Six Degrees of Separation: TOM LAKE to...

Six Degrees of Separation

We begin with --

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Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The title of the book is the name of the summer stock theater company who performs plays every summer at a resort on Tom Lake in Michigan.

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Our Town by Thornton Wilder
One of the plays the company performed that summer was "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. And the main character of the play was also the narrator of the book.

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The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chkhov

Patchett clearly wants Tom Lake to be a paean to Our Town and to its playwright, Thornton Wilder. 

In addition, I'd say that Patchett snuck in quite an homage to Anton Chekhov, too. His last two plays were titled "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard". Hmm. A good deal of the story takes place in a cherry orchard and, of course, there are three sisters. One could almost feel Chekhov hovering nearby. Wilder may have been "driving the tractor" but Chekhov was certainly nearby lending his ideas for stage directions.

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A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
The subtitle of this book tells you what the book is about: In Which Four Russian Authors Give a Master Class on Writing. One of the four Russians that Saunders highlights is Anton Chekhov, though the work he highlighted wasn't "The Cherry Orchard."

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Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
This is the first book I read by Saunders. Read is a misnomer, as I actually listened to the audiobook. It has 166 unique voice actors reading the parts. Listening to this book was a transfixing experience for me. 

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His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
Another transfixing audiobook experience with a large cast of narrators, I immersed myself totally in the story and read all three books in rapid succession.  

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The Book of Dust series by Philip Pullman
Another series by Philip Pullman where I found myself completely lost inside the story. The only problem, this series is incomplete. The 2nd book, The Secret Commonwealth, was published in 2019. And now I and other fans have to wait for the third book to be published and no publication date has been set. Sigh.

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That brings us back around to Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.
I don't often pay attention to upcoming books, but I love Ann Patchett so much I am always eagerly await her new books. Thankfully she didn't make us wait five+ years for this book.

I made it full circle. Six degrees from Tom Lake and back again. How'd I do? Did you follow my logic?

-Anne