The Reading Life Review- October 2023-'My Plans for the Rest of 2023

                                                    October Authors 

Column One.

1, Julie Kaplan- Australia - first appearance on TRL  Jewish Studies Historian 

2. Jane Austen- UK

3. Ivy Ngeow- UK- Multi talented author featured many times on The Reading Life - 

Ivy Ngeow was born and raised in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. She holds an MA in Writing from Middlesex University, where she won the 2005 Middlesex University Literary Press Prize out of almost 1500 entrants worldwide. Her debut, Cry of the Flying Rhino (2017), was awarded the International Proverse Prize in Hong Kong. Her novels include Heart of Glass (2018), Overboard  (2020) and White Crane Strikes (2022). She is the commissioning editor of the Asian Anthology New Writing series. The American Boyfriend (Penguin, Southeast Asia, 2023) was longlisted for the Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize for Commercial Fiction Writers of Colour 2022. She lives in London. I hope to follow her work for many more years,

Column Two

1. Alison Wells- Ireland- first appearance-Alison Wells was born in London, raised in Kerry and lives in Bray, near Dublin with her husband and four children. A graduate of Communication Studies and Psychology, she is now an enthusiastic librarian. Alison has been awarded residencies at Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry. Her literary short fiction has been Pushcart prize nominated and shortlisted for Hennessy New Irish Writing, Bridport, BBC Opening Lines and Bray Literary Festival. Writing has appeared in The Stinging Fly, The Lonely Crowd, Crannóg, UK National Flash Fiction anthologies Jawbreakers and Scraps and New Island/RTÉ Arena’s New Planet Cabaret. Eat! was highly commended in the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2019. In 2020 she was a finalist with The Exhibit of Held Breaths. Author of Random Acts of Optimism 

2. Alice Hoffman- USA-featured numerous times.author of over thirty works, I am attempting a read through of her works.

3, Ruth Wisse- USA- highly regarded historian of Yiddish Literature 

Column Three

1. Chaim Grade- Born in Lithuanian- immigrated to NYC in USA- one of greatest Yiddish Writers. Previously featured 

2.  Farah Ahamed- UK, London- featured many times - Farah Ahamed's short stories and essays have been published in The White Review, Ploughshares,  The Mechanics’ Institute Review, The Massachusetts Review amongst others. Her story “Hot Mango Chutney Sauce,” was shortlisted for the 2022 Commonwealth Prize. She is the editor of Period Matters: Menstruation Experiences in South Asia, Pan Macmillan India, 2022,. She is working on a novel, Days without Sun, a story about grief, friendship, and survival in the backstreets of Lahore. 

3.   Terence (/ˈtɛrəns/), was an African Roman playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. It is thought that Terence abruptly died, around the age of 25, likely in Greece or on his way back to Rome, due to shipwreck or disease. He was supposedly on his way to explore and find inspiration for his comedies. J hope in time to read all six of his surviving plays.

October Blog Stats 

As of today our posts have been viewed 7,348,816 times

There are now 4,313 posts online 

Current or Final Home Countries of Featured Writers 

1. USA- 3

2. UK -2

3. Ireland-1

4. Australia- 1

5. Italy- 1

Two featured authors are deceased, two are men, and, four were featured for the first time in October 

Home Countries of Blog visitors in October 

1, USA 

2. India 

3. The Philippines 

4. Singapore 

5. France

6. Canada 

7. Germany 

8. Isreal 

On a per capita basis Singapore and Israel rank the highest.  These are both countries with highly educated citizens and I find this gratifying. 

I am very happy residents of Isreal visited my blog at about 30 times the rate of Americans and over 100 times of those from India during this time in history.

The most viewed posts were on short stories by Asian writers

In October two short stories and a marvelous debut collection of stories Random Acts of Optimism by Alison Wells were featured. Two Novels, were featured  including The American Boyfriend by Ivy Ngeow,  which I highly reccomend, An Ancient Roman Comedy and a valuable work of 19th Century Jewish history were also featured in October, I am embarked upon a six month read through of Jane Austen which included in October Sense and Sensibility.

Plans and Hopes for the rest of 2023.

I have two works of Ancient history in process, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, and two other novels in process