Literature is the only thing lighting up our lives at the moment (and music and art etc.), so of course I am here, even though a little bit late, for that fun monthly meme of Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. This month we start with A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, which I haven’t read but which sounds very interesting, about a Russian count placed under house arrest for seditious beliefs.
Another book about someone under arrest is I Will Never See the World Again by Ahmet Altan, one of the many Turkish writers imprisoned by Erdogan’s oppressive regime. I gather the book was smuggled out of his prison cell, as were his notes to the translators of his historical family saga novel series, of which I’ve read the first Like a Sword Wound.
One book with the word sword in the title that we all read at school in my childhood was The Silver Sword by Ian Seraillier, about a family separated by war and involving a dramatic escape across Europe from Poland into Switzerland.
Switzerland is the common thread linking to the next book by someone I met while I lived in Geneva (but whose book I’d been using long before I met him for intercultural training) Diccon Bewes: Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Honey. Revealing, and often very funny.
The same principle applies to Watching the English by Kate Fox, except that Kate is an anthropologist rather than a journalist, so she tries to analyse certain patterns via surveys and fieldwork rather than just through analysis of media, history and personal observation.
My last link is to another author named Kate, namely Kate Atkinson. My favourite book by her (not that I’ve read them all) is her first: Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
So we had a super-fast tour of Moscow, Turkey, Poland, Switzerland, England and Yorkshire (which sometimes feels like a different country). Where will your links take you this month?
findingtimetowrite 
House arrests, the word ‘sword,’ names….you have quote a clever set of links this time, Marina Sofia. And I would like to read the Altan. It sounds like a powerful story…
I haven’t read any of these, but I do have a copy of Watching the English waiting to be read. It looks really fascinating – I wonder if I’m typically English or not … ?
Very nice chain of books. And two books about watching groups of people, I like that. If I could discipline myself and write as briefly as this, I would participate in Six Degrees more regularly. My husband packs a lot into two sentences, and I write the same thing in six sentences … oh well.
Very creative!
Excellent chain. I know we read The Silver Sword at school but I can’t really remember anything about it! As for A Gentleman… I highly recommend – wonderful book! 😁
The link to Ahmed Altan was clever. Sadly there are far too many authors who are in prison on trumped up charges.
Such a clever chain! Lovely to see Behind the Scenes at the Museum mentioned – my favourite Atkinson too 🙂
Smart chain. Funnily enough, I was in your final destination this time last week when you posted.
Sorry – missed your post earlier. I’m glad Swiss Watching is good, as I’ve had a copy of the updated edition on my shelf for a few months.