It’s the first Saturday of the month so that means it’s #6degrees of separation time! This month’s starting book is Normal People by Sally Rooney.
You can find the details and rules of the #6degrees meme at booksaremyfavouriteandbest, but in a nutshell, on the first Saturday of every month, everyone has the same starting book and from there, you connect in a variety of ways to other books. Some of the connections made are so impressive, it’s a lot of fun to follow.
Normal People. What can I say? People seem to either love it or hate it. I’m firmly in the love it camp. I read a new release recently that reminded me a bit of Normal People, not as though it was a rip-off or anything, but more the tone of relationships forged through trauma, for want of a better description. So, first connection: The Minute I Saw You by Paige Toon. It’s funny, because I’m ordinarily not a huge fan of contemporary novels, but for some reason, authors who are British or Irish must have the magic formula for me when it comes to relationship fiction. And by relationship, I don’t just mean love stories, but those of friendship too. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy started this for me, a couple of decades ago now. More recently, I’ve fallen for Josie Silver, particularly her latest, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, where relationships of love, friendship, and family, are spun out to perfection. Probably my favourite novel of all time by a British author about relationships is Rowan Coleman’s We Are All Made of Stars. Rowan writes with such insight and depth of emotion. All. The. Feels. I guess, if we’re talking about relationships and trauma, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes must surely deserve a place on that list. We’ll finish with another of my favourites, one I made my daughter also fall in love with, Love, Rosie by Celia Ahern. Of course, all of these novels are about finding oneself equally as much as finding life long love; my favourite sort of contemporary fiction.
Theresa Smith Writes 
Well, this is unusual… I haven’t read a single one of your choices!
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I’m not surprised about that with this list!
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I too have a tendency towards British fiction about relationships. We also share one book on our list, but for a different reason!
My list will be up tomorrow.
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Look forward to seeing it!
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I’ve only read Circle of Friends on your chain, but it seems yours took a pretty romantic turn, and I’m not all that much into romance. Still, if you’re going to go with romance, Binchy and Ahern are less mushy than most! (I’ve never read Moyes, and after the plagiarism accusation, which I believe she’s guilty of, I don’t intend to read her at all.) Here’s my chain, which is VERY different from yours! https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2020/06/06/6degrees-of-separation-for-june-6-2020/
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Yes, I noted your chain was very different. I’m not a big romance reader, to be honest, but occasionally I like to break ranks and read something like one of these.
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Don’t we all… of course, there’s romance that is icky, and there’s romance that is self-affirming for the woman, or romance by accident, among others… I try to stay away from the icky stuff, or the ones where the woman’s whole world seems to revolve around some guy she’s attracted to, as if she doesn’t have a life.
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Oh, me too! I tend to think that if the romance itself is the plot, then it’s definitely not my kind of read.
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Aw, lovely Maeve Binchy – I have such fond memories of curling up with a cup of tea and one of her books. Great chain!
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She really is incomparable, I think. My favourite of hers remains The Glass Lake.
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I’m pretty sure I read all her books, but can’t really remember any specific details now. I might go back and have a re-read – perfect novels for a lazy summer!
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I have read all but the very last. I’ve hung onto it unread for so long, it now seems like a symbol to me, as though I can still read a Maeve Binchy for the first time, at least one more time.
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How marvellous! I have a friend who has kept aside one of Jane Austen’s novels (Persuasion, I think) to read when she is 90 for the same reason.
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How lovely! Any particular significance with picking 90?
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Not sure – I suppose it is symbolic of the final chapter of her life? And a great incentive to live that long!!
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Most definitely! She will enjoy it all the more for the anticipation.
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Indeed – I hope we are all around for some kind of Jane Austen party!!
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I am familiar with most of these and am adding We Are All Made of Stars to my list although it sounds pretty sad! You can’t go wrong with Maeve Binchy and she was charming in person. My sister met her at a signing in NY years ago. I enjoyed One Day in December by Josie Silver and will have to check out the one you mention. Me Before You is not my favorite Moyes but I liked it more than I expected. I just wrote a week ago about her book, Ship of Brides which made me sob. I have her new one but have not read it yet. I thought the subject choice surprising.
Libraries are just starting to do curbside delivery in Massachusetts. I hope some of my reserve titles turn up soon!
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We Are All Made of Stars is sad but also uplifting and it has a brilliant cat in it. I won’t say any more than that, but take of the cat!
How special, to have met Maeve Binchy! She’s one of my all time favourites. She saw me through my twenties and connected me to my best friend.
I really enjoyed The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, but I’ve also enjoyed others by her outside of the Me Before You trilogy. I have Ship of Brides on my tbr. Do you have a link to what you wrote about it? I’d love to have a read.
Fingers crossed you start getting some of those books you have reserved. What a good idea, the curbside delivery. I hope you are well over there. xo
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Nicely done! I’ve read half your chain, (Circle of Friends, Me Before You and Love, Rosie) but I only watched the adaption of Normal People because I knew the lack of speech marks in the novel would annoy me.
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The adaptation of Normal People is so much like the book I couldn’t even tell you of any differences. It’s the first time I’ve seen an adaptation remain so close to its source.
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Your mention of Maeve Binchy has brought back happy memories, I read a lot of her when I was in my 20s, so it annoys me when her books are occasionally tagged as Old Lady Fiction. I’ve read Love, Rosie as well at around the same time, but it was published here under a different title, Where Rainbows End. I much prefered it to PS. I Love you.
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I didn’t like PS. I Love You! But I have enjoyed many of her others.
Maeve is definitely NOT old lady fiction – I share your fury there. I read the majority of her books when I was in my 20s as well.
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Well I obviously have to read The Minute I Saw You Now!
I do really like contemporary novels (and would say it’s my main genre along with memoir) however, it can be tricky distinguishing between contemporary lit and what is sometimes called ‘women’s fiction’ (this name always irritates me but that’s another story) – my distinguishing (by looking at the cover and reading the blurb) seems to very much hinge on what the publisher does with the jacket and the testimonials. Normal People, with its sardine can cover, called my name.
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That is a tricky game at distinguishing. I’m not too keen on women’s fiction either, both the name and what they usually classify into it. The Minute I Saw You really reminded me of Normal People in theme. It’s probably classed as women’s fiction but it didn’t fit my perceptions of that category.
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