luvtoread

I missed a few months of Six Degrees of Separation, but I’m back this month (just a little bit delayed…) and ready to see where the selection takes me! Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by booksaremyfavouriteandbest where you take one title, and link through six other titles and see where you end up.

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January’s selection is the wonderful The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

I don’t think I’ve talked too much about this series on the blog over the years, but I adore this mystery series. I find Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutski such wonderful characters to read. They are grounded in reality, and I just love them. I also enjoy the setting of Botswana. The books feel alive and it’s apparent that Alexander McCall Smith loves Botswana. I’ve fallen behind on this series; I think there are now eighteen books altogether, and I can’t recall where exactly I’m at in the series, but I definitely remember a big ol’ smile on my face as I read the entry that had Mr J. L. B. Matekoni contemplating a parachute jump.

That parachute jump makes me think of hot air balloons for some reason, and a book I read that had our two main characters meeting on board a hot air balloon is our first stop.

To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin

This is a wonderful historical fiction book that talks about the building of the Eiffel Tower. The ending of the book is actually set in Africa, so that also links back to our original title!

Since my brain is now focused on France and the Eiffel Tower, we’ll stay in France and pick up:

A French Wedding by Hannah Tunnicliffe

One of the characters in A French Wedding is an arrogant, rich, drug-using, womanizing man named Max, and even though he is all of those things, you still like him and root for him throughout the novel.   Oh so different from another womanizing character in my next selection.

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

The womanizing, arrogant character in The Nest that I just can’t stand is Leo. I find it fascinating that two characters (Max from A French Wedding and Leo from The Nest) can be so similar in personalities and attributes, but yet Max in A French Wedding was so much more likeable than Leo in The Nest. For some reason these books and characters are linked forever in my mind, I think because I had such different reactions to very similar characters!

Thinking about the estate battles in The Nest naturally brings me to the most exciting will reading scene I’ve read in quite some time, and that scene is in the hilarious

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

I really enjoy this series, and cannot wait for the movie adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians, the first book in the series! I’m a little apprehensive, I’ve always thought this series would be better served by being a television series so that all of the characters would have their chance to shine, but I’m looking forward to seeing what is sure to be a gorgeous film. The fashion! The scenery! I can’t wait!

Now keeping in mind wills, and our initial starting point of a mystery novel, takes me to my next selection,

Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth

In it, there is an inheritance that plays a part in the plot. I still need to read the rest of the Miss Silver books. Some day!

And thinking of mysteries, and mysteries that are set in Africa, like The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, brings me to my next book, the first book in the Jade Del Cameron Mysteries that have been on my TBR for awhile:

Mark of the Lion by Suzanne M. Arruda

I’ve heard good things about this series, and I have book one on my bookshelf, just waiting for me to decide that the time is right to begin it! Perhaps I’ll start this one soon!

 

Have you read any of these books? Do any sound like interesting reads?

And since this post took me forever to do, and February is right around the corner, soon you’ll get my take on February’s Six Degrees which starts with Lincoln in the Bardo, a book I recently read and reviewed.