From “Book” by author to “book” by author.

This is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain. The rules are:

• Link the books together in any way you like.
• Provide a link in your post to the meme at Books are My Favourite and Best.
• Share these rules in your post.
• Paste the link to your post in the comments on Kate’s post and/or the Linky Tool on that post.
• Invite your blog readers to join in and paste their links in the comments and/or the Linky Tool.
• Share you post on Twitter using the #6Degrees hash tag.
• Be nice! Visit and comment on other posts and/or retweet other #6Degrees posts.

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

This month we start with “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation” by by Lynne Truss!

This month (July 3, 2021), the chain begins with “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation” by Lynn Truss. I’m ashamed to say that I never read this book, although I’ve heard a great deal about it, especially after having worked as a writer for so many long. In fact, I just bought a used copy at a good price online, but it only arrived on June 22, so I haven’t had time to read it yet. Also, I’m not ashamed to say that I too have zero tolerance when it comes to bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Yes, I’m the person on Facebook who will see a meme and my eye will go straight to the “your” instead of “you’re” or the “there” that should be “their,” and immediately put up a withering comment, either about the meme or about the poster. I can be unrelenting, I’m afraid. However, I do attempt to be funny when I’m doing it (or at the very least sarcastic or facetious, which unfortunately, often falls on deaf ears). That’s why I’m sure I’d enjoy this book.

First Degree. 

So, I could go a couple of ways from that book, but I think I’ll go with “eats” and what better way to embody that word than with a cookbook, right? I haven’t actually reviewed many of those, so my choice here is limited. That means I’m giving you “How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking” by Nigella Lawson! For my American readers, if you don’t know who Nigella Lawson is, and you like cooking shows, you had better look her up on YouTube or find her streaming somewhere, because this woman is a luscious cook, a beautiful woman, with a velvety voice that once you’ve listened to her and watched her, you’ll hear and see her if you get this book. (You might even gain weight just watching or reading the book – sorry!)

Second Degree.

So, from eating comfort food to what is probably the MOST comforting of foods – chocolate. So, my next book is also non-fiction, and it is “The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars” by Joël Glenn Brenner. Brenner’s fascinating book is actually classified under marketing, and boy does she ever explain the processes of these two manufacturing giants, and it practically reads like a spy novel. The number of things I learned in this book, together with how engagingly Brenner sets it all out, is the reason why I love this one so much. I’m only sorry that I’ve never gotten around to buying a copy of this for my shelves, since it was lent to me by a very good friend!

Third Degree.

Okay, so I’m going to go for the obvious here, and get away from non-fiction and back to fiction (where admittedly, I have a larger choice). Yes, you guessed it, I’m going with “Chocolat” by Joanne Harris. There is something about Harris’ writing that just sucks you in, and even though I’ve always preferred the film version of this (as you’ll see if you click on the above link to my review), it brought me to her work. By the way, Harris is a really sweet person, and we’ve not only had exchanges on Twitter, but she was gracious enough to answer my #CountdownQuestions! As the Brits would say, when she agreed, I was totally chuffed! (And rightfully so; a big-name author, doing an interview – albeit a short one – for a practically unknown blogger.)

Fourth Degree.

Those of you know anything about chocolate, also know that before it was eaten as a confection, the cocoa seeds were ground up and mixed with water and spices, and made into a drink (which, by the way, sounds pretty vile, but to each their own, I guess). So, my next book keeps us in France (where the novel Chocolat takes place), and moves over to the world of wine. The novel I’m linking to is “The Lost Vintage” by Ann Mah. In this book, the main protagonist wants to become a Wine Master and so she goes to stay with family in France (another connection for this link) to the Burgundy region. There’s a touch of romance here, as well as a mystery and some amateur sleuthing taking place in this book, together with something about a possible B&B. Quite a nice book, well written and compelling, for the most part.

Fifth Degree.

The whole “possible B&B” as well as traveling to visit family in France is what brings me to the next link, although in this one it is an already existing restaurant in the French countryside, and not a vineyard. The book I’m thinking of is “The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux” by Samantha Vérant. With this book we move from wine back to food, but in both instances, the female protagonist goes to France because they are both trying to further their career – this time as a Chef. In this case, it is trying to salvage Sophie’s career from a disaster back in America, that made her leave in shame. As I noted in my review of this book, I thought I was downloading a different book, but this one didn’t disappoint me, and I found it to be a very enjoyable read, and one that culinary fiction readers will enjoy, especially as there is also a touch of mystery here, as well as some romance.

Sixth Degree. 

The last link here stays with restaurants, but moves us back to the USA, and instead of someone in the kitchen or on the staff, we go to the front of the house, and the people whose profession it is to eat the food served to them, and write about their experience. Meaning, the infamous food critic, and that brings me to the novel “The Restaurant Critic’s Wife” by Elizabeth LaBan. Yes, I know that Lila, the protagonist here, isn’t the food critic herself, but that doesn’t matter. What matters here is that Lila has to go through hoops in order to keep her husband Sam’s career from blowing up in his face. That’s another connection with the previous book, but without the romance (since Sam and Lila are already married). This is a really fun book, and it is also pretty funny as well, and a pleasant one with which to end this chain, I believe.

There you have it – my chain of books for this month. So… the question is, does this last book connect in any way back to our starting novel?

Well, a restaurant critic will eat, but only after they leave, will they shoot off their critique or review, but close enough, don’t you think?

If you don’t know any of these books, I hope you’ll click on the links to my reviews and check them out!

If you decide to join in on this meme, I hope you’ll give me the link to your post in the comments below, and/or put your link on the linky page that Kate has on her blog for this meme.

Next month (August 7, 2021), we will start with Postcards From the Edge by Carrie Fisher.