Six Degrees of Separation: Communication

Six Degrees of Separation Meme,  hosted by Books Are My Favorite and Best, are held the first Saturday each month. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. 

This month begins with a work of autobiographical fiction, Postcards From the Edge by Carrie Fisher. To this I'm adding and linking the following six books.

Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher is supposedly autobiographical, though it's written as a novel. 

Postcards from Nam I haven't read as yet, but it's evidently on my shelves! 

A fictional Vietnamese lawyer in DC  receives postcards from an unknown person in Thailand, known only by his signature, "Nam."

Abby's Journey by Steena Holmes.

Twenty-year-old Abigail Turner knows her mother, Claire—who died shortly after she was born—through letters, videos, postcards, and journals.

Mothers and Daughters: A Novel by Rae Meadows

I enjoy reading books that explore the relationships between mothers and daughters. This one is especially interesting because of the secrets discovered by Samantha about her mother Violet and her grandmother Iris. Uncovering history and the thread that connect three generations of women is the theme of the story.

Have Mother, Will Travel: A Mother and Daughter Discover Themselves, Each Other, and the World by Claire and Mia Fontaine

Claire and her daughter Mia take a trip to seven countries in Asia and Europe, to renew and strengthen their mother-daughter relationship. 

The Secret Language of Women by Nina Romano

Here are two  books about women communicating privately, in this case through Nushu, the secret writing used by women in China in the 19th century. 

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

In 19th Century China, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication, via nu shu (“women’s writing”). 

The overall theme of these six books is communication, whether from one stranger to another, between mothers and daughters, or secretly between cloistered women. Communication is primarily  through the written word and through travel. 

From Carrie Fisher's Postcards from the Edge to Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan! Did you follow the link from one book to the other? 

Sunday Salon: Tuscan, French, and Tahoe Mysteries

 Haven't been to the library lately, but welcomed a new book to my home which I'd already read, although I was glad to get the finished copy from Soho Crime.  

The Bitter Taste of Murder: A Tuscan Mystery by Camilla Trinchieri, August 10, 2021, Soho Crime

My Goodreads comments: An entertaining mystery with lots of Italian food to add spice and interest. Throw in some romance, engaging characters, and you have an absorbing police procedural mystery set in rural Tuscany.

Other reading: 

I dug out my Kindle Paperwhite from among the books where I had left it unused, recharged it, and am enjoying reading on it a French mystery, Rien ne T'efface by Michel Bussi. 

The Paperwhite has a built-in French-English dictionary that is super useful for this intermediate language reader who loves mysteries written in French. This is Bussi's most recent novel; I have his previous one waiting on my ereader! 

Rien Ne T'efface by Michel Bussi, February 4, 2021, Presses de la Cite. Besides being a professor of geography in Normandy, Bussi is a best selling mystery writer in France. 

About the book: Maddi's  ten-year-old son Esteban disappeared on a beach in the Basque coast of France, and when she spies another boy, Tom, 10 years later, she feels as if it's her son Esteban. Tom is, however, the same age as Esteban when he disappeared, and that was ten years ago. So how could it be the same boy, because of the difference the boys would have in their ages? Maddi, a medical doctor no less, follows Tom and his mother to their home town, wanting to be near the boy. 

What will happen next? I am reading on.....

Also to be read: 

Tahoe Jade by Todd Borg, Aug. 1, 2021, Kindle Unlimited

This is the latest in the Tahoe mystery series featuring Owen McKenna, a detective living in the Lake Tahoe area. Owen has his Harlequin Great Dane, Spot, as his back up and helper in the business of solving crimes. 

About: An attempted murder, a murder, and a disappearance has McKenna on the job. The discovery of a long-lost letter from President Lincoln to the new governor of California is involved in the case somehow, and complicates McKenna's attempts to solve the murder and disappearance. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

Book Beginning: Paris, A Life Less Ordinary, A Memoir by Krystal Kenney

 Another book of Paris: 

Paris: A Life Less Ordinary, a Memoir by Krystal Kenney, December 1, 2020, Kindle Unlimited 

Publisher description: Krystal Kenney sets out to conquer her dream of living abroad and starting her photography business in the city of light. She falls in love with Paris, but quickly learns that Paris does not love her back..., forcing her to fall apart before she can... build herself into a modern independent woman

Book beginning: It's pouring rain, dark and cold, and I'm sitting on the front stoop of a church in Paris. Tears stream down my face, falling harder than the rain. I'm crying so hard, it scares me. It's the type of crying where you have a hard time catching your breath, that's been waiting to unload from months of stress and self-induced trauma.

Page 56: I'm always nervous about wearing any revealing clothing in Paris because I know it's dangerous here. 

Would you read on?

The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Sunday Salon: Always Currently Reading

 Currently reading: 

Missing and Endangered by J.A. Jance, February 16, 2021, William Morrow

Genre: thriller, suspense

Source: library

About: Sheriff Joanna Brady is involved in a missing persons case in this mystery in J. A. Jance’s suspense series, set in the beautiful desert country of the American Southwest.

Tahoe Killshot by Todd Borg, 2004

Genre: mystery, thriller

Source: library

About: Tahoe Detective McKenna needs his Great Dane Spot and professional search-and-rescue dog Natasha to literally sniff out a killer.

I am always currently reading, as I have too many books started and thus "currently reading!" I pick up each book according to my mood! Do you ever do this? 

What are you reading this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

Book Beginning: The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

 

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim, September 1, 2020, Park Row
Source: library 

Genre: Asian-American fiction, immigration

Publisher description: (An) unconventional mother-daughter saga, The Last Story of Mina Lee illustrates the devastating realities of being an immigrant in America.

Book beginning:

MARGOT

Fall 2014

Margot's final conversation with her mother had seemed so uneventful, so ordinary - another choppy bilingual plod. Half-understandable. 

Business was slow again today. Even all the Korean businesses downtown are closing

What did you eat for dinner? 

Page 56: 

"A boyfriend?" Margot's mother had never mentioned or expressed romantic interest in anyone, even the occasional shopkeeper at the swap meet who courted her. 

Would you read on?

The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Sunday Salon: The Last Flight by Julie Clark

 Last thriller read: 

The Last Flight by Julie Clark, June 23, 2020, Sourcebooks Landmark

Genre: thriller, mystery

Source; library book

Two women at the airport, running away from unbearable lives, find each other in line and decide to swap plane tickets, purses, suitcases and coats, thus discarding their own identities, hoping to disappear on reaching their new destinations. Will their plan work?

I read this book nonstop and seemed to finish it in a day! It was that suspenseful and riveting. The plot and characters were unique and their dilemmas grabbed me as a reader. A little twist at the end too didn't hurt the interest of the novel. 

And now for an historical novel: 

 China: The Novel by Edward Rutherford, May 11, 2021, Doubleday

Genre: historical novel

Source: library book

The cover grabbed my attention, together with the single word title. It promised a history of modern China in novel form, easier, in my opinion, to read and grasp the complex history. The book description helped: 

The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao's Cultural Revolution and up to the present day. Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history.....a deeply researched portrait of Chinese history and society, its ancient traditions and great upheavals, and China's emergence as a rising global power.

I plan to start this soon, at the same time finishing a new literary novel, My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

Book Beginning: My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee

 

Title: My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee, Feb. 2, 2021, Riverhead Books

Genre: literary fiction

Publisher description: a young American life transformed by an unusual Asian adventure 

Book beginning:

I won't say where I am in this greatish country of ours, as that could be dicey for Val and her XL little boy, Victor Jr., but it's a place like most others, nothing too awful or uncomfortable, with no enduring vistas or distinctive traditions to admire, no funny accents or habits of the locals to wonder at or find repellent. 

Would you read on? 

For more of this meme, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.