I'm a little late joining in with this month's bookish Six Degrees of Separation, many thanks to Janet Emson over at From First Page To Last as her post reminded me! The Six Degrees meme is run by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Each month she suggests a starting book then the object is to move from that book through to the sixth books using whatever you like to link each book to the one before it.
Our starting book for October is Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel, it uses magical realism to tell the story of a young girl named Tita, who longs for her lover, Pedro, but can never have him because of her mother's upholding of the family tradition: the youngest daughter cannot marry, but instead must take care of her mother until she dies. Tita is only able to express herself when she cooks. It is set in Mexico, as is my second book, The Pearl by John Steinbeck.
Like many other people, I'm sure, I remember studying The Pearl when I was at school. It follows the story of Kino, a pearl diver who believes his fortunes have changed for the better after he finds a great pearl. This short story is a parable about the the dangers of wealth and the evils it attracts.
Another novella that has a sea setting is this classic by Ernest Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of ageing fisherman and his epic battle with a giant marlin. It's been years since I read this Nobel Prize winning story, I remember being blown away by it though, I really should read it again!
The Old Man and the Sea was filmed with Spencer Tracey in the titular role. He played a fisherman again in Captains Courageous, based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling. It's not a book or film I know but I bet most of us know at least the Disney version of one of Kipling's most famous works, The Jungle Books (there are actually two volumes). I remember being shocked and crying my eyes out when Akela died in the second book - that didn't happen in the film! As a little girl I had a large toy tiger (I still have him actually!) and of course he was called Shere Khan. This leads me to my next book which also features a tiger...
Tigerman by Nick Harkaway is set on the fictional island of Mancreu and is about the relationship between a burnt out British sergeant, Lester, and a young boy who lives on the island and is obsessed by comics. Tragic events throw their lives into turmoil and the boy decides what they need is a superhero. Can Tigerman really save the day?
The island setting leads me to my final book this month and it's another fishy pick! Probably the most famous one of all, Jaws is set in Amity on Long Island. I watched the film before reading the book but loved both. The book does miss out not having that theme music though...
My six books have taken me from Mexico to Cuba to India before ending up in America, and we've met tigers and some big fish along the way! Where will your Six Degrees of Separation take you?
Follow the #6Degrees hashtag on Twitter for more and check out Kate's blog for the rules and next month's book choice.
The Six Degrees. What a novel (unusual) idea.
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