#6degrees – A Gentleman in Moscow To…

This month’s #6 Degrees of Separation chain kicks off with A Gentleman in Moscow.

 

I have not read this book, nor to be honest, even heard of it. I don’t know a thing about it. I’m guessing it is some sappy piece of crap about a bloke who is feeling lost with his life and goes to Moscow and gets drunk, has numerous affairs and suddenly his life has meaning. Or more likely, he’s french and has already done all that before and realizes his life has no meaning and kills himself. My goodness, glad I never read THAT book 😉

 

 

 

 

The word “Moscow” makes me think Russia, like I hope it would all good educated people of the world. A jolly good Russian book is Oblomov.  Happy go lucky, full of spirit and pluck, Oblomov is everything you’d expect from a Russian novelist.

 

 

 

 

Ok, so while I might have been joking just a teeny bit about a Russian novelist writing an inspirational and happy character, this next selection makes even Pollyanna look like a sad sack of glumness. Gandhi. Now there was a man who knew how to party and have a good time! If anyone was going to Rock the Casbah, Gandhi was that man.  He wasn’t going to let The Man get him down.

 

 

 

Now, I live in the United States. Back in Gandhi’s day you couldn’t travel from the United States to India on airplanes because they didn’t exist. You had to sail, on a boat, like The Coronet.  Shockingly enough, this book was also non-fiction. Two non-fiction books in a row? Sounds like a conspiracy to me! (almost like those “facts” I made up about airplanes!)

 

 

 

 

 

A book filled with conspiracies is the Sound and the Furry.  Little alien teddy bears that think our literature is real and act out our books, all the while possessing greater intelligence than humanity? It takes every ounce of conspiratorial’ness that the main character has to sidetrack the Hoka from going on some galactic jihad, like in Dune.

 

 

 

 

When I think of jihads, I think of the Last Jihad. A political thriller about Saddam Hussein getting a hold of some nukes. It was a fun read even while not aging well.

 

 

 

 

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you go from an (imaginary french) gentleman to Saddam Hussein.  Talk about worlds apart! If you’d like to participate in the #6degrees series of posts, head over to #6Degrees Meme to find out the starting point for each month. They’re not always punctual, so sometimes you have to wait until a week into the month.

 

 

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ps,

on a side note, I can’t use the #6degree tag, it automatically just goes to 6degrees. Anyone have any ideas why that might be?