The Return of. . . Dunh, Dunh, Dunhhhhhhhh. . .

Six Degrees of Booking

This is something I did a couple of times in April. First on my own, then as part of a meme called Booking Through Thursday. I thought it would be fun to do again. In case you don't know, it is a play on the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. In that game, you can supposedly pick any actor and within six "moves" connect that actor to Kevin Bacon. I decided to do it with a book picked randomly from my library one day. Anyone feel free to play. I won't tag anyone in particular. Just let me know if you did it so we can all go check it out.

The rules are simply to connect any six books, which you've read, from your personal library. The connections can be personal to you or drawn from the book or authors. It is completely up to you. Previous examples are here: Six Degrees of Booking and Six More Degrees of Booking. Today, I had my son pick a book for me. After rejecting a book on magic (his,) a crossword puzzle dictionary and a Beatles anthology book (my husband's,) he picked:

1. Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was a text for my Reading and Writing Texts class at University of Texas, Dallas. Exploring stories that are retold, we also watched the 1930's movie version to explore what aspects of the original story the author (in this case, director) took with him and what new things he brought to the story. The next book in our Frankenstein story progression was:
2. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, a retelling of the Frankenstein story according to my professor, Dennis Kratz. The man/animal creatures in this book remind me of:
3. Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler. This book is about a virus which is brought back to Earth by astronauts. The virus causes mutations in the victim and they become very animal-like. The children born to them even more so. The alien hybrids spread the virus to others by scratching them. The virus gets into their blood immediately and begins the transformation. The transformation through blood reminds me of:
4. Dracula by Bram Stoker. I've always loved vampire stories even modern versions like Buffy and Angel. If it has a vampire in it, I will at least check it out. Dracula and his other vampires are the living which leads me to:
5. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. We shift from the fantastic here to story of a businessman, Chichikov, who buys up the names of serfs whose names are still on the government census rolls. Nikolai Gogol is a Russian writer, as is the writer of:
6. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I read this a few years ago as part of a spiritual exercise. It is a look at the live of a man wrongly imprisoned in a Siberian labor camp. The horror of his life is made bearable by his losing himself in the routine of his day and the determination to stay as sane, human even, by doing his work and doing it well.

There you go, my Six Degrees of Booking. Remember that if you read this, consider yourself tagged. No need for a direct invitation. Also, don't forget to leave a comment here letting us know you played so we can enjoy your post.