We’re more than halfway through the year and Six in Six, hosted by Jo of The Book Jotter, is back again! I love taking part in this as I think it’s the perfect way to look back at our reading over the first six months of the year.
The idea of Six in Six is that we choose six categories (Jo has provided a list of suggestions or you can come up with new topics of your own if you prefer) and then fit six of the books or authors we’ve read this year into each category. It’s more difficult than it sounds, especially as I try not to use the same book in more than one category, but it’s always fun to do.
Here is my 2021 Six in Six, with links to my reviews:
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Six Agatha Christie novels read for the Read Christie 2021 challenge
1. JANUARY – A story set in a grand house…The Body in the Library
2. FEBRUARY – A story featuring love…Sad Cypress
3. MARCH – A story featuring a society figure…Sparkling Cyanide
4. APRIL – A story set before WWII…Murder in Mesopotamia
5. MAY – A story featuring tea…A Pocket Full of Rye
6. JUNE – A story featuring a garden…Nemesis
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Six mysteries, thrillers or crime novels NOT by Agatha Christie
1. The Pact by Sharon Bolton
2. The Deadly Truth by Helen McCloy
3. The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor
4. The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
5. Hare Sitting Up by Michael Innes
6. Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
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Six non-fiction books read this year
1. Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier
2. The Killer of the Princes in the Tower by MJ Trow
3. Live Alone and Like It by Marjorie Hillis
4. The Light Ages by Seb Falk
5. The Fall of the House of Byron by Emily Brand
6. The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale
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Six books that took me on a tour of Europe
1. The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki (SPAIN)
2. Ashes by Christopher de Vinck (BELGIUM)
3. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (GREECE)
4. Still Life by Sarah Winman (ITALY)
5. The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley (IRELAND)
6. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles (FRANCE)
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Six books with titles connected to rivers, seas and storms
1. The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Penman
2. Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain
3. A Net for Small Fishes by Lucy Jago
4. The Drowned City by KJ Maitland
5. River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay
6. The Wrecking Storm by Michael Ward
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Six books I’ve enjoyed reading this year but couldn’t fit into another category
1. Good by Stealth by Henrietta Clandon
2. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
3. China by Edward Rutherfurd
4. The Metal Heart by Caroline Lea
5. The Hardie Inheritance by Anne Melville
6. The Last Daughter by Nicola Cornick
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I was pleased to find that I’d read six non-fiction books so far this year – it’s not often that I’ve read enough to fill a whole category. However, I’m disappointed that I haven’t read six classics (apart from the classic crime). I’ll have to make up for that between now and December!
Have you taken part in Six in Six or are you planning to? Have you read any of the books I’ve mentioned?
She Reads Novels 
I love how you do this post every year, and every year I tell myself that next year I’m going to do it, too. Then I forget. 😀 Oh, well. Maybe next year!
Well, you can post any time in July, so there’s still time! 🙂
Half the fun is selecting the categories, I expect, or rather seeing what categories fit the books you have left or, in the case of your final sextet of books, going for ‘These are ones I enjoyed’! Needless to say, apart of Nemesis I’ve read none of these but I liked the way you ordered them here.
Yes, some categories jump out at you as soon as you look through your list of books, but it becomes harder and harder as you try to find common themes between the few books remaining!
Love your categories! And any six months that has six Agatha Christies in it has to be good. I try not to use books more than once too, and as you say it’s not as easy as it seems. so well done! 😀
It does make it harder trying not to duplicate books. I’m looking forward to six more Christies in the next six months!
This is brilliant, it doesn’t sound easy at all!
It took a long time to put together, but I enjoyed doing it!
Nice categories! Six Christies already, wow! I had also fun with setting up this post (will be online somewhere next week)
I’ll look forward to seeing your post!
This seems like a great way to find patterns within reading, you’ve certainly read quite a variety. Your nonfiction titles look particularly interesting, I might add a couple of them to my list for Nonfiction November.
I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, so I was pleased to find that I’d actually read six so far this year!
What a fun selection! I did mine a week or so ago–I love doing this one each year.
Yes, I always look forward to this!
Thank you very much for joining in and for a great selection of books and a couple of new categories too!
Thank you for hosting again! I enjoyed deciding on this year’s categories.
As always a great choice of categories and lots of books! I particularly liked your ‘rivers, seas and storms’ category: very clever! 😊 I was also disappointed a didn’t mange to read enough classics and, unlike me, I didn’t quite read enough non-fictions for a category either, so well done that you did! 😁 Happy reading in the next six months!
Thank you! I’m really disappointed not to have read six classics, so I will try to make up for that in the second half of the year. Happy reading to you too. 🙂