros – I know someone that it would be perfect for 🙂
Hi Kate, I hope you love Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros. This book is not only a favourite with my student, it’s one of mine, too.
Nice chain! Pablo Neruda is my favorite poet! Here is my post: https://wordsandpeace.com/2018/11/03/six-degrees-of-separation-from-fair-to-dining/
Hi Emma, do you have any particular favourite poems of Neruda’s? I’ll head over and look at your chain now.
I have really enjoyed your chain, Melinda. Did you catch Isabel Allende’s TED talk on living with passion? It is a brilliant watch if you have not already seen it. 🙂
Hi Liz, thanks for the heads up about Isabel Allende’s TED talk on living with passion – I haven’t seen it but will go search it out now.
I will have to look for Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros. It sounds really cute. Quite a few people have recommended House of Spirits, but I still have yet to read it. One of these days . . . I read The Alchemist years ago and really liked it. I hope you will too. Have a great weekend!
Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros is currently my favourite picture book, for many reasons – and yes, it’s gorgeous! Good to hear you can recommend The Alchemist – I’ll definitely check it out.
Very nice! I’ve read the Allende book many years ago with a book group. We also read her non-fiction book, Paula, about her daughter. I enjoyed both of them. Some interesting chains this month – always are, but these are really well done. 🙂
Paula was the first of Isabel Allende’s books that I read, after being recommended it by my Chilean friend. I’ve read numerous other titles since, but that was the one that ‘hooked’ me in.
I didn’t get to The Alchemist with mine, BUT I did, in a totally different way, get to the subject of alchemy! 😀
Ooh, you’ve got me intrigued – heading over to your chain now!
Wow! What interesting choices! Very different. Off to see what Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros is all about!
Yes, very different chain to yours – I loved the theme of messy lives that ran through yours!
Well, some unexpected links there! I do like My Fair Lady the musical and film, although the social satire is sharper in the play.
Nicely done! I’m loving the sound of Bella and her travelling house 🙂 Made it through House of Spirits but found it quite heavy and have subsequently forgotten everything about it ha ha
Thanks, Ceri. Bella and the Wandering House is quite a delightful story! I attempted to read House of the Spirits once before, and struggled with it, but I reacted very differently to it when I read it while actually in Chile. I’d also read Allende’s memoir, Paula, which explores the relevant time period in that country, and also heard my friend’s story about growing up in Chile, so it had an extra layer of meaning for me then.
Yes I think sometimes you just need a bit more context with stories that are far removed from what you know. An excuse to visit Chile!
I’d taken any excuse to visit Chile again!