The Reading Life Review September 2016

 September 2016 was an interesting reading month for me.

First the numbers 

Since inception on July 7, 2009 The Reading Life has had 4,228,842 page views.

The top home countries for blog visitors were

1.  U S A

2.  The Philippines. (Only 52 behind USA)

3.  India

4.  Germany

5.  Taiwan (first time in top five)

As always the top viewed  posts were on short stories by authors from the Philippines.  There are 2959 posts on the blog.  I did eleven posts in September.  My number of posts per month is trending down from a year ago.  In September 2015 I did 28 posts.  

I read three biographies.  One on Ernest Hemingway, on the famous American political cartoonist Thomas Nast, and one on George Eastman,the founder of the Eastman Kodak Corporation. 

I read and posted on two novels. Judas by Amos Oz, a quite fascinating work and a work I have wanted to read for years, the Holocaust novel The Kindly Ones by James Littell.  

I also read two books I did not feel motivated to post upon.

1.  The New Yorker Stories by Anne Beattie 42 stories, a fine collection of stories centering on American marriages.

2.  The Best of American Poetry, 2015 edited by Sherman Alexie. I felt the 2016 edition was very superior to the 2015,no doubt just a question of taste in poetry.  

I read Avery interesting collection of essays about writers and their families, Nine Ways to Kill Your Mother by Colm Toibin.

Public Library and other stories by Ali Smith was a very much worth reading collection.

I read several stories by Mavis Gallant.  I have a 1000 page collection of her stories which I will slowly work my way through, I hope.  I read two stories by Isaac Babel in anew Pushkin Press edition. 

I read a wonderful collection of poems, On Carbon and Lighf by Noel Duffy employing insights I gained from Edward  Hirsch.

I also read a brilliant historical work Anti-Judaism The Western Tradition by David Nirenberg.

Review Poilcy

I don't really have a policy. I am very interested in reading new biographies of writers.  If I have told you I will post on your book,then I will. I do not see myself as a reviewer.  I just post on what strikes me.

I give my thanks to all who take the time to write a comment.  

To my fellow book bloggers, keep blogging.  Imagine one day book bloggers might be able to look back on decades of posts.  

Mel u

Ambrosia Boussweau