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, August 1, 2017

The Reading Life Review - Paris in July Edition - July, 2017







In July I posted on 5 living and 14 deceased authors, 14 men and five women.
Seven are from France, four Japan, two are Americans. One is from Chile, one Kenya, another Is Hungarian, one was born in Czechoslovakia, another the Ukraine.  I featured one Noble Prize Winner.  Three of the French authors belong on any list of greatest writers of all time.  Two were murdered in Nazi concentration camps and sadly two of my featured writers were in favor of the removal by any means necessary of all Jews from France.  One of the Americans is climbing toward huge commercial success with a forthcoming H B O series based on one of her works of speculative fiction.  James Baldwin becomes more relevant as America enters an era of hatred and ignorance.  Of the living writers, four have achieved great literary success, I fully expect the fifth to join this group.  

Top Row from the left
1.  Guy de Maupassant- a father of the short story
2. Hiromi Kawakami (read but no post this month)
3. Farah Ahamed.  - Prize Winning Short Story Writer
4. Francois Coppée- I like his perhaps overly sentimental short stories
5. Roberto Bolano -  a huge influence on contemporary literature

Second Row from Top

6. Louis-Ferdinand Celine- a chronicler of the dark side
7. Ilse Weber- Holocaust Poet, murdered at Auschwitz
8. Magda Szabo, author of The Door, Hungarian
9. Jean-Philippe Blondel - contemporary French writer
10. Patrick Modiano - Noble Prize Winner

Third Row

11. Irene Nemirovsky- Love her work, image on my sidebar, murdered at Auschwitz 
12. Colette.  Just the name invokes a world
13. Ryu Murakami- Huge best seller in Japan. Close to X-rated works 
14. Nnedi Okorafor- American author of wonderful science fiction and fantasy works 
15. Kobo Abe. Author of The Woman in the Dunes

Bottom Row

16.  Honore de Balzac
17. James Baldwin.  
18. Emile Zola
19. Junichiro Tanizaki-one of my favorite writers 

Blog Stats for July 2017

The most viewed posts were all on short stories by authors from the Philippines 

The top home countries for blog visitors

1. The Philippines 
2. U S A
3. India
4. France
5. U. K.

Since inception on July 9, 2009 there has been 4,714,223 page views 

There are 3103 posts online as of today

My reading in July was dominated by posts relating to Paris, as my participation in Paris in July, hosted by Thyme for Tea.  The Paris related works I read, including short stories, novels and nonfiction were

1.  Colette- Two Early Short Stories
2. The Black Notebook by Patrick Modiano 
3. "A Duel" by Guy de Maupassant ( A Franco-Prussian War Story)
4. Life, Death, and Betrayal at The Hotel Ritz in Paris by Tilar Mazzeo (non fiction)
5. How the French Invented Love by Marilyn Yolem (literary history)
6. "The Lost Child" by Francois Coppée 
7. "The Juggler of Norte Dame" by Anatole France- no post
8. A Very French Christmas- A Collection of the Greatest Holiday Stories of France
9. "The Illustrious Gaudissart" by Honore de Balzac
10. After the Circus by Patrick Modiano
11. "Gaudissart II" by Honore de Balzac
12. 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Phillipe Blondel
13. "Noel" by Irene Nemirovsky 
14. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
15. The Madeleine Project by Clara Beaudoux
16. Nais Micoulin by Emile Zola
17. The Occupation Trilogy by Patrick Modiano 
18. Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine

Review Policy.

I am very open to looking at all sorts of new books, including self published 

I offer my great thanks to those who take the time to leave comments.  You help keep me going.  

Spam question.  Much of my spam comments are all on one particular work, Pigeon 
Pie by Nancy Mitford.  Most of the spam comments are generic praise that could apply to any post by anyone.  They are not written as a native speaker of English might and they contain no links or ads.  What can the purpose of these comments be?  None ever make it online but they have persisted for months 

To my fellow book bloggers, the world's greatest readers, keep blogging.  

Mel u
















4 comments:

Tamara said...

MEL u, you have been a star performer in the 2017 Paris in July event, with an unbelievable amount of reading & reviews. Thank you for all your great research and informtion... you have read & reviewed many books & authors I will probably never read, but have introduced me to some i now want to read.. thanks.

Suko said...

Mel, you are certainly a prolific reader! Congratulations! Your reading life is truly remarkable.

Mel u said...

Tamara. I was very motivated by your event. I had a great time in my reading. I enjoyed the movie reviews and the arm chair traveling the event generated. Hope I can return next year.

Mel u said...

Suko, thanks so much.