Welcome to All Book Blog Hoppers-Sept 30 to Oct 3

Welcome to The Reading Life
Follow Me and I will Follow you Back

I have been an on and off participant in The Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jennifer of Crazy for books for a long time.   I have found it to be a great place to discover new to me blogs and meet some great book bloggers.    

My blog and my reading focus on  ever evolving genres of literature but for now I am very into South Asian Short Stories, Japanese fiction, classics, Katherine Mansfield, Flannery O'Connor, Elizabeth Bowen and Virginia Woolf.   I also read a wide variety of short stories and review an occasional carefully selected new work.

My blog is the home of Irish Short Story Week centered around St Patrick's Day as well as Indonesian Short Story Week.   I am open to book blog events.  

Every week Jennifer poses an interesting question for us-here is the one for this week:


“In honor of Banned Books Week, what is your favorite “banned or frequently challenged book”?


Two I have recently read and enjoyed are The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.

Feature and Follow Friday

I am also and on and off again follower of The Feature and Follow Book Blog Hop.   Here is the question for the week

Q. What book that hasn't been turned into a movie (yet) would you most like to see make it to the big screen, and who would you like cast as your favorite character?

Tough question for me.     I would say Ruffy's The Manly Man's Mediterranean:   A Guide to the Ports by Ruffington Boussweau with Johnny Deep as Ruffy.

Follow Me and I will Follow you Back-leave me a comment if you follow me or if you just stop by so I can see what your answer might be.


Mel u

Welcome to all Book Blog Hoppers Sept 16 to Sept 19

Welcome to The Reading Life


Follow Me and I will Follow you Back
@thereadinglife

I have been an on and off participant in The Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jennifer of Crazy for books for a long time.   I have found it to be a great place to discover new to me blogs and meet some great book bloggers.    

My blog and my reading focus on  ever evolving genres of literature but for now I am very into South Asian Short Stories, Japanese fiction, classics, Katherine Mansfield, Flannery O'Connor, Elizabeth Bowen and Virginia Woolf.   I also read a wide variety of short stories and review an occasional carefully selected new work.

My blog is the home of Irish Short Story Week centered around St Patrick's Day.   I am open to book blog events.  

Every week Jennifer poses an interesting question for us-here is the one for this week:


“As a book blogger, how do you introduce yourself in your profile?”


I just state my reading interests

Feature and Follow Friday

I am also and on and off again follower of The Feature and Follow Book Blog Hop.   Here is the question for the week

 It's that pesky magic book fairy again! She has another wish: What imaginary book world would you like to make a reality?

I know lots and lots of people will give this answer but the world of the Harry Potter books (as long as I am not a muggle!)

Mel u

Welcome to All Book Blog Hoppers-Aug 26 to August 28

Welcome to The Reading Life


Follow Me and I will Follow you Back

Charles is very excited to be
co-editor of my blog, as you can 
see

I have been an on and off participant in The Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jennifer of Crazy for books for a long time.   I have found it to be a great place to discover new to me blogs and meet some great book bloggers.    

My blog and my reading focuses on an ever evolving collections of reads but for now I am very into South Asian Short Stories, Japanese fiction, classics, Katherine Mansfield, Flannery O'Connor, Elizabeth Bowen and Virginia Woolf.   I also read a wide variety of short stories and review an occasional carefully selected new work.

My blog is the home of Irish Short Story Week centered around St Patrick's Day.   I am open to book blog events.  

Every week Jennifer poses an interesting question for us-here is this weeks question:


This week Jennifer asks us a non-reading question-do you have any pets?

We have three cats.   Charles, a 19 year old Siamese, is co-editor of The Reading Life.   We also have a rescue cat Tammy about a year old now and an outdoor cat that comes to us when he is hungry or wants a long nap.   

I will follow back all who follow me-just leave a comment letting me know you are now a follower

Mel u

Welcome to All Book Blog Hoppers Aug 19 to the 22nd

Welcome to The Reading Life


Follow Me and I will Follow you Back

I have been an on and off participant in The Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jennifer of Crazy for books for a long time.   I have found it to be a great place to discover new to me blogs and meet some great book bloggers.    

My blog and my reading focuses on an ever evolving collections of reads but for now I am very into South Asian Short Stories, Japanese fiction, classics, Katherine Mansfield, Flannery O'Connor, Elizabeth Bowen and Virginia Woolf.   I also read a wide variety of short stories and review an occasional carefully selected new work.

My blog is the home of Irish Short Story Week centered around St Patrick's Day.   I am open to book blog events.  

Every week Jennifer poses an interesting question for us-here is this weeks question:


This  week Jennifer asks us to tell everyone what the longest book we have ever read is-


If you include multi-volume works then it is Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.   For a single volume it would be  Clarissa

I will follow back all who follow me-just leave a comment letting me know you are now a follower

Mel u

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop-July 22 to July 25

Welcome to The Reading Life

I have been an on and off participant in The Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jennifer of Crazy for books for a long time.   I have found it to be a great place to discover new to me blogs and meet some great book bloggers.    

My blog and my reading focuses on an ever evolving collections of reads but for now I am very into South Asian Short Stories, Japanese fiction, classics, Katherine Mansfield, Flannery O'Connor, Elizabeth Bowen and Virginia Woolf.   I also read a wide variety of short stories and review an occasional carefully selected new work.

My blog is the home of Irish Short Story Week centered around St Patrick's Day.   I am open to book blog events.   In August I will be the joint host on August 17 of Indonesian Short Story Day and on August 31, Malaysian Short Story Day.   These events will be hosted by bloggers with a special knowledge of the culture of these two countries.


Every week Jennifer poses an interesting question for us-this week she asks us if there is a literary genre that we wish we were into but just cannot seem to find a way to read-my answer is just No there is not.

I will follow back all who follow me-just leave a comment letting me know you are now a follower

Mel

Welcome to all Book Bloggers Hoppers-June 17 to June 20

Welcome to all Book  Blog Hoppers

"Hi, Please follow us so we can reach 500 followers
by our 2 year blogaverdsary-July 7-thanks
Charles-co-editor

Parajunkee's View  is once again kindly hosting the Follow Friday Book Blog Hop-Book Blog hops are a great way to meet new to you book bloggers and to keep our great community strong.  

I will happily follow back any one who follows my blog or my twitter feed-just leave a comment please


Every week Parajunkee proposes an interesting question-here is this weeks question

Q. In light of the Summer Solstice. Also known as Midsummer...let's talk about fairies. What is your favorite fairy tale or story that revolves around the fae?

This is a question I am well prepared by my reading of short stories based on Irish fairy stories during Irish Short Story Week I.

 Much of the history and pain of the common Irish country people is wonderfully shown in "The Child Who Was Stolen by Fairies" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The story is short and beautifully told and you can read it if you want in just a few minutes so I will not say much of the plot.   The story is very Gothic, very atmospheric and very scary.    A mysterious carriage, more beautiful than anyone has ever seen,  is passing through the village.   When young Billie comes out to see it, a beautiful women beckons him into the carriage with an apple.    As the children look into the carriage the shadows a horribly ugly woman with face that would scare the devil sitting next to the beautiful woman.   Billy gets in the carriage.   His mother is driven to great despair as she fears Billie is lost forever.     Once and a while he seems to appear at the door to her hut, her other children say they have seen him briefly in the village.    Then he disappears for years.   One day the mother returns and sees him in her house for sure.   He is dressed in the worst rags,  is filthy dirty, and looks starved.   As the mother rushes to him, he disappears  never to be seen again.    I think this story is in part about how parents tried to cope with the starvation of their children in the great Irish famines of the 19th century in which millions died.    


Mel u

Follow Friday Book Blog Hop and The Book Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog-please look around a bit if you have time

I will happily return all follows-if you follow me from the hop please leave a comment to be sure I follow you back-if you just hop by leave a comment so I can return the visit.
If you already follow me and I have not followed you back please leave a comment so I can fix my oversight.

To those new to my blog mostly I post on short stories, Asian literature (I am in the Philippines) and classic fiction.    I recently hosted Irish Short Story Week and I am very open to events of all sorts.   I love reading and exchanging reading ideas.    I love to discover new to me writers.   

This week the host of the hop, Parajunkee, gives us a question-this week it is  -


What Literary Character would you like to date and which one would you like to be?-As my wife is out of town for a few days, I will answer the first part  


Option one, when feeling in need of some danger in my relationship  it might be Mitsuko from Quicksand.


(Forget the leading ladies in "Melrose Place", "Desperate Housewives", or the female villains in the latest Korean soap opera.   None of them are half as devious, manipulative, seductive, or beautiful as Mitsuko in Quicksand.   (It should be noted that those  are Mitsuko's good qualities.)-This is from my post on Junichiro Tanizaki's  Quicksand.)


Or in an English frame of mind, maybe Rebecca from the book of the same name  



Or maybe from Wild Sargasso Sea, Antoinette.




If I was seeking a serious relationship, then one of the Makioka sisters or one of the unattached bookish ladies from Cranford










Jennifer at Crazy for Books also hosts  a weekly hop.  Here is her question-


Which book blogger would you most like to meet in real life?-Too many great people out there to pick even a top ten list-

"Hi-I hope you will follow us"-Ruprecht

Mel u

Welcome to all Book Bloggers-June 10 to June13

"Hi, Welcome to our Blog"-Yoda and Charlie

Welcome to all Book Blog Hoppers

I will follow back all who follow me-

Every Friday Jennifer of Crazy For Books hosts The Book Blogger Hop-The Book Blogger Hop is a great chance to meet new to you bloggers, find some new blogs to follow and gain some great readers for your own blog.   Every week about 275 or so bloggers from all over the world participate.    I have found some excellent new blogs this way and gained some wonderful readers.    I follow about 500 book blogs  and am always happy to find more.   If you follow me I will follow you.

   

   My blog for the last few months has been one third Asian literature, one third classics and one third short stories but I do read contemporary fiction also and even some YA once in a while.    I have various reading projects I am working on also.    My latest one is South Asian Short Stories.   I am very into Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf.  

If you visit me please leave  a comment so I can return the visit-

I will follow all who follow me-

Every week Jennifer asks participants in the Book Blogger hop to answer a question-here is this week's question-

Every week the host of the Hop asks us to answer a reading related question-here is this weeks question

“WHO IS THE ONE AUTHOR THAT YOU ARE DYING TO MEET?"

Limiting my answer to living writers, I think I would like to meet Kenzaburo Oe, the great Japanese author.   

Mel u