June's starting point is Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. The subtitle is "How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference." 
That made me think of some of my favorite "little" books, including Louisa May Alcott's classic, Little Women. A story of four sisters, and yes, fiercely independent Jo was my favorite, too. 
The sisters in Little Women manage to maintain the bonds of sisterly affection (as I imagine they would put it). Not so the sisters in Ian McEwan's Atonement. This one has it all: misunderstandings, class differences, betrayal, guilt, war, and a love-it-or-hate-it ending. It was made into a film (with a fabulous cast) in 2007.
One of the stars of that film, Saoirse Ronan, was also in the film adaptation of Colm Toibin's novel, Brooklyn, a story about the personal growth of a young Irish immigrant to New York.
A very different New York experience can be found in the non-fiction Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman. It is the story of a 104 year old reclusive heiress, a great fortune, and the mystery of her life.
An American heiress of a rather different type is the subject of Jeffrey Tobin's American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst. The subtitle says it all; it was a series of strange events during a strange time in American history. 
The original Hearst fortune was a product of the American west (so was the Clark fortune). But the vast majority of those who went west hoping to find their own fortune were not so lucky. One of those was the Ingalls family, well-known from Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books. But those books, while based on her story, were fictionalized. For a more thorough picture of Laura's life and work and that of her daughter, Rose, who was more famous than her mother for a time, Caroline Fraser's excellent Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder is the book to read.
From little things to little houses....there is this month's six degrees. Thanks to Books are my Favourite and Best for the six degrees meme. I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's chains!
