Six Degrees of Separation – No Purrs, Just Talk

Posted February 5, 2022 by elzaread in 6 Degrees of separation / 33 Comments

Hi there Guys! It’s just me this month for Six Degrees of Separation. We are taking a long weekend and the fluffy ball of fur is at home with the rest of the fur-balls and a babysitter. So no unnecessary meows and purrs today, just straight talk and a quick post so I can get back to my reading, relaxing and drinking wine.

This monthly fun meme is hosted by Books are my Favorite and BestOn the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Books can be linked in obvious ways, for example: same authors, same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or you might choose to link them in more personal ways: books you read in the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend or books that remind you of a particular time in your life. The choices are endless here! 

Our starting point this month is a book I haven’t heard of, but it just landed on my TBR pile:

Six Degrees of Separation – No Purrs, Just TalkNo One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Published by Riverhead Books on February 16th, 2021
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction
Pages: 224
Goodreads

As this urgent, genre-defying book opens, a woman who has recently been elevated to prominence for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her adoring fans. She is overwhelmed by navigating the new language and etiquette of what she terms "the portal," where she grapples with an unshakable conviction that a vast chorus of voices is now dictating her thoughts. When existential threats—from climate change and economic precariousness to the rise of an unnamed dictator and an epidemic of loneliness—begin to loom, she posts her way deeper into the portal's void. An avalanche of images, details, and references accumulate to form a landscape that is post-sense, post-irony, post-everything. "Are we in hell?" the people of the portal ask themselves. "Are we all just going to keep doing this until we die?"

Suddenly, two texts from her mother pierce the fray: "Something has gone wrong," and "How soon can you get here?" As real life and its stakes collide with the increasingly absurd antics of the portal, the woman confronts a world that seems to contain both an abundance of proof that there is goodness, empathy, and justice in the universe, and a deluge of evidence to the contrary.

Fragmentary and omniscient, incisive and sincere, No One Is Talking About This is at once a love letter to the endless scroll and a profound, modern meditation on love, language, and human connection from a singular voice in American literature.

Without Elza, my creativity obviously takes a bit of a nose dive and I couldn’t think of any clever link-ups today. The one thing that did stand out for me, is that the title is 6 words. Ha. That can work. One word for every link.

1st Degree – No : No Country for Old Men by Cormat McCarthy

2nd Degree – One : One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

3rd Degree – Is : Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

4th Degree – Talking : Talking to Strangers: What We should know about the People We don’t know by Malcolm Gladwell 

5th Degree – About : We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

6th Degree – This : This must be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell

Where did your Six Degrees end up this month?

Have a wonderful February!

Share the Meows
RSS
Follow by Email
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Instagram

33 responses to “Six Degrees of Separation – No Purrs, Just Talk

  1. Oh what a clever way to deal with this starter book! I wish I had thought of that.

    I haven’t read any of your books and I could not even contemplate reading (or watching) We Need to Talk About Kevin. All the hype around Eleanor Oliphant put me off, though I feel that is a very poor reason for not reading a book – it’s just that so many over-publicised novels don’t seem to live up to theit hype. Did you enjoy it?

    My 8 month old Siamese is (almost) in the dog house this morning, having snatched a toy I was about to throw to him and managing to scratch my lip in the process – I’ve only just stopped it bleeding! My husband says Charlie is contrite but (a) I don’t think contrition is in the Siamese dictionary, and (b) my husband certainly would not be saying that if it had happened to him…

    Rosemary recently posted: BBC Sounds: best books of 2021
  2. I read quite a few of the titles shown on this list. so we might have something in common. I adored “Eleanor.. and I often dream of writing such an eccentric character and certainly someone with inner child issues.

  3. It never fails to amaze me how many different ways you can do this meme. This was a fun chain (and a very different way of getting to Eleanor!)

    • elzaread

      That’s exactly why I also love Six Degrees. The possibilities are endless!

      Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend!

    • elzaread

      Thanks for the lovely compliment! I haven’t read We need to talk about Kevin yet, so many mixed reviews on the book. But there has been so many positive reviews on this post regarding Kevin, that I think I will read it now.

      Thanks for stopping by and so sorry for the late reply.

    • elzaread

      Thanks so much! It was nothing but a spurge of inspiration.

      Hope you are having a wonderful week!

  4. Wait, where’s Elza?? I hope everything is ok.
    wow, how come I never thought of counting the number of words! So so clever! I many have been your inspiration, but your spin on it is so much clever than my usual keyword chains.
    I can’t wait for next title with 6 words, lol!!

    • elzaread

      Hi there Emma! Yes, everything is fine with us! We just took a couple of days away and Elza was left alone at home. With a babysitter of course!

      Glad you enjoyed our post and of course you are always welcome to use the spin on your original idea!

      Hope you had a good week so far dear Emma.

    • elzaread

      Thank you Lydia! I think Elza missed us terribly while we were away for the last couple of days.

    • elzaread

      Thank you Helen! I also haven’t read all of the books on my list, they just fit perfectly. LOL!

  5. Good work! We Need to Talk About Kevin was mesmerizing. I also read Columbine by Dave Cullen. Together they are quite a dramatic idea of what went on in the mind of the killers and in society. I lived Eleanor Oliphant, too. Thanks for reading my post.

    • elzaread

      Hi Lisa! I actually haven’t read We Need to Talk About Kevin yet I have it on my Kindle though. There are so many mixed reviews on the book. But I do hope to get to it somewhere! I need like a year on an island with only my Kindle to get through all the books!

      Thanks for visiting us and I hope you will have good week!

  6. Oh, I do like your chain – what a good idea to use the number of words in the titles! And how good that it includes books about talking too.

    I hope you’re having a good weekend – Elza will be missing you!

    • elzaread

      Hi Margaret! Spur of the moment creativity! The talking part was purely by chance. I love it when that happens. Books truly are magical!

      I hope you are having a good week so far!

    • elzaread

      Thank you! I love Six Degrees of Separation and didn’t want to miss out this month. So I got as creative as possible.

      Thanks for visiting us!

  7. Very creative chain. I started Talking to Strangers last year, but I never did finish it. It’s one you really got to think about.

    • elzaread

      Hi Linda! I actually haven’t read Talking to Strangers, it’s just one of the books in our Book Club and that’s why I could remember it easily.

      Hope you are having a good week and thanks for stopping by!

    • elzaread

      Hi Davida! No, you won’t be able to do this with every starting title, but it was fun to use it with this one!

  8. I like how you’ve made an acrostic of this, and books 2 through 5 definitely expect some communication too. I read One of Us is Lying a couple of years back, and really really liked it. As for We Need to Talk about Kevin – I want to watch the movie adaptation, but I know it’ll need some courage.

    • elzaread

      Hi dearest Lex!! I didn’t feel like thinking too hard today and I haven’t had my Six Degrees planned. I haven’t read One of us is Lying yet, but I’ve heard the series is quite good. Will try it some time. I haven’t read We need to talk about Kevin. I also think I need to much courage for that one…

      I hope you are well and thanks for visiting us!!