This month’s game of Six Degrees, hosted by Books are my Favourite and Best, begins with the book Land by Maggie O’Farrell. I’m looking forward to reading this story about performing a land survey in Ireland shortly after that island lost a large percentage of population to starvation and emigration during the Great Famine. It will make a terrific addition to British Isles Friday some time in the next few months.

Maggie O’Farrell also wrote Hamnet, historical fiction about Agnes Shakespeare. I loved spending time in the ordinariness of life in the Elizabethan times, far from London’s theaters and the intrigue of the court. The book was better, of course, but I was incredibly moved by the final scene of the movie in Hamnet that took full advantage of the more visual medium.

Thinking about Shakespeare brought to mind Judi Dench’s memoir, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. That was such a delightful book. I learned about Shakespeare, about acting, and (a little) about Dench’s life.

One of the many plays that Judi Dench discussed was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I made a little project of that play earlier this summer:

• Listened to an episode about the play from the radio show, In Our Time
• Watched a filmed stage production of the play
• Read the play and a graphic novel version of the story

Reading the graphic novel version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream reminded me how much that I enjoy reading illustrated books. This year, I also read two illustrated books by Vivian Swift, When a Wanderer Ceases to Roam and Le Road Trip.

But, for Six Degrees of Separation and in keeping with the British theme that I have going in this post, I’m going to link to the illustrated book that I’m currently reading, A Fine Romance by Susan Branch, a travel journal about a trip to England.

Susan Branch mentions the book Portrait of a Marriage by Nigel Nicolson. Branch credited that book for developing her Anglophilism.

I had a similar experience when I read that book, long before the age of book blogs and Goodreads. Portrait of a Marriage is about Nicolson’s parents, Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicholson, and includes their shared love for two great houses in Kent with their gardens — Long Barn at Knole and Sissinghurst Castle.

Portrait of a Marriage started me on a journey through many beautiful library books about houses, gardens, and scenic areas in Great Britain. That journey through books planted the seeds for the British Isles Friday link party and our trip to England in 2014.

The most memorable book that I read during that early foray into Anglophilism was Home At Grasmere (The Wordsworths And The Lakes) by Penelope Hughes-Hallett. Home at Grasmere is an illustrated book that features poems by William Wordsworth and journal entries by Dorothy Wordsworth alongside pictures that invoke their time in the Lake District.

Or, at least, that’s how I remember it. I originally borrowed this book from a library but every time that I wanted to look at it again, it wasn’t available in any of the libraries that are convenient to me. I own fewer than a hundred books because I prefer that the library store my books for me. But since the library didn’t prove to be a dependable custodian of this book, I just ordered a copy from the used market. I hope it turns out to be as special as I remember!

Check out the links at Books are my Favourite and Best to see how other people linked through six books from Land by Maggie O’Farrell.