It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. The 6 Degrees of Separation Meme is hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best.
Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher is the book for August 2021. Which makes me take on the very obvious route of epistolary books. Not my favorite format, but here’s the list for six books on red letter days.
The first book will naturally be The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows. I adored this book (and disliked the movie) cast over letters about reading and the history of a very unique book club.
The next book this reminded me of is Freedom and Necessity by Steven Brust & Emma Bull. James Cobham is trying to discover who is trying to kill him and what the Chartist Movement has got to do with it. Set in 1849, we see revolutionary Europe in the form of letters exchanged between Cobham and his friends.
Third place is for Lady Susan by Jane Austen (hand-in-hand with the movie adaptation of Love & Friendship). We see the schemes of the unscrupulous Lady Susan as she plots her way into high society.
Right on heels is Sorcery and Cecilia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. What do chocolate pots, a mysterious marquis, lost trees and strong-willed ladies have in common with each other? Why, letters, of course!
Fifth in this chain is a recent find for me, Charlotte Mosley’s The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters. It’s a good way to catch up with Nancy Mitford and her five other sisters, each a trailblazer in her own way.
The final book is Dracula by Bram Stoker. It was unusual because it was a mash-up of letters, diary entries, phonographic dictation record slips and newspaper accounts. Brilliant stuff!
Which books did this month’s #6 Degrees remind you of? Let’s discuss!
28 replies on “Red Letter Days: Six Epistolary Books”
I actually really like epistolary novels…when they’re done well. Dracula and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society are two of my favorites. 😀
Dracula is amazing. Such a trendsetter, our Stoker!
Great idea for this chain. I haven’t read Dracula yet! I had no idea al these genres were in the book. Definitely putting it higher on my TBR, thanks!
I think modern vampire stories have given the real “Dracula” a bad name. You might be surprised when you read the book. The suspense and the horror are slow to build, but when it gets going, it’s difficult to put down the book.
Ooh fun! I like the letters aspect. I haven’t read Wrede.
Dracula creeped me out.
Was Dracula the first ever classic horror novel? Now I want to know how Stoker managed to become such a success!
I tried to read Lady Susan but DNF it, I’m afraid. Maybe I should try again… Interesting chain!
Lady Susan a very different kind of Austen book. I liked the movie better than the book. If you haven’t watched the movie, do give it a try.
I absolutely love your title. And the way you chose your six degrees. I had The Guernsey book in mind but couldn’t really link it any further. Well done.
Thanks for visiting my Six Degrees of Separation earlier which led me via a few other books about language to
Santa Lucia by Nobel Prize Winner Selma Lagerlöf.
You reminded me to prioritize Tulip Fever in my reading list, so thank you!
I had to look up the word epistolary now…. Gosh my English as second language can fail me every now and then for sure!
Loved your links and this was a very clever theme in deed!
Have a good week Lex!
Elza Reads
Well, I was fuming over the letter format some time ago, and the Google rabbit hole led me to “epistolary”, haha. I really have very little patience with the letter business!
I didn’t post this month because I had a rather complicated idea for the chain that I just couldn’t get to work. When I gave up, I thought about the epistolary connection but didn’t have the will to actually write the post at that point. Dracula, Sorcery & Cecilia, and Guernsey would have been in my list too. You practically posted for me! 😉
Haha, birds of a feather! I remember us talking about Sorcery & Cecilia previously, and the rest follow suit.
Sorcery & Cecilia is one of my absolute favorite books! Seeing it in the same chain as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society makes me want to read the latter now… I’m really not sure why I haven’t yet, except that the title has always struck me as odd.
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is not a grand book, but it’s a charming feel-good one. I would recommend reading the book and avoiding the movie (I thought the movie with Lily James was a disaster). 🙁
I was really surprised by how much I like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows – and I surprised myself by liking the movie even more. 🙂
I liked the book, but not the movie unfortunately. I could count the number of times Lily James said “I’m SO sorry” in exactly the same tone (bah humbug). But I’m glad it worked for you! 🙂
Great chain! I love the links you made here. I’m checking out Sorcery and Cecelia. I adored Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest books when I was growing up.
Haven’t read Enchanted Forest and I do mean to correct that (even though I know I am quite old for those books!).
AQ clever idea for chain. I’ve only read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from it, but I’ll be adding some of your others to my list…
Glad to add to your TBR!
I do enjoy epistolary novels and have read the Guernsey book and Dracula. I have always loved vampire stories but had never read Dracula until a couple of years ago. What took me so long? That book is amazing. It was so creepy and scary. I almost want to pick it up again this fall. Great link for Six Degrees!
So true. I kept thinking of the book for weeks after I read it. I know there’s a lot of vampire fiction out there, but nobody gets it better than Stoker.
I think I am alone in not even finishing the Guernsey book – maybe I was just in the wrong mood, but I felt (very possibly erroneously…) that I could see the the direction it was taking and that it would annoy me if I read on. My daughter-in-law gave me the DVD of the film, and I haven’t watched that either. Maybe I should give the poor book another try!
I read a lot about the Mitfords a few years ago, then felt I’d had enough. However, I’ve lately been reading more of Nancy’s novels – Highland Fling and Don’t Tell Alfred were both quite good fun, though nowhere near the brilliance of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. And of course we all have opinions (variable) on Emily Mortimer’s recent adaptation of The Pursuit. At first I thought I’d hate it, but it grew on me, and I enjoyed the very different take she had on it – though I thought her own character (The Bolter) appeared far too often (& far more than she did in the book.)
But it was all so worth it to see Andrew Scott as Lord Merlin, doing his dance at Linda’s party. I have to admit I’ve rewatched that scene so many times.
I’ve had a copy of Sorcery and Cecilia siting on my shelves for so long – you’ve encouraged me to pick it up at last.
Thanks for an engaging chain!
Wow, so many wonderful new recs here. I love it when one book leads to another. Or to a show that I know I’d like to try. 🙂 Thanks! And Guernsey is a slow read, you may have to wait till the 50% mark to let it engage you — preferably on a lighter day.
I love books told in this format and in particular Dracula. You might enjoy Stoker’s Wilde which is also an epistolary novel featuring Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker. A gothic, supernatural story with humour and plenty of OTT action.
Lynn 😀
Wow, I’d never heard of Wilde, and it sounds amazing. Thanks Lynn!