Six Degrees of Separation

The #6degrees meme is hosted at Books are my Favourite and Best. 

This month the chain begins with Shirley Jackson's short story, The Lottery. If you haven't read this story it is available on the New Yorker site. It is a story with a dark surprise at the end. Another book with a surprise at the end is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I knew the story of Rebecca first from the movie and later read the book. Another book that I read after seeing the movie (in this case many times) was Double Indemnity by James M. Cain. A train trip plays a major part in Cain's plot which leads me to another book where a train journey is the center of the story: The Edge by Dick Francis. That Dick Francis novel got onto my TBR list because I heard about it on the Strong Sense of Place podcast. Another book I read after hearing about it on SSoP was Under the Big Top by Bruce Feiler in which the author joins the circus for a year. I love books where someone decides to do something for a year and then tells the reader about how it went. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell is a classic of this genre and one of my favorites. Another great book where someone experiments on themselves and then tells us all about it is Living Oprah by Robin Okrant. She spends a year doing all the stuff that Oprah Winfrey recommends and it is fascinating.