Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Sunday, July 31, 2016

The Reading Life Review - Paris in July Edition.




In July I was once again participated in one of my favorite book blog events, Paris in July.  Below is a list of the works I read for the event.   I did not get everything read I had in my plans but hopefully there is next year.  






1.  The Dogs and the Wolves by Iréne Nemirovsky - must reading for Nemirovsky lovers




2.  Mavis Gallant -  Two Set in Paris works, a short story and a note book entry

3.  Five Nights in Paris by John Baxter.

4.  The Little Paris Book Store by Nina George

5.  "The Problem of Summer Time" by Marcel Ayme


6.  "Love Under the Roof" by Emile Zola


7.  "The Purse" by Honore de Balzac 




8.  Gertrude Stein and her Family by Kathleen Warren - a first rate literary biography

9.  "Czarist Parisian Emigres" by Joseph Roth 

10. Gigi by Collete  it gets no more Parisian than this.


11.  The Cat by Collete 


I read only two other novels, The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, a Nobel Prize Winner and The-Black  Notebook by Patrick Mindano, also a laureate.  I did not post on The Black Notebook.  I also read a few short stories by Guy de Maupassant, looking for one I could include as part of my participation in Paris in July but none moved me enough to post upon.
I posted on a short story by Clarice Lispector, "One Less Day".  



I read two works of history on which I did not post.

1.  Congo:  The Epic History of a People by David Van Reybrouck.  A very well done book

2.  The King of Vodka The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire  by Linda Himelstein.   an interesting book 

The works I most enjoyed were the two works by Collete and the one by Iréne Nemirovsky. 

I have no big reading plans for August, I hope to post on novels by two authors who have done Q and A Sessions on my blog, Karl Parkinson and Heather Fowler.  Both are first rate works.

Mel u



Ambrosia Bousweau



4 comments:

Tamara said...

Mel, you are always welcome to participate in Paris in July, you bring so much to it. Many great pieces of literature were included on your list, and you contributed some great reviews this year. Im intrigued that you dont post on books that dont move you, and yet you read them. Again, thanks for joining the event this year. Thanms for posing some great questions on the linked in pages.

Louise said...

Such an interesting and varied list. I didn't get nearly as much reading or blogging done as I'd hoped at the beginning of the month, but we'll always have Paris, and there is always next year. I'm sure all of us will do some Paris reading in the meantime too.

Mel u said...

Tamara, thanks for hosting the event. Sometimes I just make reading journal notes indicating to my future self what I read.

Mel u said...

Louise, thanks for the comment. I have a number of history books centering on Paris I hope to read by year end