Month: January 2023

#WWWednesday No. XVII | Dipping my toes back into reading this January, 2023!

Posted Wednesday, 18 January, 2023 by jorielov 0 Comments

#WWWednesdays graphic created by Jorie in Canva.

I ♥ the premise of this meme {WWW Wednesdays} due to the dexterity it gives the reader! Smiles. Clearly subject to change on a weekly rotation, which may or may not lead to your ‘next’ read providing a bit of a paradoxical mystery to your readers!! Smiles. ♥ the brilliance of it’s concept!

This weekly meme was originally hosted by Should Be Reading who became A Daily Rhythm. Lovingly restored and continued by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Each week you participate, your keen to answer the following questions:

  • What are you currently reading!?
  • What did you recently finish reading!?
  • What do you think you’ll read next!?

After which, your meant to click over to THIS WEEK’s WWWWednesday to share your post’s link so that the rest of the bloggers who are participating can check out your lovely answers! Score! Perhaps even, find other bloggers who dig the same books as you do! I thought it would serve as a great self-check to know where I am and the progress I am hoping to have over the next week!

Join the Convo via: #WWWWednesday

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About time to start dipping me toes back into reading
& sorting out
how to be a ‘thriving reader’ again!

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One of the things in my life that I simply had to ‘leg go of’ these past several months since October was the ability to read and blog. My emotional upheavals (ie. the death of my cats, my father’s ongoing medical emergencies and crises) prevented me from the kind of focus one needs to enjoy reading and/or interacting with other readers who are fellow book bloggers. I ached to do something to divert my attention anywhere else than work, grieiving and advocating for my Dad but sometimes, you get so consumed by LIFE itself, anything EXTRA is just a bit too much to tackle. For me, this is why reading just started to slip through my fingers.

Although, as you’ll see in this small recapture of what I did accomplish during that drought of interest was a bit of joy in the rains of darkening clouds. I am thankful I can begin anew this January and find my way again with stories and authors alike One goal of mine is continuing the idea I had written about previously – about focusing on the stories on my shelves, curing my backlogue of reviews and sorting my way with borrowing audiobooks and/or listening to the ones I already own. I definitely want to be more proactive in seeking out the stories off my shelves that truly interest me to read right now and not focus on when those stories originally arrived in my life. Stuff happens, life derails and at some point, we realign ourselves.

Whilst Mum had fallen in love with crochet, I want to return back to knitting. I used to love getting lose in the stitches and rhythms of knitting. It has been an age since I’ve even worked on the prayer shawls I started so many years ago now. It was one of those things that just fell away and I never was able to restart despite several attempts. I think knitting would be a calm companion right now alongside looking forward to adopting an emotional support cat in February. I never understood crochet and being a dyslexic knitter on the onset, you could say, I’d rather not overcomplicate fibre arts because I’m just thankful I learnt how to knit at all. I’m proud of Mum though – she has the ability to self-learn through video tutorials and that is one avenue that throws me off as everything appears backwards to me.

So, I am hopeful in one of my next updates — I’ll have resumed two passions of mine: knitting and reading alike! I do know I will be seeking out as many audioreads as I can this year as I’m noticing that my pacing with reading books in print has slowed down quite a heap and I know listening to audiobooks will be a more enjoyable choice for me. It has been shifting towards this since [2016] when I first fell in love with audiobook narrations. Honestly, let’s face it – that first voice that hooked me into them was Jake Urry! (see this Review)

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What Jorie is currently reading:

WWWWednesday photo collage made by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: jorielovesastory.com

The Brass Key (prequel) & Death on the Boardwalk by Caleb Wygal
(*) the thin book above “Death on the Boardwalk” is “The Brass Key”

A Light in the Window by Julie Lessman (*re-read & continuation)
: a favourite author of Jorie’s and one of the first authors she interacted with in the book blogosphere before she became a book blogger herself (circa 2012/13)

→ My first #HistoricalMondays for 2023
The Other Side of Certain by Amy Willoughby-Burle

→ listening to the audiobooks for the Blackstone Legacy:
Carved in Stone (book one) & Written on the Wind (book two)
in preparation for reading Hearts of Steel (book three) : for the blog tour!

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I can thankfully start reading Wygal’s stories due to having received the prequel “The Brass Key” and for my mind/heart to finally be able to focus on his quirky Cosy Mystery series. I had to keep pushing my readings of this series forward as previously blogged about for differing reasons. The latter delays I believe are established enough without having to restate them again. I have been wanting to get back into reading Mysteries, Suspense and Thrillers for awhile and I am hopeful this kicks me off into the right direction to where I can weekly or monthly re-establish myself into those genres as I have personal copies of stories to read as well as backlogued review copies, too. Sometimes it is nice to tuck into a Cosier side of the Mystery genre as well as it gives you what you’re seeking in Mystery but is more gently told if your not ready to embrace the grittier side where Cosy becomes a bit more Hard-boiled. Read More

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Posted Wednesday, 18 January, 2023 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, WWW Wednesdays

#TheSundayPost XIII | Betwixt sorrow and fighting to advocate for my Dad’s health

Posted Sunday, 15 January, 2023 by jorielov 15 Comments

#TheSundayPost banner created by Jorie in Canva.

[Official Blurb] The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. This is your news post, so personalize it! Include as much as you want or as little. Be creative, it can be a vlog or just a showcase of your goodies. Link up once a week or once a month, you decide. Book haul can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books..share them!

  • Enter your link on the post-
  • Sundays beginning at 12:01 am (CST) (link will be open all week)
  • Link back to this post or this blog
  • Visit others who have linked up
  • Read this week’s #TheSundayPost!

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Are we ever ready to say “goodbye” to someone we love?

Note of Sorrow by Jorie banner created in Canva.

I never thought I’d be blogging about the loss of a cat

during the year I felt couldn’t surprise me anymore

with unexpected stress and a multitude of adversities.

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REMEMBER when I first shared this?

10 days before Christmas, we lost our little Tux.

And, we almost lost my father three ways to Sunday.

And, we’re fighting like heck to get him the time he needs to RECOVER

whilst feeling harassed and railroaded by both doctors and the hospital.

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In regards to my life behind the blog:

It will not come to a shocked surprise to anyone whose following me via Twitter the circumstances I’ve been facing alongside my Mum in regards to my Dad. For those of you who strictly follow my blog, I apologise for the long radio silence in updating you about why my blog has become a bit stagnant and has simply stopped where I left it during #SciFiMonth. I didn’t even get the chance to properly finish Sci Fi Month this past November nor did I get to release the prompt posts as I had intended to do either. Those are still lost to Drafts but they’re going to be finished this January (as it will give me something diverting to focus on) and the rest of my plans for #SciFiMonth will debut this November, 2023. Including my focus on the stories and writings of E. Chris Garrison.

You could say we had an insurrecting medical emergency which became compounded and complex as the days and weeks moved forward in regards to my father. He was hospitalised twice in November but the second time, instead of coming home he had to go into a rehab facility which also offered long-term care if needed. He had a wonderful surgeon at the hospital who did his due diligence and found that my father had a blood clot in his leg and at that time, he had found two aneurisms. I ought to mention that his former surgeon who saved his life post-stroke in [2016] was a changed man this time round. His bedside manner was abominable, and we fought for a second opinion which we learnt was never done. Mum and I are fierce and strong – guess they never met a family like ours, eh? Because of our insistence, Dad received top level care and had a vascular surgeon who went wayy past the extra mile to discern and diagnose what was wrong. 

Not the best news to receive as a family by any means. However, we were still leaning hard on hope that perhaps despite this news there would be a bit of Hope for my father to recover and/or still have a bit of time with us overall. As any one of those conditions could be deadly in of its own.

Read More

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Posted Sunday, 15 January, 2023 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Stories of Jorie, The Sunday Post