I spotted the #6Degrees meme of Kate’s who blogs at Books are my Favourite and Best on the blog of Lisa who blogs at ANZ LitLovers and felt like playing along this month and think I might do next too!

It has been a long time since I read Atonement by Ian McEwan, I pulled my copy off the shelf and the within a few pages of the first chapter could spot my books for this #6Degrees. Curiously, whilst I enjoyed it, I was not wowed by the book and I have commented recently that in my experience I have been often disappointed by the winners of literary prizes, so I was surprised that the book had survived several book culls (it might not next time!).

When The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton was first published I really wanted to be able to get into the book. I had spotted it in the window of Waterstones, but there was something that just didn’t click for me. Then at Christmas the BBC released their three part series based on the book and I really enjoyed it. I decided to try again with the book and was not disappointed this time.

The Coffee Trader by David Liss is one of my favourite books and I probably read it every few years. I then went onto read other books written by Liss, including one called The Day of Atonement.

Having been to Amsterdam and visited  Anne Frank’s house which is a very powerful place to visit and well worth it, if you ever have opportunity I selected the next book because on that same trip I visited Delft and bought back a beautiful Delft mug for my late Mum which now resides in my Breakfast room.

Midnight Blue is about the birth of Delft pottery and set in what is described as the “Dutch golden age” when Dutch trading ships were bring back discoveries and wares from the Far East. It is a lovely book and the cover is just “perfect”.

As the same time as the Dutch Empire was shaping and dominating parts of the world so too was the British Empire and here enters my next book, which has been brilliantly researched and is filled with examples of how the foods from parts of the Empire were used. There is an extensive bibliography and notes section.

My next book links in to the Empire and a significant commodity that was adapted and exported, drunk the world over and that is Tea. This is the first of a series, The Tea Planter’s Daughter. You can view the series HERE

And the last book in the #6Degrees is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach. The BBC have recently in the last few years launched a series, The Real Marigold Hotel where they take a group of celebrities who are in their retirement years (65+) and take them to India to see if they would consider a retirement in India. The third series is currently being broadcast in the UK and you can see some details HERE on the BBC website.

I have just spent a lovely hour writing this post and reacquaint myself with the books here. I did not manage to leave the Amazon website without a purchase though! Thanks so much to Kate and Lisa.