Six Degrees of Separation: From Like Water For Chocolate to The School of Essential Ingredients

Hello October! I’m looking forward to crisp fall weather, pumpkin spice lattes, and fall baking! And oh yeah, another Six Degrees of Separation, a meme hosted by Books Are My Favorite and Best in which we start with one title, link to six other titles, and see where we end up!

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This month’s title is Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I haven’t read this title, but here’s the blurb!

Official Synopsis from Goodreads: Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit.

The number one bestseller in Mexico and America for almost two years, and subsequently a bestseller around the world, Like Water For Chocolate is a romantic, poignant tale, touched with moments of magic, graphic earthiness, bittersweet wit – and recipes.

A sumptuous feast of a novel, it relates the bizarre history of the all-female De La Garza family. Tita, the youngest daughter of the house, has been forbidden to marry, condemned by Mexican tradition to look after her mother until she dies. But Tita falls in love with Pedro, and he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. In desperation, Pedro marries her sister Rosaura so that he can stay close to her, so that Tita and Pedro are forced to circle each other in unconsummated passion. Only a freakish chain of tragedies, bad luck and fate finally reunite them against all the odds.

So, since I haven’t read this title yet, though it is on my TBR list, I could go a few different routes with my first pick. I could go the magical realism route, or the set in Mexico route, or the family drama route, or, my choice, the food route!

Since I’m taking the food route, and since chocolate is in the title, my first choice is Chocolat by Joanne Harris.

I know, it’s probably just an excuse to put a picture of Johnny Depp on my blog, but I really love this movie! I actually haven’t read the book, but the movie is one of my favorites, and besides the setting and the plot, I enjoy the music, which is composed by Rachel Portman.

Another Rachel Portman soundtrack that I enjoy is the one for the 1996 adaptation of Emma by Jane Austen.

Emma is not my favorite Austen. I’ve just read the book once, and I much prefer the many movie and television adaptations to the book. I’m hoping that my feelings towards the book change one day when I do a re-read.

Since there are so many Austen retellings out right now, one Austen retelling that I enjoy are the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries by Carrie Bebris.

The series imagines Darcy and Elizabeth as mystery solvers, and each book in the series focuses on a different Austen book. My favorite of the series is the one that focuses on Emma, which is called The Intrigue at Highbury: Or Emma’s Match. It is book five in the series and takes place after the events of the book Emma.

Thinking of mysteries that revolve around books, authors, and England takes me to a cozy mystery series by Susan Wittig Albert that focuses on Beatrix Potter.

The series is called The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and book one in the series is The Tale of Hill Top Farm. Besides the book being told from the human perspective, it’s also told from the perspective of the various animals in the village. It’s definitely a cutesy series, one that may be way too cutesy for some readers. And I suppose with the animals narrating that there’s a bit of that magical realism there as well, like with our launch book of Like Water for Chocolate.

Another book that is told from both human and animal perspective is the book One Good Dog by Susan Wilson.

The animal is a pit bull named Chance, and the human a struggling man named Adam, and this is a cute book, one that we read in my book club. There’s also a sequel to this book called Two Good Dogs.

Keeping in mind book club reads, and since I first started off from Like Water for Chocolate going with food, one book club book I read that was about food is The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.

Told from multiple POVs, this was a great character read about food and cooking. Now I’m remembering that there is a sequel to this book, called The Lost Art of Mixing that I keep meaning to read. Perhaps now is the time to start this one!

And there you have it. Another month, another Six Degrees of Separation. I’m looking forward to next month’s selection!

Have you read any of these books?

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