The Reading Life Review - May, 2021

May Authors

Column One

1. George Saunders -USA -  Booker Prize Winner
2. Shan Sa - China to France - first appearance - The Girl Who Played Go
3. Sylvia Petter - Australia to Austria - Author All The Beautiful Liers 
4. John Duffy - Irish - we have been following his work for eight years

Column Two

1. Anne Applebaum - USA first appearance- author Red Famine- Stalin’s War on the Ukraine- Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about Marxism–Leninism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at The Economist and The Spectator, and was a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post. 
2. Eibhean Waldheim - Ireland - first apperance - The Last Day at Bowen’s Court
3. Esi Edugyan - Canada - first apperance - two time Gilner Prize Winner - Author Washington Black 

Column Three

1. Andrea Wulf - UK - first appearance - Author The Invention of Nature - Biography of Wilhelm Von Humboldt 
2. Kanae Mirato - Japan - first appearsnce - author of murder mysteries
3. Mikhail Bulgahov - Russia - First Apperance. I have begun a full read through of his translated works.  

Column Four

1. Tilar j. Mazzeo - USA - prolific biographer - fitst appearsnce
2. Penelope Lively - UK - Booker Prize Winner 
3. Tetsuyo Akiksna - Japan - first appearance. Sweet Bean Paste

Home Countries of Authors

1. USA - 3
2. Ireland - 2
3. Japan - 2
4. Uk - 2
5. China - 1
6. Russia - 1
7. Australia- 1
8. Canada - 1

Eight writers were featured for the first time. Only one of the May authors, Mikhail Bulgahov is no longer among us but through his work he joins the greatest writers of the 20th century. Eight works by women were featured, five by men.

In May I did not post on three books I read. All very deserving of attention

1. Twenty Four Eyes by Sakae Tsuboi - pow,erful anti-war work from Japan in 1952
2. Hunger by Roxane Gay - number one memoir on Amazon
3. A Mortuary of Books The Rescue of Jewish Culture after the Holocaust Elisabeth Gallas Translated from the German by Alex Skinner

In May there were posts on four works of nonfiction and 

eight novels.  We were honoured to publish an original Short Story by John Duffy.

Blog Stats

As of today there are 3,926 posts online

The Reading Life has received 6,339,098 page views

The top home countries of visitors

1. The USA 
2. The Philippines 
3. India
4. Canada
5. Sweden
6. Russia 
7. Germany
8. Malaysia 

The top five most viewed posts included two short stories by Filipino writers, one Irish, and one Indonesian.  The fifth most viewed post was on White Guard by Mikhail Bulgahov 

Future plans

There will be a read through on Mikhail Bulgahov., maybe four more novels snd some short stories.  

In July I will focus on Paris related short stories

Alison MacLeod - I will  be doing a read through of his Short Stories with Buried in Print

My thanks to Max u for his kind provision of Amazon Gift Cards