It’s the first Saturday of the month so that means it’s #6degrees of separation time! This month’s starting book is Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld.
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.
I had every intention of reading Rodham this last month, I already had it bought long before it popped up as the September six degrees title, but things are crazy at present and time is slipping by. I was so ready to read it though that it’s been sitting on my second dining table for the last ten days. I only keep the books I’m actually presently reading there or the one or two that are next up. So, Rodham is there, and so is A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing, and that’s my first link.
I wasn’t all that interested in A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing when I first heard of it. I didn’t request it for review either because it didn’t appeal. But then I attended Jessie Tu’s session at this year’s Melbourne Writer’s Festival and she was so utterly fantastic I knew I had to read this book at some time.
MWF introduced me to quite a few books I now need to read that might have otherwise not been on my radar at all, such as The Fire Starters by Jan Carson. It’s YA and got a speculative angle to the story, both of which are normally low on my wish list, but I like Irish political fiction and again, listening to Jan speak at MWF sealed the deal.
I should probably be less judgemental about YA, but all too often it seems to disappoint me. However, last night I finished a novel that was offered to me for review and the themes were appealing enough to outweigh the YA tag. I’m so glad I read it because Winter of the Wolf turned out to be quite excellent.
I love it when expectations are exceeded with a new read. This happened again recently with The Yield by Tara June Winch. My expectations had led me to procrastinate with this one, feeling daunted and worried it would be too literary, or too spiritual. I was so wrong. It was brilliant and incredibly easy to read. I love it when a book proves me wrong.
I will definitely read Rodham soon because I like Hilary Clinton and the form of this novel intrigues me greatly. Also, I read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld a few years ago when it first came out and really enjoyed it, so I’m keen to read more of her work. I hadn’t even heard of her at that point, but it came up for discussion in a Facebook book club I’m a member of, not as a book club title, but as an ‘anyone going to read this’ type of chat on account of its Pride and Prejudice link. And that concludes what is possibly the most waffling chain I’ve ever written.
Next month’s book is The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
Theresa Smith Writes 
Waffle away, I enjoyed this chain!
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Thank you! I didn’t over think it, just wandered around.
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Yes, waffle away I say too! I love that Kate suggested your first link! You can see why she’s running this meme! She’s all over it!
As for being disappointed by YA, I hope I don’t tread on toes here, but I don’t think you should worry about being disappointed. YA by definition is fiction written FOR young adults. I don’t think you are a young adult anymore, therefore, by definition, YA is not written FOR you. It’s probably therefore not surprising if it doesn’t really meet your needs. I have read some great YA, but I have thought about it in terms of “what a great way this author has of addressing young people’s issues” or “how brave the author was to address that”. Good YA like that intrigues me, and can move me at times, but I don’t expect to like YA in general because my emotional and intellectual interests are very different to a young adult’s? That doesn’t mean it’s not good writing, it just means that I’m not its audience.
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That’s a refreshing way of putting it. So many people are caught up in YA fandom but I all too often feel underwhelmed.
The one I finished reading last night was very much as you put it here, an author with a great way of addressing young people’s issues, as well as a certain dash of bravery.
I feel a bit like I’ve been let off the hook here, so thanks for that!
Kate’s nudge really did the trick, she is certainly all over this meme!
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I’m glad if you feel you’ve been let off the hook, because you shouldn’t feel on the hook!
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😁 I am slowly coming to a state where I no longer feel a need to apologise for what I don’t like but even so, I’ll have moments where I wonder if I’m too much of a fussy reader.
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It’s an ongoing project – being a reader I think. But I don’t think you can be too fussy can you? Can you makes yourself like something you don’t?
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I don’t think so.
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Lovely chain Theresa! Interesting what you say about YA. I haven’t read much in this genre, but I sometimes wonder, whether I am missing out, staying away from books I would otherwise have enjoyed just because they carried the YA tag.
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That’s me all over! Especially when I see glowing reviews getting around. Classic FOMO! 😂
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What a fun chain – and hey, waffles, pancakes, who cares? That’s the fun of this meme!
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Thanks! 😁
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I look forward to your thoughts on Rodham. I read and reviewed it.
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I saw that!
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I have the same concerns about The Yield, perhaps I should ignore give it a try anyway. Thanks for sharing your chain
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I was surprised by how easy it was to read and by how much I ended up loving it.
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Jumping on the YA conversation here, it is not an area I tend to read much of, but I have a feeling it is primarily the label/tag itself which puts me off, as I am no longer in the supposed target audience. I also don’t remember feeling the need for it when I was a young adult, though it wasn’t really a thing then. I suppose it is like everything else, there is good YA and not so good YA, and maybe there is some which I might like, but I feel I have left that part of my life behind now, so don’t especially feel the need to return to it, even through books.
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I think you’re right, it wasn’t a thing/label when I was young either. And same, I don’t feel the need to constantly return to that time and those issues.
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