Published : 2021 || Format : print || Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El
Six Degrees of Separation is a fun monthly meme hosted by Books are my Favourite and Best.
Every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the ones next to them in the chain.
This month’s book is Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld.
Rodham belongs to that category of books that I like the idea of reading but know will never read. Basically this means, the book will be in my TBR forever and I may always talk about reading it, but if an opportunity comes, I'll likely balk. Something about alternate history both intrigues and repels me. I like all the "what-if's?" but it's depressing as hell because that's all it is - a what-if? It's not what actually happened. Reading a book about Hitler being stopped years before he actually was sounds exciting but then that's not true - the truth is harsher but we need to live with it.
When I saw this month's choice was Rodham, it got me thinking of what other books fell into that bucket - would like to read, but likely never will. It wasn't difficult to come up with one - Game of Thrones. Loved the show. Own the book. Borrowed both the ebook and the audiobook from the library many times. Even listened to about 8 hours of audio. Friends - this book (and sadly this series) likely will never get read by me. It's too wordy and at my present rate of reading books, it will be years before I'm caught up with the series.
A series that I would like to read to its latest installment, even if there are way too many books in it and could take me forever, is the Harry Bosch series. So far, I've only read one - The Black Echo, when I came out of a high of watching (and loving) The Mentalist. I've borrowed the second book twice from the library but have been in between several other books at the time.
Harry Bosch has a strong connection to Vietnam, having served there during the Vietnam War. Around the same time as when I was reading The Black Echo, I was also reading The Best We Could Do, which is an illustrated memoir by Thi Bui, daughter of two Vietnamese refugees. It happens to be a very powerful book that definitely benefited from its illustrated format.
Another book that I thought was elevated by its format (epistolary in this case) is Where'd You Go, Bernadette? Remember those days when you were reading it for the first time? How I wish I could read it again (for the first time) or find similarly wonderful books.
Since I reached a dead end with that book, I decided to take a little help from Goodreads. Looking at the Readers Also Enjoyed scroll, the book that jumps at me and makes me think could give me all the same feels as during my first time reading Bernadette, is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It's a book that comes highly recommended but I haven't yet had a chance to read it.
The title Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine reminds me of Fredrik Bachman titles. They have a very quirky feel and usually makes you want to read them. One of his books that I found quite charming is My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. Which reminds me - it has been years since I've read his books and I know he's had several out since.
Looking at my chain, it's fun to see that I started with an alternate history and ended with a charming book.
Have you read any of these books? Where did (or would) your chain take you?
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