The Reading Life Review - February 2018 - Autodidactic Corner - Future Plans

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

February 2018 Authors

Of the 14 authors in my February collage, 9 are dead, 5 living.  Featured were 8 women and 6 men.  9 were featured for the first time.  The authors most frequently posted upon in prior months   are Zadie Smith then Farah Ahamed.  

In terms of nationalities we have

England 4

U.S.A 3

Poland 3

Ukraine 1

Sri Lanka 1

Lithuania 1

Kenya 1

Row 1, left to right

1. Saul Bellow - U.S.A - Nobel Prize - 1976
2. Blume Lempel - Ukraine, emmigrated to U.S.A. Yiddish Short Stories 
3. Sarah Hamer-Jacklyn - Poland, emigrated to USA, Yiddish writer 
4. Sholem Asch - Poland, emigrated to U.S.A, prolic Multi genre Yiddish writer
5. Leyb Rashkin - Poland, murdered in Holocaust, author of The People of Godlbozhits

Row 2

1. Irving Howe - USA, award winning historian
2. David Mitchell - England
3. Amanthi Harris - Sri Lanka, award winning short story writer and visual artist
4. Barbara Comyns, England, author Our Spoons Come from Woolworths 
5. Yente Sandatsky, Lithuania, emigrated to USA, Yiddish writer

Row 3

1. Beth Underdown - England, debut novel The Witchfinder’s Sister
2. Zadie Smith
3. Delmore Schwartz- The Orpheus of New York City 
4. Farah Ahamed - Kenya, multi-award winning short story writer 

Blog Stats

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The most viewed posts are all about older Short stories by writers from The Phillipines, followed by those on Indian Short Stories.

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The Autodidactic Corner

Last month I started what will be a recurring feature, The Autodidactic Corner, in which I suggest books to my fellow Autodidacts imbued with a passion for great literary art and history, based on my recent reading

1. Bloodlands-Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder - very illuminating work, must Reading for those into Holocaust studies, and Russian and Eastern European History

2. World of Our Fathers- The Journey of Eastern European Jews to America and the World They Found and Made by Irving Howe, National Book Award Winner.  essential Reading 

Future Hopes and Plans

By and large it will be more of the same.  In March I will refocus as I have done for eight years, on Irish Short Stories.  I hope to finish one day my read through of Balzac’s Comedie Humaine.  I am over 90% done.  I will keep posting on Yiddish Short Stories and novels.  I am currently reading two serious books on Jewish history and hope to complete them soon.  I am always looking for works by relatively new short story writers and quality historical fiction.  My prime interests are listed under my blog header collage.  

Final Words 

I offer my great thanks to all who leave a comment.   To my fellow book bloggers, the world’s greatest readers, keep blogging on through good times or bad.