6 Degrees of Separation: Shop Girl to Tirra Lirra by the River

It is #6degrees time and I am here to play again.

This month’s starting point is Shopgirl by Steve Martin. Yes, that Steve Martin. I have learned that Steve Martin is an actor, comedian, banjo player and writer. Shop Girl is a novella published in 2000 and I have not read it.

However, I have read the memoir Yes Please written by the another comedian Amy Poehler. I really wish I hadn’t read it. It was voted last year’s least loved book in the Pocket Book Club. Perhaps we have no sense of humour. She just didn’t seem to have anything interesting or funny to say.

Unlike Augusten Burroughs who writes memoir warts and all and happens to be funny too.  His story about confusing Santa and Jesus in his collection of short stories You Better Not Cry is laugh-out-loud funny.  Maybe I do have a sense of humour after all. Every one of the stories has Christmas at the centre of the events or happens at Christmas time.

Not many books have Christmas at the centre of them, however, I think Christmas might feature in every one of the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling. In particular, the party in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which is my favourite because I think Snape is one of the most interesting characters in the series. I am, by the way, Ravenclaw. That means I am wise and witty. So I do have a sense of humour. You can buy audible books with Stephen Fry reading ALL the Harry Potter novels.

I know this because I have been listening to Stephen Fry read ALL of Conan Doyle’s  Sherlock Holmes books and stories. That is a mammoth 72 hours of listening. I have even been dreaming about Sherlock Holmes. It is getting a little out of hand.  Stephen Fry is a good reader and can even do a passable Australian accent. I seem to have some back round to comedians again. It is fascinating to listen/read as Conan Doyle grows as a writer through the Sherlock books and to witness some of the earliest detective fiction as Sherlock also grows as a character.

I also just finished reading Angela Slatter’s Vigil which is billed as a fantasy but I think owes as much to the hard-boiled gumshoe detectives genre. With a twist of the Weyrd. Vigil is set in Brisbane which is fun for me as it is my home city. I can’t think of many books set in Brisbane. Only a handful.

Tirra Lirra by River by Queenslander Jessica Anderson is a lovely book about both escaping and returning to Brisbane. I think there should be more books set in sub-tropical Brisbane.

Well, that was some journey. From Beverly Hills department store to the Brisbane suburbs.

If you want to play #6degrees it is easy. Check out the rules at books are my best and favourite.

brisbane-1433127_1920

16 thoughts on “6 Degrees of Separation: Shop Girl to Tirra Lirra by the River

  1. I nearly chose Poehler as my first link, but went with another comedian/author, Ben Elton.

    We rewatching the HP movies with the booklets as I type. We did the Half-Blood Prince and Christmas last night.

    Tirra Lirra is on my TBR list – Anderson is being honoured this year at this event which I plan to attend – http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/honouring-australian-writers-jessica-anderson

    My #6degrees – http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/6degrees-june-2017.html

    1. Ben Elton is a great place to start. I read his first book Stark and mostly remember that much of it was set in Perth and it was one of the first environmentally conscious books I read. That was a long time ago! The HP movies get rewatched in our household too. We recently went to the Queensland Symphony Orchestra playing to the music whilst the first movie played on the screen.I kept forgetting the orchestra was there. Enjoy the Andersen event. It will probably make you want to read the book even more.

    1. Having kids growing up during the 2000’s I felt obligated to read the Harry Potter books! The first book did not wow me, but as the series developed I had to admire the world Rowling built and the way she seemed to have planned the storyline from book one. It is not going to be to everyone’s tastes – some people just don’t like fantasy – but the fans don’t seem to be able to let the world go and she certainly spun a good tale with memorable characters.

      1. Interesting Kathryn. I loved the first one, and gave up by the middle of the third. My kids were well into reading them themselves and I felt I knew what they were about. I’m not really a reader of series. I get bored.

  2. *chuckle* We often write LOL online, but this time I really did laugh out loud over what you wrote about Amy Poehler.
    And yes, absolutely, loved Tirra Lirra – and everything else by Jessica Anderson. She was one of the greats:)

  3. I know he has his share of critics but I love Burroughs’s writing (how many memoirs has that man got in him?!). Reading Running with Scissors I was laughing but also horrified, incredulous that this was someone’s life. Likewise, Dry, had me so engrossed that I felt like I was on the wagon with him.

    Confession: I haven’t read any Harry Potter and nor am I likely to *ducks for cover as the bookish part of the internet collapses*

    1. Yes, you got to wonder how much more Burroughs can find in his life to write about. Running with Scissors changed my mind out memoirs and what they could be like. I haven’t read Dry yet. I forgive you for not having read Harry Potter!

      1. I’ve also read his brother’s memoirs (John Elder Robinson??). The first one was brilliant but the others were a bit thin.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.