We’re halfway through the year and the Six in Six meme, hosted by Jo of The Book Jotter, is back! I think this is the perfect way to reflect on our reading over the first six months of the year. The idea of Six in Six is to choose six categories (Jo has provided a list to choose from or you can come up with new topics of your own if you prefer) and then try to fit six of the books or authors you’ve read this year into each category. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but it’s fun to do.
As I have read more than thirty-six books this year, I have managed to avoid any overlap between categories. However, there are some books which I could have placed in more than one category. I had to do some rearranging, but this is what I’ve come up with:
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Six books set in countries other than my own:
Oman – The English Girl by Katherine Webb
Algeria and Iceland – The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson
Grenada and Martinique – Sugar Money by Jane Harris
Sri Lanka – The Sapphire Widow by Dinah Jefferies
Spain – Court of Lions by Jane Johnson
Thailand and Australia – The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley
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Six books with a touch of mystery or suspense:
Traitor by David Hingley
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Death in Cyprus by MM Kaye
There Came Both Mist and Snow by Michael Innes
The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements
The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor
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Six authors read for Jane’s Birthday Book of Underappreciated Lady Authors:
Britannia Mews by Margery Sharp
The Brimming Cup by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
The Feast by Margaret Kennedy
The Winds of Heaven by Monica Dickens
Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield
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Six tales of war and conflict:
The Oaken Heart by Margery Allingham (World War II)
The Winter Prince by Cheryl Sawyer (English Civil War)
Marry in Haste by Jane Aiken Hodge (Peninsular War)
Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce (World War II)
House of Gold by Natasha Solomons (World War I)
A Falling Star by Pamela Belle (Monmouth Rebellion)
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Six series started, finished or continued:
The Pallisers (The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope)
Last Hundred Years Trilogy (Early Warning by Jane Smiley)
Six Tudor Queens (Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir)
Nigel Strangeways mysteries (The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake)
Golden Apple Trilogy (For the Immortal by Emily Hauser)
Brother Cadfael (A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters)
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Six beautiful covers:
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin
The Illumination of Ursula Flight by Anna-Marie Crowhurst
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
The Poison Bed by EC Fremantle
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Have you taken part in Six in Six this year – or would you like to give it a try? See Jo’s post for more details on how to take part.
She Reads Novels 
Those are indeed beautiful covers! Good choices of categories – I love seeing how differently everyone approaches this tag. And it looks like you’ve had a great half-year of reading! 😀
There are some lovely covers around at the moment. It was hard to narrow them down to six. And yes, the great thing about Six in Six is that you can adapt it to suit your own reading, so no two posts are ever the same!
Must have been fun! I love the American cover of Circe, but maybe I love the British one even better.
I think both of the Circe covers look good, in their different ways. It’s great that the story itself lives up to the promise of the covers too!
I love this post every year when you do it, and every year I think to myself, I should do that, too. And then I don’t. But maybe next year! Great categories…and even better books! 😀
I hope you do join in next year! It’s such a fun and interesting way to look back on your reading from January to June.
Helen, I think you have some great category choices, in particular I love the ‘Jane’s Birthday Book of Underappreciated Lady Authors’ category 😀 And, as always, I am so impressed you have read enough books to not overlap any! There are also a fair few books here that I am looking forward to reading. 🙂
Thanks, Jessica. I was pleased to find I had read enough of Jane’s Birthday Book authors to make a whole category.
Thank you for taking part and sharing your first 6 months. I always like the book covers – some of them are like pieces of art.
And thank you for hosting this again, Jo. I enjoyed putting my post together, particularly the book covers category – there have been some beautiful ones this year.
Lovely covers, and it’s so good that you have read enough books not to overlap… I like that your reading has taken you to several places around the world and you have “experienced” different conflagrations in human history through the eyes of the characters. How cool! 🙂
It was one of my goals for 2018 to read more books set in different countries, so I’m pleased that I’ve read about so many countries already this year. I’m hoping that my reading will take me to some more interesting parts of the world in the next six months.
This is such a fun meme, and I loved all your responses! Those covers are all especially stunning. Looks like you’ve had an excellent reading year so far, and I hope the second-half is just as great.
Thank you, Jessie – I hope you have a great second half to the year too.
Thanks, Helen!