It’s that time of the month in this brand new year, six degrees of separation, started by KateW where you start with a book, add six more and see where it takes you. The book to begin things this month is the rather fantastic Rules of Civility by Amor Towles that I finished just a few weeks ago. With its socialites and wealth in New York, it leads me on to another recent review, ‘To Paradise’ by Hanya Yanagihara, where this strata of society also featured. The book was incredibly long, at 720 pages, compared to the shortest book I read last year, which was Claire Keegan’s slight but perfectly formed ‘Small things like these’ which takes place at Christmas. Another book which begins at the festive time of the year is Jonathan Franzen’s highly enjoyable ‘Crossroads’ which features an American family in the seventies. This leads me on to another book I read last year, part of which takes place in the 70’s about another American family of twelve children, six of whom had schizophrenia, ‘Hidden Valley Road - Inside the mind of an American Family’ by Robert Kolker. Mental illness also features in Sinead O’Connor’s recent ‘Rememberings’ which I enjoyed on Audiobook. Another famous Irish Musician who was the subject of a recent biography that I greatly enjoyed was of Shane Macgowan - A furious devotion by Richard Balls.

That’s it for another month!