Welcome to #6Degrees. On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book. I am using this meme to work on my backlog, aka reviews that I haven‘t yet posted to my blog here.
How the meme works and how you can join is explained here. The initial blog post about this month‘s choice is here.
From “Redhead by the Side of the Road” by Anne Tyler to…?
We start with Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler, which — again! — I haven‘t read. The only book by the author I have ever read: The Accidental Tourist. However, this was before the time I tracked my reading or posted any reviews, aka in the previous millennium. 1989 or 1990, after seeing and liking the movie adaptation…? I think it might have been a DNF or something I did not enjoy particularly. Which is neither here nor there for the purpose of this meme. So, anyway, Redheads… none to be found on my list of read books. However…
Micah Mortimer is a creature of habit.
Blurb of Redhead by the Side of the Road
First degree: There is a Micah in my reading past…
Micah (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #13)
by Laurell K. Hamilton (Goodreads Author)
Read in 2007 What can I say, this is definitely not literary fiction. There is some very good Urban Fantasy out there, but at this time in the universe of Laurell K. Hamilton, this was already moving into the direction of too little plot and too much sex. Still entertaining. I lasted up to and including the 20th book of this series. This year #28 will be published. Oh well.
“RAISING THE DEAD IS EASY. LOVE IS HARD…”
From the blurb of Micah
Second degree: The first „Dead“ on my read-list is…
Dead Souls (Inspector Rebus, #10)
by Ian Rankin (Goodreads Author)
I read this in 2007, completely out of order, aka it‘s the only book of the series I have actually read. My parents spent most of last year reading the whole thing and love the series. I enjoyed the book back then and liked Rebus. He is a very well-drawn character, if a little depressing. The story was believable, there was enough suspense to keep me going and the ending did not offer any idiotic and off-the-wall plot twists making me go “Yeah, right, whatever!” Did not keep me up at night, but was a very good read.
Another series that my mum loved fiercely is J.D. Robb‘s In Death. And because she asked me to, I read the first book of the series…
Third degree: Another series loved by my mother…
Naked in Death (In Death #1)
by J.D. Robb
Read in 2016. Fairly stereotypical police procedural, with some futuristic gadgets and a love interest who is, at first, a suspect, as well as tall, dark, mysterious and the common alpha male of romance novels. I think the correct label is romantic suspense. The first book in the very successful In Death series by The Nora.
I did not really like the relationship much at first between Eve and Roarke. He definitely had problems accepting her wishes, which bugged me. If you do not mind his consent issues, he’s fine as a romance MC.
The world building could have been better. The gadgets and some futuristic concepts were not explained, so if they weren’t self-expalantory, you were left to guess. However, they only play a very small part in the story. If you want to read sci-fi with suspense, hands off this book.
This is mostly told from Eve’s view, third person. There is the odd change of POV, mostly to Roarke and sometimes to others. These changes are not well done and jarred me every time. It could be the formatting (or lack thereof), the various protagonists do all sound exactly the same as well, though.
The mystery wasn’t very gripping and, at least from the second half onwards, pretty predictable. The romance and sex were not graphic. It was ok.
Fourth degree: J.D. Robb is Nora Roberts…
Three Fates
by Nora Roberts
Read in 2004, it was great fun! Roberts gives us low-brain-power entertainment, but with wit and a lot of humour, without getting too sloppy on the romance side of things.
This is what the story is about: Three siblings embark on a quest to re-unite 3 parts of a mythical statue. They are not sure that it even exists, but they are determined to find out and try. From Ireland they travel to Eastern Europe, Helsinki, New York, to follow clues and find romance, adventure and a deadly enemy…
When the Lusitania sank, one survivor became a changed man, giving up his life as a petty thief—
From the blurb of Three Fates
Fifth degree: From a thief of statues to a smoke thief…
The Smoke Thief (Drakon, #1)
by Shana Abe
Read in 2007. Cute little romance with shapeshifting dragons and a jewel thief, set in a past London. The hero looks great, the heroine is all woman, beautiful and just independent enough not to be a dunce, opposition is feeble and success and a happy ending are guaranteed. Utterly predictable and no big surprises, but nice brain candy.
And finally, on the topic of dragons…
Sixth degree: From shapeshifting dragons to a dragon tattoo…
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)
by Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland (Translator)
Read in 2010. It was off to a slow, but not uninteresting start. Around page 200 I got a bit fed-up with the huge amount of details and the never ending repetition of all the facts and family connections. I skimmed for a while until the action picked up again and from that point onwards I could not put it down anymore. It was great, full of suspense and I loved it. I wish the first 200 pages could have been like the rest of the book.
There you are, a very arbitrary list this time around.
Cathy's Reading Bonanza 