Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The Reading Life Review November 2015. Closing Thoughts on German Literature V. Future Plans


Last year I hosted a seven day long close out party after German Literature IV ended.  I was inspired by the great movie The Grand Budapest Hotel which was an homage to the work of Stefan Zweig. The terrible events in Paris and private issues have damaged my spirits so much that I will not have a closing event out this year.  I hope so much to be able to participate in German Literature VI in November 2016.  

I offer my great thanks to Max u for the Amazon Gift Cards 


Most of my reading in November was related to German Literzture Month, a wonderful event unique to the international book blog world.   This was my fourth year as a participant.

Works I Read for G L V

1.  Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada. A brilliant recreation of life in Nazi Germany. 



2.  Ostend, Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth and the Summer Before the End by Volker Weidermann. A fascinating social history 

3.  Buddenbrook Ths Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann.  Must reading 

4.  "The Governess" by Stefan Zweig



5.  Demian:  The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth by Herman Hesse.  Read the major works first.

6.  The Tanners by Robert Walser. a serious work of art

7. The Hotel Years Wandering Between the Wars by Joseph Hoffman, a brilliant collection of feuilletons translated and introduced by Michael Hoffman

8.  "The Dandelioln" by Wolfgang Borchert. 



9.   "The Foundling" by Heinrich Von Kleist

10.  "A Conversation Concerning Legs" by Alfred Lichenstein 

11.  A Homage to Paul Celan

12.  "The Criminal" by Veza Canetti 

13.  Rebellion by Joseph Roth. Between the wars


14.  The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch - an amazing work of art



15.  The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Keun.  Sex and the City redone in the Weimer Republic  


16.  Wolf Among Wolves by Hans Fallada.  A panoramic view of the Weimer Republic 

17.  Journey Into the Past by Stefan Zweig

18.  Fear by Stefan Zweig

19.  "Mendel the Bibliophile" by Stefan Zweig.

20.  "Oh Happy Eyes" by Ingeborg Bachman - no post

21.  Joseph Roth. Three Short stories published in Vienna Tales no post

22.  "Leporella" by Stefan Zweig



23.  "The Dissection" by George Heym.  


24.  After Midnight by Irmgard Keun. Her best work



I am still reading two novels I had hoped to finish in November, The Castle by Franz Kafka and Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann.  

I also read a few other books worth mentioning.

1.  The Sleep Walkers How Europe Went to War by Christopher Clark

2.  The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector



3.  After the Circus by Patrick Modiano

4. Tennessee Williams A Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lehr. Great bio


5. Anne by Constance Fenimore Woolson

Since inception The Reading Life has had 3,786,874 page views.  The top home countries for visitors  are The U S A, The Philippines, India, Germany, and The U. K.  The top city of residence remains the Greater   Manila Area.  The most read posts are on short stories by authors from the Philippines.  I now have 4075 Twitter followers.

Review Policy.  

I have no fixed policy. I like to read brand new books and support authors.  I look at every book I am sent.  

Future Plans.



I will be reading more works by Clarice Lispector, Iréne Nemirovsky, and Constance Fenimore Woolson.  I will continue reading Holocaust related works, short stories, get back to reading Post colonial Asian fiction and continue on in the classics.  I will continue my read through of Balzac's La Comedie Humaine and will soon begin a third reading of Proust.  I have not forgotten my Irish friends and will hopefully devote March of 2016 to Irish short stories.


I offer my great thanks to all those who take the trouble to leave a comment.  It means a lot to me.  

Mel u

Ambrosia Boussweau 




3 comments:

Lizzy Siddal said...

Mel, Thank you so much for supporting German Literature Month with such enthusiasm. I really enjoyed and admired your reading of Fallada this tume around, I have all those books in the TBR but the size of some continually daunts me, This despite knowing how readable he is. I also love the collage you have made. What a great idea - I may have to borrow it. :)

Caroline said...

I also wanted to thank you for your enthusiasm and support.
I love the collage.
The events in Paris dragged me down as well.

Mel u said...

Lizzy Siddal. I love the German Literature Challenge, through it I have discovered many great new to me writers, Hans Fallada for sure among them. I love his work.

Caroline. The events in Paris had to have hurt deeply all lovers of great art. Thanks so much for hosting your event. It helps me enlarge my literary culture