More than half way though the year. The longest day has come and – oh woe! – gone. And quite a few book-bloggers whom I follow have been joining in Six in Six, a way of recording at least some of the books read and enjoyed in the first part of the year, hosted by Jo of The Book Jotter. She proposes all kind of headings for lists-of-six. I’ve interpreted these fairly liberally. Here are mine.
Six books set in a country not my own:
Leila Slimani: Watch us Dance (Morocco) Barbara Kingsolver: Demon Copperhead (USA) Lauren Chater: The Lace Weavers (Estonia) Roy Jacobsen: Just a Mother (Norway) Georges Simenon:Monsieur Monde Vanishes (France) Jennifer Saint: Atalanta (Greece)
Six books in translation:
Philippe Claudel: Monsieur Linh and his Child (French) Hubert Mingarelli: A Meal in Winter (French) Guadalupe Nettell: Still Born (Spanish) Hanna Bervoets: We had to Remove this Post (Dutch) Jenny Erpenbeck: Go, Went, Gone (German) Daniela Krein: Love in Five Acts (German)
Six books set in the past:
Kiran Millwood Hargrave: The Dance Tree Lauren Goff: Matrix Victoria Mackenzie For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on my Little Pain. Peter Ackroyd: The Lambs of London Annabel Abbs: The Language of Food Jo Browning Wroe: A Terrible Kindness.
Six works of non-fiction:
Dan Saladino: Eating to Extinction Katherine Rundell: Super-infinite Patrick Galbraith: In Search of One Last Song Matthew Green: Shadowlands Patrick Modiano: The Search Warrant Kushanava Choudhury: The Epic City: the World on the Streets of Calcutta.
Six books set in Ireland:
Sheila Armstrong: Falling Animals Hugo Hamilton: The Speckled People Audrey Magee: The Colony John Banville: The Lock-up Louise Kennedy: Trespasses Sebastian Barry: Old God's Time
Six books I enjoyed and haven’t yet mentioned
Caleb Azumah Nelson: Small Worlds Shelley Read: Go as a River William Trevor: Last Stories Kate Grenville: A Room made of Leaves Elizabeth McCracken: The Hero of this Book Joseph O'Connor: My Father's House
This has been a bit of fun, revisiting books I’ve enjoyed and authors I’ll read again. Popping books onto the appropriate list was a challenge in itself . Many of them fitted into two, if not three categories. Have you any particular favourites from the books you’ve read this year? Do any of my choices appeal to you? Thanks for a fun challenge, Jo!
My header photo was taken in the Bosu-Dong Book Alley in Busan, South Korea.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
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