Plans and Hope for 2016 for The Reading Life

I hope this year to complete my read through of the 91 elements in Honore de Balzac's monumental The Human Comedy.  I have read all of the most famous works.  You can tell some of his works were written at a speed fueled by the caffeine in a dozen Red Bulls but every work has at least a few wonderful descriptions.  I have twenty works still waiting to be read.  Serious autodidacts should consider this project.

I hope to reread Proust, starting with Wayne Carter's revision of the first two volumes of the translation of C. K. Scott Moncireff.  I also hope to read Moncireff's translations of Stendhal's The Red and the Black and The Charter House of Parma.  

I have seven anthologies of Indian short stories containing at least seventy five short stories by highly re

regarded  writers I have not yet read and hope to post on many of them this year.  

I am increasingly fascinated by the extreme cultural depth of writers from the old Austro Hungarian Empire.  For sure I will continue reading more of their work.  As of now I am reading Montaine by Stefan Zweig.  

I will continue my read through of the works of Clarice Lispector, Constance Fenimore Woolson and Iréne Nemirovsky.  

Ok quiz, which one in this family picture is Clarice? 

In March I will revise Irish short story month, a completely marvelous and inexhaustible reading life area.   

January 27 is International Holocaust Remebrance Day and I hope to post, one I have already done, on several Holocaust themed works that week.  I urge all book bloggers world wide to consider observing this day.  The Holocaust was for sure a war on lovers of learning and the reading life.  Throughout the year I will be posting on Holocaust related works.  The attacks in Paris can be directly traced to the Holocaust.

I hope to discover lots of great New to me writers, to read old classics I wish I would have read very long ago.

I will continue reading  nonfiction, more short stories, Yiddish, Japanese literature.

My blog has kept me going during dark times, I urge all book bloggers to continue on in the Holy Game of Book Blogging.  I hope one day now young book bloggers can look back on fifty years of their reading life.

I hope to do more Q and A sessions,  if anything is of lasting value on my blog it is my 100 plus q and A sessions.  I think anyone who took the trouble to read all these sessions would be amazed by the depths of the responses.  

Mel u

Ambrosia Boussweau 

The Reading Life Review - 2015 A Look Back

I offer my great thanks to Max u for the Amazon Gift Cards he provided me in 2015

In the long ago, Clifton Fadiman helped launch my reading life, I hope his daughter does not mind me using this wonderful quote.

As of this morning, The Reading Life has had 3,826,966 page views.  There are 2803 posts. I have 4116 Twitter followers.  The top home countries for visitors were The United States, The Philippines, India, Germany, France, The United Kingdom, the Ukraine, and the Netherlands.  By far the top visitor city of residence continues to be the Metro Manila area.  The top American state was California.  The top post of the year was on a short story about the impact of the partition of India on women, "Lajanti" by Raginder Singh Bedi, generating over 40,000 pages views  following the premier of a TV series inspired by the story.  My high one day readership was 41,612, the lowest was 852.

In 2015 I read for the first time short stories and novels by three writers i have added to my keep reading all my life list.  I also enjoyed reading excellent biographies of each of these writers that significantly increased my understanding of lives and work.

In March I devoted much of my reading to the Irish Short Story.

I am currently reading through the 91 works in Balzac's The Comedie Humaine, i have 17 to go

During German Literature Month I continued to read more of two old friends, Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth and greatly enjoyed my first two reads of Hans Fallada.

I am very into older Indian short stories.

Review Policy.

A big fringe benefit of book blogging is review books.  I only accept digital books for review.  If I accept a review book it means I am interesting in looking at it.

I am very into Yiddish literature and Holocaust related works.  

I thank all who have visited my blog.  I greatly appreciate all of the very insightful comments left by my wonderful readers.

I will soon a post on my hopes and plans for 2016

I am open to suggestions, joint ventures and to theme related guest posts.

Ambrosia Boussweau kindly agreed to become The European Director of The Reading Life.

Mel u

2015 A Review of my nonfiction reading Part II June to January

My 2015 Nonfiction - December to July

1.  Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. A useful,entertaining and interesting book

2.  Dressed for War  by Nina Edwards. Good fashion history, for fans of the Edwardian era. 

3.   My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead.  First rate in every way

4.  Adventures of a Child of War by Lin Acacio-Flores.  The Philippines during W W Two

5.  A Passion for Paris Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light by David Downie, very strong on literary history 

6.   The Liberation of the Camps The End of the Holocaust and its Aftermath by Dan Stone

7.  Iron Kingdom The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 to 1947 by Christopher Clark, the second book by this author I read this year.

8.   Wilkie Collins A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd.  Informative 

9.  Sicily by Julius Norwich  strictly a political history

10.  The Last Leopard A life of Giuseppe Tomán Lampedusa by David Gilmore. A first rate literary biography

11.  Proust's Way A Field Guide in Search of Lost Time by Roger Shattuck. I found it very helpful and a pleasure to read 

12.  The Soul of Place A Creative Writing Work Book by Linda Lappin   Full,of fascinating ideas and reading suggestions, highly recommended 

Mel u

2015 A Review of my Nonfiction Reading. Part I, December to July

I

I normally read four to seven books at a time and I try to always have a nonfiction book in the works.

1.  The Story of the Jews Finding the Words 1000 BC to 1492 AD by Simon  Schama

2.  The Life of Wallace Stevens The Whole Harmonium by Paul Mariani - a book for those into the subject matter

3.  The First Nazi Ever Erich Ludendorff by Will Browneell.  For sure worth reading

5.  Return to Zion The History of Modern Israel  by Erich Gartmano.  An excellent introduction 

6.  Tennessee Williams Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr

7. The Hotel Years Wandering in Europe Essays by Joseph Roth translated and introduced by Michael Hoffman.  They come no smarter than Joseph Roth

8.  Ostend, Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth and the Summer Before the Darkness by Voltar awardee an.  An ex dent book for those with an interest in the subject.

9.  Shocking Paris Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders who are of Montparnasse by Stanley Messler. Very well done work

10.  Mademoiselle Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History by Rhonda K. Garelick.  A fascinating book.  

11.   Why this World a Biography of Clarice Lispector by Benjamin Moser

12.   Former People The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy by Douglas Smith.  Must reading for Russian history buffs

13.  Paris at War 1939 to 1944 David Drake.  Good history

14.  Coco Chanel A life by Justine Picarde. Inferior to book number 10

15.  A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead.  Important addiction  to French Holocaust Literature

16.  The Hidden Children The Secret Survivors of the Holocaust by Jane Marks.  An important addition to Holocaust literature

17.   Secrets of the Flesh A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman.  A brilliant biography and much more 

18.  Helen Rubenstein The Woman Who Invented Beauty by Michelle Fitoussi- a very interesting story about a woman who went from a poor girl in Ukraine to a billionaire 

19.  The Sleepwalkers How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark.  First rate history

20.  The Life of Irend Nemirovsky by Oliver Philipponnot. If you love the work of Iréne Nemirosky as I do,you will love this book 

Mel u