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This monthly meme is hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I participated a couple of times before my break and had loads of fun, so I decided to take part again now that I’m back. On the first Saturday of each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the ones next to it in the chain. Everyone starts with the same book, and it’s fun to see the different connections people make, and where they end up. Remember to post a link or just comment your chain over on Kate’s blog!

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Because many people participate in Novellas in November this month, instead of a specific book, the starting prompt is simply ‘a novella from your reading list’. I’ve chosen The Apple Pie Ice Cream Parlor, a Dream Harbor novella by Laurie Gilmore. This looks like a fun series to read, and this novella sits between books 4 & 5. The cover looks cosy and an ice-cream parlour makes a lovely change from the usual bookstore, so I’m really looking forward to reading it. According to the blurb, the protagonist’s best friend, and potential love interest goes by the name Leo Faber.

Another friend turned love interest whose name begins with ‘L’ is Luke Larsen, in A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna with Samara MacLaren (Narrator), a fun listen which had me chuckling out loud several times.

Another fun listen about a witch which had me chuckling aloud is An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating by Cecilia Edward with Shakira Shute (Narrator). This is a time-travel story in which our protagonist and her snarky familiar end up in the modern world after making a mistake when attempting to brew a love potion.

Another story with a love potion gone wrong is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in which one character consumes a potion meant for another and winds up poisoned when celebrating being cured. (Disclaimer: My book was bought second-hand. I don’t support the author’s opinions, words, and actions against the trans community.) Another distinctive feature of this book is Harry developing an obsession with Draco and practically stalking him the entire time. I love that this happened because it provides so much wonderful fodder for another love of mine — Drarry fics.

Stalking is also a major theme in Milkman by Anna Burns with Bríd Brennan (Narrator). This is one book I highly recommend listening with your ears rather than reading with your eyes. There are lot of stream-of-consciousness passages which go off into long, maze-like tangents which might be confusing without the skilled narration of Bríd Brennan. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the love it/hate it divide coincided with listeners vs readers. Being set during the troubles, there are a lot of unspoken rules about how people should and should not behave, and what they should and should not do.

Rules are pretty much the entire point of More Rules for Life: A Special Volume for Enthusiasts, the sequel to Kitty Flanagan’s 488 Rules for Life: The Thankless Art of Being Correct. This book has some surprisingly good advice hidden behind Kitty’s distinctive flavour of humour.

Unfortunately, the history of advice has often leaned less towards the good kind, often venturing into ‘what the hell were you thinking’ territory. As much as we get a laugh from it now, much historical advice caused real harm. Kaz Cooke’s You’re Doing it Wrong: A History of Bad & Bonkers Advice to Women explores some of the less than stellar advice given to women over the years. It was an interesting book to read. I’d love to read one geared towards advice given to men over that same time period.

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From sweet love in an ice-cream parlour to a feminist history about bad advice, with a small detour through manufactured and coercive ‘love’ and the pressure of societal rules, that’s my 6 degrees for the month of November. I wonder where the next month will take me?

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December starter: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.

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© Adele Walker November 2026