Category: France Book Tours

WWW Wednesday No.3: A girl with an affinity for the classics!

Posted Wednesday, 19 February, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

WWW Wednesday badge by Jorie in Canva

I loved the premise of this meme {WWW Wednesdays} due to the dexterity that it gives the reader! :) Clearly subject to change on a weekly rotation, which may or may not lead to your ‘next’ read which would provide a bit of a paradoxical mystery to your readers!! :) Love the concept! Therefore, this weekly meme is hosted by Should Be Reading. 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 Should Be Reading to share your post’s link so that the rest of the bloggers who are participating can check out your lovely answers! :) 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!

What are you currently reading!? {a two-week retrospective!}

I am continuing to read Crown of Vengeance by Stephen Zimmer, as it will mark my last post tied to the Sci-Fi Experience! I had wanted to read a few more books towards this reading challenge, but I lost too many hours during January to accomplish this task. I, am, however, continuing to read the books I outlined on my participation page for the Experience! I selected a few books for the Wicked Valentine’s Readathon which are as follows:

Selection One: Back to the Classics: The Ladies Paradise by Emilie Zola

Selection Two: Magical Realism (tCC) & Time Travel (SFN & SciFI Bingo): The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Selection Three: Book Itching to Read: Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan*

Selection Four: Book for Review: A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

{*} As previously disclosed, this boomeranged back to the local library; am awaiting its return!

Alongside the books I pulled for Wicked Valentine, I am also in position to start reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (as part of the #LitChat War & Peace Book Club), & Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (as part of the @RiverheadBooks RAL). Once I start to dig into these select classics, I am on my way towards revealing how I have such a hearty affinity for reading classical literature! Over the years I have dreamt of which classics to read first and which to follow in their wake. 2014 marks the year I am finally able to set aside time to start to explore the classical literary world with a curious eye towards the unknown adventures which lie ahead!

What did you recently finish reading!?

I have only finished a handful of novels within the past fortnight or thereabouts, all of which I posted reviews on my blog: The Brotherhood of the Dwarves, Dangerous DecisionsSebastian’s Way, and the Writers Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy. The latter of course, was an anthology collection of essays and interviews compiled together to present an excellent primer on genre writing; even if your genre is outside the scope of the title! I found myself writing quite a heap about my recollections and the musings therein which were extracted from the readings!

I am in the process of reading several novels at the moment for each of my different reading challenges as well as having finished my first blog tour book review stop for Penguin Group (USA). As I am reading multiple books concurrently, I will be revealing where I am by page count rather than by chapter or section next Wednesday! I am hoping to be at the end of Chapter X or XI of Wuthering Heights by the 21st (Friday) as well as complete my reading of Crown of Vengeance to round out my focus week for Seventh Star Press! At the close of February, I am equally as hopeful to have read approx. 200 pages of War and Peace whereas my goals for the 23rd of February are too complete Somerset & most of Roses! The Ladies Paradise is on my reading table as well, as I am attempting to read in tandem at the moment! I felt best to initiate a bit of a page count goal per book in order to best ignite a pattern of reading classics in-between modern literature I explore either outside of blog tours or within them! I always have such a fanciful heart to explore literature in all of its beauty, that I felt this might help me focus on books I truly want to finish reading within the time I am allotting! Stay tuned for next Wednesday’s journal of WWW to see how well I did!

A Fall of Marigoldstook me backwards into my memories for the shirtwaist factory fire of 1911 as evidenced and exhumed into a breath of life by Meredith Tax’s Rivington Street; whilst bringing forward haunting memories of observing the horrors of September 11th by telecast. I felt honoured to be asked to be a book review stop on her blog tour, and as you can read in my review, the novel itself touched me on a very deep level. It was a blessing to find closure and peace after two events in history profoundly affected me.

What do you think you’ll read next!?

I received word that my ILL holds are in queue to arrive within a few week’s time in which I cannot wait to see what is waiting for me inside Leviathan Wakes, Jaran, and The Divining!

And, then there was the whole realisation whilst I read this tweet which led to the successive replies:

Launched myself into a bit of mini-quest to find other “foodie fiction” titles that I could plausibly devour at some point in my reading future! Laughs within a smile! Oh, the wondrous thrill of the ‘discovery’!!

  • The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (started; need to finish!)
  • The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister (sequel to above; goes w/o saying!)
  • Chocolat by Joanne Harris (birthday gift; need to read!)
  • The Colour of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe (borrowed; returned unread)
  • Julie & Julia by Julie Powell (opted for the motion picture!)
  • Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl (always saw the films!)
  • How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’ Neal (loved!)
  • The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (murmurs of curiosity!)
  • When in Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison
  • The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy
  • The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe by Mary Simses (borrowed, need to finish!)
  • The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santos
  • Eat. Pray. Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (opted for the motion picture!)
  • The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
  • Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
  • The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
  • The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
  • Coffeehouse mysteries by Cleo Coyle (need to read all of them!)
  • White House Chef mystery series by Julie Hyzy (need to keep up to date!)
  • The China Bayles mysteries by Laura Childs (revolves around a teahouse!)
  • Courtesy of Ms. Lisa via TLC Book Tours the following were also suggested:
  • The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry
  • Eating Heaven by Jennie Shortridge
  • The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher
  • Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan
  • Hungry by Darlene Barnes
  • & the forementioned The Colour of Tea & The Lost Art of Mixing

The next books I am drinking in will be books for review and I am quite excited for them to grace my mind’s eye! For I get the absolute pleasure of re-entering the world of the #LelandDragons, as I re-read Redheart by Jackie Gamber before continuing forward into Sela and the bookend third of the trilogy: Reclamation! The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte by Ruth Hull Chatlien is a hearty tome of an account of a side of the Bonaparte family I never had heard of beforehand! My pursuit of Bonaparte has re-strengthened since I read Becoming Josephine by Heather Webb! Whereas Citadel by Kate Mosse is an interest which was encouraged by my Mum when she gave me Labyrinth; in lieu of knowing where I put the book, I have borrowed the two previous books from my local library!

I had a bountiful bookish postal surprise day

in which I happily welcomed in the following books for review:

My Wish List banner

&

Violet Patterson Blog Tour via Tomorrow Comes Media

&

Inscription by H.H. Miller

via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

&

A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet    

and Moments in Millenia (anthology) edited by Penny Freeman

via Xchyler Publishing

Whereas I previously announced receiving Citadel & The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte!

I decided to join the 2014 Chunkster Challenge, as I had no idea how many novels I’d read over the score of the year which would qualify as being labeled ‘a tome of a book greater than 450 pages!’ Clearly, I have already begun to read stories in greater quantity of depth, but this is going to be a good record of seeing how many I gravitate towards over a regular year’s worth of reading!

Likewise, I have released posts in part of my participation of:

I will be stitching together my posts this next week for challenges hosted by Bookish Ardmour:

All of which I curate on my RALs & Challenges page, of which I update my progress as well as on my Part II of Reading Challenge Addict! I decided to pull back from several reading & bookish challenges this year, as although they appealed to me in the beginning when I was on the verge of signing into them, I decided in the long-term I would be better off honing in on the ones which were at this point in time the most keen of the lot to participate in! There will undoubtedly be more RALs, Thons, & Challenges forthcoming but these will be the main ones I am concentrating on except to say for the two Jane Austen novels I am reading to correlate with the Jane Austen Readings hosted by Reading is Fun Again!

Quite the exciting time for a bookish soul, eh!?
Have your literary wanderings been as expansive and lovely as mine!?
And, do you have a ‘foodie fiction’ recommendations for me!?

{SOURCE: The WWW Wednesday badge created by Jorie in Canva as a way to
promote the weekly meme for those who want to take part in it.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Wednesday, 19 February, 2014 by jorielov in 18th Century, 19th Century, Anthology Collection of Stories, Back to the Classics, Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Discussions, Books for Review Arrived by Post, Chunkster Reading Challenge, Classical Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Foodie Fiction, France Book Tours, Get Steampunk'd, Go Indie, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Library Find, Love for Books Readathon, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Reading Challenge Addict, Reading Challenges, Rewind Challenge, Science Fiction, Seriously Series Reading Challenge, SFN Bingo, TBR Pile Challenge, tCC The Classics Club, The Dystopia Challenge, Tomorrow Comes Media, Wicked Valentine's Readathon, William Shakespeare Challenge, Wuthering Heights, WWW Wednesdays, Xchyler Publishing

*Blog Book Tour*: Becoming Josephine by Heather Webb

Posted Thursday, 2 January, 2014 by jorielov , , , 9 Comments

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Becoming Josephine by Heather Webb

Becoming Josephine - France Book Tours

Author is a Member of: Historical Novel Society

Visit her Pin(terest) Board: Eclectically French Inspired Lovelies (my impression!)

Author Connections: Facebook | Site | Blog

Converse on Twitter: #BecomingJosephine OR Tweet @MsHeatherWebb

Published by: Plume, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), 31 December 2013

Available Format: Trade Paperback | E-Book | Page Count: 320

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Acquired Book By:

I was selected to be a stop on “Becoming Josephine” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by France Book Tours. I received “Becoming Josephine”  in exchange for an honest review by the publisher Plume. The book released on 31st December 2013. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

I simply adore historical fiction, including historical biographical fiction, which I think this falls under, as it’s about Bonaparte and his wife! I like the backdrop of the story, and how strong Rose had to become in order to overtake her plight! You see, I have a bit of a long-standing admiration for the French Revolution, even though by many estimates I have only just begun my sojourn into this fascinating section of literature! It’s true I was first inspired to seek out more French Literature selections after having borrowed and read quite a few from my local library which fall inside Children’s Literature selections, in as much as my appreciation for seeing a select few classic motion pictures on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) involving Marie Antoinette over the past few years! My attention is thus esteemed to continue to seek out stories set before, during, and after the French Revolution! What can I say? Once you become attached to the living characters of whom most of the books are based upon, in as much as the characters created to walk amongst their living counterparts, you find that one book or five is not quite enough to fully encompass the history of what is left behind to be known!

Stemming from this short history of mine with French Literature, there was a cursory exploration of Bonaparte whilst I was eighteen! Having ducked out of a heavy rainstorm and into the warmth glow of a bookshoppe I had accidentally discovered along a main street – I took the balm of books against nature’s thunderstorm! As I wandered around, I remember finding a rather curious little book, tattered yet readable, (as the bookshoppe sold new and used copies!) about the life of Napoléon Bonaparte! Intrigued I purchased the book and stored it inside a rain-proof bookslip! Ever since that aplomb discovery I have whet my appetite for more! I would be curious to learn how you alighted to read about the French?

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Heather WebbAuthor Biography:

Heather Webb grew up a military brat and naturally became obsessed with travel, culture, and languages. She put her degrees to good use teaching high school French for nearly a decade before turning to full-time novel-writing and freelance editing. Her début, BECOMING JOSEPHINE will release December 31, 2013 from Plume/Penguin.

 When not writing, Heather flexes her foodie skills or looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. She loves to chitchat on Twitter with new reader friends or writers (@msheatherwebb) or via her blog, Between the Sheets (www.Heatherwebb.net/blog). Stop on by!

Synopsis of the Novel:

Rose Tascher sails from her Martinique plantation to Paris to trade her Creole black magic culture for love and adventure. She arrives exultant to follow her dreams of attending Court with Alexandre, her elegant aristocrat and soldier husband. But Alexandre dashes her hopes and abandons her amid the tumult of the French Revolution.

Through her savoir faire, Rose secures her footing in high society, reveling in handsome men and glitzy balls—until the heads of her friends begin to roll.

After narrowly escaping death in the blood-drenched cells of Les Carmes prison, she reinvents herself as Josephine, a socialite of status and power. Yet her youth is fading, and Josephine must choose between a precarious independence and the love of an awkward suitor. Little does she know, he would become the most powerful man of his century- Napoleon Bonaparte.

BECOMING JOSEPHINE is a novel of one woman’s journey to find eternal love and stability, and ultimately to find herself.

SEX & VIOLENCE: There is a little of each, though I didn’t go into great detail in either category.

 

Forging a path where uncertainty reigns:

When I was first introduced to Rose (later, Josephine), I was empathic towards her plight and situation straightaway, as who couldn’t sympathise with a sister mourning her sister’s sudden death? Especially if one would feel indebted to believing they were the root cause of said death? I was attempting to imagine the thoughts and emotions not only her sister’s death evoked but how that singular event shaped her for the path she was embarking to walk as she made her way towards France, towards Paris, and towards the great unknown of marriage to a man she never had met, much less knew. Although I am oft wrapped inside a ‘mail-order bride’ story, this one felt more like an ordained arranged marriage to where the outcome would befit the family moreso than the bride! Such the calamity of ages past, and yet, the realism with which the author pens the opening bits of the story give us a true glimpse of the horror Rose faced as she disembarked onto the docks!

I couldn’t help but consider Rose might not have realised just how deep she would become involved with creating a transformation which would replace her original self with the one she would soon invent!? You start to see pieces of the transformation shaping in the early chapters, as she starts to find quirks of hers are not kosher to the Parisians way of living. Little things such as her accent, her manner of speech, her inclination of honesty, her lack of a proper wardrobe, all acting against her in an attempt to create a better impression on her peers and fiancé! Your heart warms to her, as she starts to sort out how to navigate this world where propriety and posh behaviour reign!

She would come to know the solemn truths of marriage, of men and their infidelities and of the way in which women were ill-treated by their husbands. She gets a dashing blush of this ahead of her vows, but I think the reality of her new life took a bit longer to fully sink into her conscience. Where other women might have resolved that this was their fate to bear, Rose took the opposite path and decided that she was worth more than what the cards had dealt her! She decided to right the wrongs, and seek out a path which would lead her to an enlightened truth about herself and her station.

My Review of Becoming Josephine:

Becoming Josephine by Heather WebbShe left her Creole home an innocent of youth, jettisoning herself into a life in France which would test the strength of her inner resolve. Where she would have to eradicate her natural being of self into a transformed Parisian woman of elegance, whose strength would yield to power. She took on the challenge as an understudy would in a theatrical play. Learning through being bold in her choices of dress, style, mannerisms, and speech. Each nuisance she could alter of her previous life, she would discard straight-away in preference for discovering a better fit for high society.

Watching Rose grow in her strength as she separated from her first husband, Alexandre, she starts to find the courage she felt she had lost. Instinct of motherhood guides her towards carving out a stipend for her son Eugene and daughter, Hortense whilst she starts to put the pieces of her own fractured life back together. Her resilience is a lesson for all women who find themselves facing circumstances that they were not expecting. The fact she was gaining her independence on the eve of revolution was not lost on me. Perhaps without her circumstances jaded, she might not have had the ability to rise again? Or, rather she might not have found the strength to survive through the worst bits of the revolution. She walked through Hades in order to survive to live a life she could no longer imagine possible.

I found an undercurrent theme of which I had been exposed to in my readings during 2013, wherein certain women who were once cloistered to living life by man’s rules were coming to realise the true freedom lay in the courage to free themselves from the invisible bonds which held them hostage. I am always attracted to stories where strong women are at the heart of the narrative and in Becoming Josephine I was not disappointed! Josephine emerges out of the wings of despair as a pivotal woman of her time who could wield more than even she (I feel!) could desire! She takes the boldest step into the future by reinventing herself past the point of recognition, in order to find a freedom she had never known.

France set to Revolution:

The backdrop of Becoming Josephine is quintessentially Revolutionary France, where the French hinged between the start of the revolt and the ensuing Reign of Terror. A shuddering of emotions always rings through me whilst thinking on the harder hitting realities of the age which the French had to endure. Webb has a way of acknowledging the back-story of history behind the coattails of the character’s lives in such a way, as to gently guide the reader forward and through, rather than shocking us to our core. The revolution ekes out in small fashion, where rumours of revolt start to erupt in the salons of the day, and where the commoners start to realise they need to launch into a retreat from Royal rule. Part of me understands this and part of me grieves for the loss of the Royal family, due to how brutal the Revolution turns and ends.

And, yet at the heart of the center core of the Revolution you have Josephine and Napoleon, two people I never thought I’d see come together, now that I know the origins of Josephine’s past. The tapestry of fashion is lit and gilded behind the tumult which has been brewing to explode. Interspersed with the flamboyance of cloth and jewels, you gather the sense of urgency in the fever of desperation.

Gratitude to the author, Ms. Webb:

For staying true to her word, wherein she mentioned at the end of the book’s synopsis she had tempered the severity of inclusion of sex and violence. I am generally on the fence with choices writers make in their stories on both counts, as there are lines I think are too oft crossed, where a more delicate omission could have sufficed instead.  In this particular story, Ms. Webb gives the reader a rendering of the situations and events which befit the era of the story’s origins but on the level that even a sensitive reader could walk through the scenes without blushing too severely or cringing at the imagery painted in narrative. Even though she does plainly give the raw visceral imagery its due course. She doesn’t allow it to take over completely, but allows it to fade in the background. Except for what occurs in Rose’s home of Martinique and what happens when she returns to Paris, in which the horror of the attacks are in full measure. Rather than focus solely on the horror that erupted she gave the smaller details of the aftermath which proved just as difficult if not moreso to read. Such a horrid time in history for the survivors to have lived through. She chose instead to direct the focus on Rose’s rise into the persona of Josephine who became the woman’s edificial Phoenix.

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The “Becoming Josephine” Virtual Book Tour Roadmap:

Becoming Josephine - France Book Tours

Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

France Book Tours

on my Bookish Events Featured on JLAS!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

I propose this Question to my readers: What do you think is the overall appeal to reading about the Bonaparte’s and of Revolutionary France in general? What inspires us to dig deeper into the heart of the history which has been left behind for us to dissect? What gives us pause and reason to continue to seek out stories of what was happening in the shadows of history being writ as it was lived? Do you have a favourite coaxing storyline that gets you excited to pick up your next reading which is set in this historical era?

{SOURCES: Cover art of “Becoming Josephine” as well as Heather Webb’s photograph and biography, the blog tour badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. France Book Tours badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Thursday, 2 January, 2014 by jorielov in 18th Century, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Debut Novel, France, France Book Tours, French Revolution, Geographically Specific, Historical Fiction, Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte, Reign of Terror, Revolutionary France, The Napoleonic War Era

*Blog Book Tour*: The Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson

Posted Tuesday, 10 December, 2013 by jorielov , , , 2 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

The Consolations of the Forest byThe Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson, Translated by Linda Coverdale
Published By: Rizzoli Ex Libris (imprint of Rizzoli Publications, Inc.),
17  September 2013
Official Author Websites: Page sur l’auteur (in French);
Tesson @GoodReads
(in French)
Available Formats: Hardcover
Page Count: 256

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the blog book tour for “The Consolations of the Forest” hosted by France Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of “The Consolations of the Forest” in exchange for an honest review by the publisher: Rizzoli Ex Libris.  As I stated on a previous non-fiction tour stop, I am being rather active in seeking out non-fiction titles to read! I am naturally drawn into the natural world, which is why this felt like a good fit at the time I requested a stop! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inquisitively Curious to Read: I must say, I have always been intrigued by Siberia, and I started to watch his interview on the link you provided but all I truly understand from it, is the beautiful and sweeping vistas he’s sharing through the photographs he took whilst he was there! Oh, my dear heavens!! The landscape and ‘sense of place’ is evoking a stir in me to read this book! I am very attached to the natural world, and I am finding myself drawn into non-fiction books such as these that explore a connection and a sense of wonder which exhumes reverence &/or ruminative contemplation!

Sylvain Tesson

Author’s Biography:

Sylvain Tesson is a writer, journalist, and celebrated traveler.
He has been exploring Central Asia—on foot, bicycle, and horse—since 1997.
A best-seller in his native France, he is published all over the world—and now in the United States. 

Interview with Sylvain Tesson via Le Figaro (Magazine) (also in French)

On his six months spent in the Siberian Forest

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BOOK SYNOPSIS:

The Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson

 A meditation on escaping the chaos of modern life and rediscovering the luxury of solitude.

 Winner of the Prix Médicis for non-fiction, THE CONSOLATIONS OF THE FOREST is a Thoreau-esque quest to find solace, taken to the extreme. No stranger to inhospitable places, Sylvain Tesson exiles himself to a wooden cabin on Siberia’s Lake Baikal—a full day’s hike from any “neighbor”— with his thoughts, books, a couple of dogs, and many bottles of vodka for company. Writing from February to July, he shares his deep appreciation for the harsh but beautiful land, the resilient men and women who populate it, and the bizarre and tragic history that has given Siberia an almost mythological place in the imagination.

 Rich with observation, introspection, and the good humor necessary to laugh at his own folly, Tesson’s memoir is about the ultimate freedom of owning your own time. Only in the hands of a gifted storyteller can an experiment in isolation become an exceptional adventure accessible to all. By recording his impressions in the face of silence, his struggles in a hostile environment, his hopes, doubts, and moments of pure joy in communion with nature, Tesson makes a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary experience relatable to the reader who may be struggling with his or her own search for peace and balance in life. The awe and joy are contagious, and one comes away with the comforting knowledge that “as long as there is a cabin deep in the woods, nothing is completely lost.”

Reader’s Note: If you look at the cover art on Tesson’s book you will find slightly raised lettering for the title & subtitle section as well as the author’s name. The essence of the book cover for me is the painting of the isolated and extreme disconnection which Tesson experienced whilst on his six-month sojourn into the wild! I love the ruggedness of the design, as if the book itself was kept in his knapsack as he lived and traveled whilst jotting down his ruminations and observations! The book as well as the man returned back to society a bit weathered and all-knowing of mysterious truths not yet revealed to the wider audience. In this vein of thought, I felt it was best to view the cover in its fullness of glory if only to impart the richness of design! Let me know what it evokes inside your own mind’s eye in the comments section below!

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Taming the Wild Thoughts of Man

I can relate to Tesson’s ambition to pull back from the chaotic swirling of our everyday lives to the brink of where we lose sight of the honest truths about why we are here in the first place. We can become so muddled and clogged by our modern lives, where the natural environment which always lives just a finger touch away from us — dissolves as though it were never there at all. The act of living through the paces brings all of humanity a further step backward to acknowledging the larger picture of ‘where’ we are whilst we walk our journey ‘on Earth’ due to the limited sense of space. The natural world is a wonderful place to walk and abide in a cleansing of our inner life’s turmoil of spirit. Nature has a way of enveloping us in such a warm embrace as to allow time itself to stand suspended. If we are mindful of our surroundings, realising that we are entering into a habitat for which we are only the causal visitor, the experience of what our eyes can drink in and our heart can eclipse through sensory perceptions has an intoxicating allure!

Releasing ourselves into the mercy of nature is what I think any person might at first struggle with coming to terms with as by our very internal nature, we as humans, want to control all the possible outcomes of our actions. In which full effect goes to reason, if we can control our own probabilities how do we learn to suspend logic, reason, and a time-locked certainty of events?

I had a feathering of a chuckling whilst observing Tesson as he first embarked on his journey towards the Taiga itself, whereupon he had to pick up his provisions for his six-month exodus! The bugs I had barely begun to even wonder about even if I have a true-to-life impression of what kinds of bugs one might find out in the wilds of a forest! No, it was the irony of sorting out what to purchase and what to take that struck my fancy the most! As if you were to think back on your last extended stay travel plans, don’t you find that no matter how well-prepared you were in theory, there was always a measure of error in never realising what you should have included instead!? I was pensively lying in wait to see if any of what he proposed to take was not limiting of what he needed to take! Although I must say, I think if everyone took a bit of time to declutter their lives of unessential extravagance if only for a short-term experiment, we all might find the joy in the unexpected simplicity which grows our hearts the closest towards empathy and understanding.

When you start to pull back the layers of your outer world as it merges with your inner world, you start to see the pieces of the tapestry unravel as the stitchings are given new markers. We can effectively change our stars if we are willing to forsake one way of living to embrace a new path of towards enlightenment. In which we are truly living a more humble truth of existence compared to one which is hinged to the cyclic chaos that all to often becomes the norm. Tesson prompts the reader to contemplate their own choices in what they have chosen to forego in their own lives in place of a way of living that is set to a different standard than modern society. Each of us can transcend ourselves onto a path of living in the fullness of a moment and in the realness of a community which extolls the virtues of community spirit which by extension our lives are enriched in greater joy.

A full embrace of the Natural World’s Rhythmic Cycle

As he started to sink into the natural world’s rhythmic cycle, Tesson was allowing his mind to jettison into the realm between where man’s world ends and nature’s begins. I love his unique perspective of describing nature as it inhibits itself from progressing forward and/or makes radical adjustments to proceed with its ancient murmurings of Wintry ablations. Each step forward for the forest, gives him a curious eye towards how microscopic we truly are out where the rules of man are out-ruled by the natural order of life itself.

Not one to shy away from imparting his somewhat cheeky and viscerally stimulating images on the reader who picks up his journal of lamentations, Tesson finds a clear path towards the reader’s imagination being stimulated by the mere thought of what his eyes are taking in off the page! The sheer force of raw nature bubbling to life and etching itself closer to where his tiny cabin lay squat and square by the shore of a massive lake! The brutal truth of how far by foot he would have to travel if he were in need of another human’s presence! I was even whet with curiosity over the close proximity of neighbours of whom might not be as companionable nor as conversative but rather would be more keenly focused on invading or scrimaging with his host country!

I could relate to his intriguing fascination with each wonderment he betook before him, because anyone who has stood still, reflectively pensive and a mind lit open to pure joy will understand the addiction of ‘seeing’ what the natural environment will next reveal to you! There is an aching of belonging to those who tread into the natural depths of where nature resides. The longer you walk alongside our wild inhabitants, noting their routines and nodding at their ordinary moments, the more your apt to find yourself at internal peace. It guides you back, beckoning you to resume where you left off, as though you had only placed a bookmark on a page where you could return back to the story in progress. In some ways, this is a true observation, but the hitching in your chest as you wonder how the animals are fairing in your absence, or how many deep sighs of woe the trees are billowing out of their upper boughs until you drop by again for a visit? This is something that only those who have become awakened can understand and fully respect.

As a turtle who ambles along the forest floor gathering moss and algae on its shell, so too, do humans leave an illuminant trace of their wanderings. Niches of our footprints carving into the order of things, ringing in our presence as each new day we visit gleams into view. The interconnected web of our lives are forever stitched together with the fowl, mammal, and amphibian who takes a measure of a mirth out of their day to stare into our eyes as our paths cross their own. Strangers and foe, yield to acquaintance and friend. Companions outside of their own species whose respect for the other knows no bounds.

To Philosophise, Elucidate, or Elidiate? Is this a Question?

Whilst he continues to go about his ‘new normal routine’ of surviving in mind-bending low temperatures, Tesson takes on a bit of an outer dialogue of his state of place. There are moments where you are curious if the questions he is proposing are to a common explanation of what all men might have considered from one era or another. OR, if his murmurings were the tiny envelopes of discovery he was knitting together whilst being away from every piece of modernism he could escape. He gives short spurts of adjective stylings of his observations, glimpses of what is going on ‘right then’ as he were to leave his journal and pen, in order to stoke the fire or denote the severity of the conditions outside. A man in pause of his new living reality. Therein, we start to see the freshness of his eyes, how keen his observations are becoming and how heart-warming it is that he took the courage to share them with all of us in the form of a book!

I think whilst he was living through this journey towards a deeper self-acceptance and self-transcribed inner record of growth, he was stumbling into writing down key insights that some of us might not notice even if we had half of a proper lifetime to curate the experiences! He has a clever way only a man would find interesting to give us a full sense of his reasonings, and in this, I smile. He isn’t one to be bashful, but he isn’t one to not notice the eloquence of seeing what can be seen yet is not always given the freedom of acceptance.

His ruminative nature of sensing the expanse of time and its ability to be slowed down by certain actions which suspend its power to contract is the mark of someone who sees the beauty of walking. Walking is man’s one way of stilling the passage of time, simply by refusing to allow time to speed past what man is willing to walk against. It very well may be the one singular power we have that few of us attempt to use to our own advantage. The ages have always enquired the elasticity of time and its errant mannerisms for first alighting at a slower speed before kicking into high gear past the speed of light. What causes the shift in perception of time? Is it our actions and our living patterns? Or is it the perception of ‘place’ and ‘setting’ and ‘of being’ that alters how the clock counts its seconds? What if time could blink still and resume at the very same moment your thoughts were centered at a fixed point in nature? As the patterns of time out-of-doors is run against a hidden pattern of synchronicity it is plausible that we effectively could forestall a bit of time whilst inhabiting a well-worn path for foot traffic.

My Review of The Consolations of the Forest:

I have always known that the particular pace of our individual lives was set to a rather high extreme of inefficiency as far as the quality of life being extracted at too high of a cost. I was most likely clued into this at a young age due to the insanity of my own father’s 24/7  time-clock of profession. You start to see the little fragmented ripples in the sphere of life. Where as you intersect with time, it is time itself that becomes your greatest lesson and teacher. You nourish the hidden moments which are blind to your eyes as you live, but are unearthed out of necessity and/or through a determined mother’s insistence of having the family kept together even if the father’s hours were mad-crazy bent against it! In those quiet and sombering hours, you start to see the little ripples of what sets your family apart from others’ who are in the same professional grid.

Where one family might have taken the same course as those before them, mine started to breakaway and create a new path forged out of a desire to create a better life which would sustain themselves long after the work day ended. A curious attachment to a slower pace of acknowledging the rhythms of life was only the beginning. Seeking out a full circle change of season, and community interconnectedness took a much longer quest to uncover! Where the locality of place led to a local excursion of food sources, community-spun events, a natural nod and wink to seasonal joys, and an inertia of earthen artistianal crafts.

In Tesson’s journal of solitude in Siberia, I see reflections of my own heart’s desire to unlock a path towards withdrawing from the regular pace of my own life and world. To where I am not forever hinged to the clock but rather, am the one who winds the cogs to match my own rhythm. To live around others who take extreme pleasure in walking through fog-lit streets and forest passageways which led to a quiet dawn. To feel the dirt fall off the fruit and veg at a farmer’s market held in all tentacles of weather and climate. Conversations boiled to life over exchangements of literature, art, cultural co-mingling events, and the passages of nature’s graceful hand in front of us. There is a heart-rhythm to living and a soul’s earthly quest to re-align itself with a pace which exhumes the internal truths of from whence we came and thus will once again return.

A Curious Footnote:

I thought it was rather smashing of a coincidence that some of the very same books I am including on my classical literature reading list for when I join “The Classics Club” in January 2014 were listed as part of the books Tesson hauled into the Taiga! Books such as: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, Walden by Henry David Thoreau, Twelfth Night or What You Will by William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, The Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights) by Unknown, The Complete Novels by Ernest Hemingway, Tao Te Ching bt Lao Tzu, The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain,… his surprising choice was of the book I chose to abandon in fourth grade out of sheer boredom: “Robinson Crusoe” by William Defoe. I would have presumed he would have taken Jack London!?

I must also lay a bit of gratitude to the translator, Ms. Coverdale who turnt French into English in such a drinkable way as to soften the words into a walkable feast!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comThe “Consolations of the Forest” Virtual Book Tour Roadmap:

Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

France Book Tours

The Consolations of the Forest (Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga) by Sylvain Tesson
Published by Rizzoli Ex Libris on 17th September, 2013

Public LibraryAdd to RiffleFormat: Hardcover
Source: Publisher via France Book Tours
Genres: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Pages: 256

on my Bookish Events Featured on JLAS

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Continuing my discovery of Baikal, the Lake in Siberia by which this book enchanted my mind:

{SOURCES: Cover art and book synopsis of “The Consolations of the Forest”,  Sylvain Tesson’s photograph and the blog tour badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. An excerpt was originally meant to be included but was not ready at time of posting my review. Tweets were able to be embedded due to embed codes taken directly from each tweet on Twitter for sharing purposes. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. France Book Tours badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Tuesday, 10 December, 2013 by jorielov in Author Interview, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Films, Debut in United States, France Book Tours, Journal, Life in Another Country, Nature - Essays, Non-Fiction, Seclusion in the Natural World, Travel Narrative | Memoir, Vignettes of Real Life, Vulgarity in Literature

*Blog Book Tour*: Taking Root in Provence by Anne-Marie Simons

Posted Saturday, 30 November, 2013 by jorielov , , 4 Comments

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Taking Root in Provence by Anne-Marie Simons

Taking Root in Provence by Anne-Marie Simons
Published By: Distinction Press, 1 March, 2011
Official Author Websites: Taking Root in Provence Site; Provence Today (personal blog)
Available Formats: Trade Paper
Page Count: 212

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the book tour for “Taking Root in Provence” hosted by France Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of “Taking Root in Provence” in exchange for an honest review by the publisher: Distinction Press.  I was thankful to be placed on the tour as I am attempting to read more non-fiction as time shifts forward into the New Year! I always thought I might appreciate travelogues as they are a bit of a window into the life of someone who lives elsewhere from here! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read: My interest was piqued to read travelogues, travel diaries, ex-pat living adventures, & life overseas in a different country of origin by the motion picture “Under the Tuscan Sun”. I was completely enthralled with the story, the premise, and the execution of the film as it unfolded. I saw it initially at least three times in the theaters when it premiered, and since then, I have lost count! I oft quote directly from the story as there were wonderful lines of life lessons & philosophical musings that can directly apply to anyone’s life. I sought out the book that inspired the motion picture (same title) but felt that if I had read it, I might in-effect change my perspective of the film and that wasn’t something I wanted to do!

Therefore, I settled it into my mind that there would be ‘other’ stories to seek out! This is the first accounting of life overseas that has held my interest to take-on! I realise the setting is of France not Italy, but the appealment for me is not necessarily on the country itself, but on how people can pick up their lives by relocating elsewhere whilst discovering a piece of their lives they never knew they could achieve! I love the zest of adventure, the uncertainty of the risk, and the bliss of forging a new path by jump-diving in with your whole heart! Of course, having a wicked sense of humour is a step in the right direction, as when I requested to be put on this blog book tour, I was smiling as wide as a Cheshire cat as my laughter had carried me off into joyful ruminations! There are times in life to dare to create your own destiny!

Author Biography:Anne-Marie Simons

Anne-Marie Simons has worked as a translator, teacher, journalist, sportswriter (covering Formula 1 races), and director of corporate communications.

Her Argentine husband, Oscar, left a career in international development banking to become an expert on Provençal cooking and other local pleasures. [from the publisher’s website]

Synopsis of the Book:

Two expatriates left Washington DC in search of the ideal place to retire where climate, culture, accessibility and natural beauty all had a role to play. Curious about the vaunted quality of life in the south of France, they traveled the length and width of Provence where, preferring the city to the countryside, they decided to settle in the ancient town of Aix-en-Provence. That was in 1998 and Taking Root in Provence is the story of their slow integration into the French mainstream — both easier and more difficult than expected but ultimately successful.

In a series of vignettes Anne-Marie Simons gives us a warts-and-all picture of life among the French and with warmth and humor shares her lessons learned. Contrary to most publications about Provence, this book focuses on life in the city rather than the quiet countryside, and promises to be both informative and revealing to those who want to spend more than a passing holiday here. [from the author’s website]

Taking Root in Provence by Anne-Marie SimonsRead an Excerpt:

COOKING SECRETS, PP.20-21

Food is important in this country and everybody cooks well, men and women alike. All social life takes place around the table, where one talks about food above all else. Recipes are exchanged, addresses offered, and recommendations made. It soon becomes apparent that not all market stalls are alike, not all farmers sell home-grown produce, and not all truffle vendors are honest. Of course, restaurants are not forgotten and recent discoveries are either praised or viciously attacked.

In asking for advice it is important, however, to consider the source. For example, a Parisian friend with a house in this area responded to our request for restaurant suggestions by saying, “In Aix? On ne mange pas à Aix.” (One doesn’t eat in Aix). A bit severe, we thought.

Food debate is not limited to the dinner table, and it is not uncommon to overhear discussions like this one at the markets: “Potatoes in brandade de morue? Jamais de la vie, Monsieur! Oh, your mother did? Where are you from? Alsace? Well, perhaps they do over there, but not in Provence. No sir! Just make sure you use a good olive oil. Now, what are you going to serve with that? Soupe au pistou? Excellent idea. You’ll want the three kinds of beans, onions, basil, carrots and tomatoes, this, that and the other…” while the other customers not only patiently wait but begin to participate. “You may also want to add courgettes, monsieur” says a woman in line. “And make sure you add lots of garlic,” says another. “My wife doesn’t like garlic but she doubles the parmesan cheese at the end” says a man. “Curieux,” says another with eyebrows raised. And so goes the daily market…

Daring to Forge a Path

In the very Introduction section of the book, I could draw a discerning eye towards the familiar: wanton dreams of relocating to a ‘place’ that ‘feels right and true’ to where you can firmly place down roots due to ‘belonging’ amongst those who live there. I might have been bourne in the Southern half of the United States (the Southeastern bit of it), but I have always longed to live in a climate where I could truly thrive on Autumn & Winter changes in season as much as captivating my wanderlust to roam, explore, and unearth cherished memories for the rest of my days! I wouldn’t constantly remember ‘oh, I’ve been there!’ or ‘it was alright a few decades ago’ or even ‘ah, alas Winter is only two short months this year!’ IF you have the tendency to ‘blink’ you will completely miss the two seasons in the Southeast I adore the most! I knew right there, in the opening sentences of Taking Root in Provence, I was about to emerge through a window portal in the shoes of a wife and husband who dared to do exactly what I want to do myself! If only for one small difference, as I am choosing to relocate within the States rather than outside of them!

I can relate as well, to selecting a slower pace of living rather than a hectically chaotic one! Where the empathsis is on appreciating your day rather than surviving it! I think we all are striving to find our niche and ideal spot for living the life we each dream possible to envelop our everyday lives. Each of us with our different wants, needs, desires, dreams, hopes, aspirations, and interests to fill a book at least ten times wider than the Earth herself; should always seek out where we’re being led and of where we are meant to be living next. I even can relate to the soft echoing murmurs of choosing to relocate to an area where the locals regard their secrets and their style of living to a large degree of protectiveness from allowing outsiders to gain the same information they have had for generations. In part, this is one reason I had such a bubble of a laugh when I first choose to read this tale! I was cheekily remembering a tale of similar origins!

It’s quite true indeed as well, if you were found to be in possession of making a radical lifestyle change, irregardless if you left your country or moved clear across it (from one direction or another!),… the flexibility of adapting to life as it arrives at your feet is a key ingredient that is needed the most! Portable as a post box, your life can be as adventurous as you dare to dream it into reality!

Locovores, Slow-Food Movement, & Getting Back to Farm to Table

Being a city girl bourne and raised, I must attest to the fact I have always known that the distance between my food on the table and from whence it came before it arrived out of our grocery bag was beyond worth comprehending! Food is trucked such large distances, its rather discerning to wonder when the ‘fresh’ produce was originally harvested much less how old the fruit is that appears as ‘fresh’ as the veg! Whilst transitioning to the countryside, I started to get involved with the local food movement in its infancy as it wasn’t all the rage ‘everywhere’ as it is now. I am referring to the standard farmer’s markets where cattlemen and livestock ranchers would be alongside the fruit growers and the vegetable farmers! Where I live now we have a seven day a week farmer’s market whose bounty is co-dependent on local crop yields, which is generally a miracle in of itself if you factor in heavy rains, severe droughts, lightning, tropical storms, and the possibility of tornadoes! I always felt the hands working the fields were a living experiment of faith, trust, courage, and patience!

Inside Taking Root in Provence, I see my future life brimming to the ear-flaps of the book, where going to ‘market’ is more of an experience in conversation than a steady picking and choosing of your weekly food needs! I love the aspect of direct communicating with your farmers, bakers, and fishmongers! Oh, the joy of conversing about cookery, farm-fresh and locally grown foods which were not trucked-in but rather delivered within a local scope of availability! She (Simons) whets your interest more and more as she reveals little surprises of what the French call ‘local and delicate’ as much as how they believe you should cook rather than accept you have your own style!

Living in places as vibrantly connected as these, where community transcends logic, and living is a co-experience with your neighbours, you start to step back in and through time as you adjust your adaptation. I would suspect that once your spirit starts to put down a threshold of roots, you would not feel as comfortable or as natural living anywhere else as your barometer of normalcy has now struck out into its own rhythm! You start to take on characteristics of your seemingly odd new neighbours and start to notice that your differences are barely even noticeable anymore! Living is an evolving journey. Each step we take, we endeavour to explore a new facet of our beings that we might not have even known was lying dormant.

I think I could argue the merits of using at least five if not eight cloves of garlic for most recipes, and how I enjoy incorporating such a wide variety of spices and herbs into the kitchen’s best turned out plates! I have a varied palette I suppose, as I simply adore: Chinese Five Spice, Garam Marsala,  Turmeric, Coriander, Cumin, Curry Powder, Cardamon, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Rosemary, Thyme, Fennel, Basil, Dill, Oregano, Paprika, and Herbs de Provence! I wonder if the French prefer including multiple spices and herbs, or if they’d rather feature one or two, letting the ingredients speak for themselves? An earthier way of cooking, for sure!

And, of course, I have long since traded in olive oil for grapeseed oil due to the higher set point! My preference is coconut oil, but lest I digress, as selecting the ‘right’ coconut oil is as dicey as selecting your favourite olive oil!

I am so enthused about where my food comes from and how to best make selections at the market, that I have now become quite the efficient sous chef in the process! I never knew the differences in shape, texture, width, or condition on the outside of fruit & veg as it directly pertained to their taste, smell, and flavourbility! If my future farmers are even half as engaging as Ms. Simons, I shall be in perpetual cookery heaven! Lest I mention, I am always celebrating the arrivals of strawberry onions, butternut squash, acorn squash, purple sweet potatoes, orange or purple cauliflower, swiss chard, elephant kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, kohlrabi, acid-free orange tomatoes, Dominican avacadoes, turnips, parsnips, apples, blueberries, zucchini, wild mushrooms, and all the other lovelies that make me giddy when ‘their season’ goes into effect! I adore using grains as well such as pearl couscous, Teff, long grain wild rice, Quinoa, pearl barley, spelt, amaranth,… as much as I want to try millet, kamut, sorghum, farro, and chia!

Eating seasonally changes your life as well. You notice things you don’t generally notice and you start to yearn for certain recipes and foods to re-enter your life whilst awaiting Summer’s wrath to conclude!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comMy Review:

As comforting as a smooth latte sipped with hesitation for the liquid will evaporate before you’ve had your fill of its sinfully rich decadence, Ms. Simons knows how to whet the palette of her reader by slowly allowing her to soak into the life of Provence! A place which is a full-step out of time, where the bits and bobbles of differences between America & France are made most apparent in such ordinary situations (i.e. quality of healthcare, affordability of said healthcare, road accidents, quality of education, etc as outlined by the author herself) I can still ascertain what her and her husband were truly seeking whence they exchanged one country for the other! A sense of place and a sense of being that filters up through your soul, warms your heart, and invigorates your ordinary hours by having the freedom of experiencing life through a new pair of eyes! Your eyes adjust to the sights they take in, but its the little things that first appear foreign to your nature that have a way of endearing you to them in time!

It’s a bit of a mindset and of a philosophy I have observed in life which stems from the fact that where your needed and/or where your motivated to go will always line up to occurring at the time in which you are meant to arrive! Timing I have found has a significance all of its own. I was curious what had tipped their scales for France over Spain and Italy for instance? Perhaps they read the hintings of their own path being laid before them and were wise enough to risk a short stay if it could lead to a more permanent one!

Her inclusion of fetes and events which marked the seasonal passages of time, brought me back into my own childhood where local flavour was readily seen in the parades, Harvest festival, and region specific vegetable beauty contest! (i.e. think “Grady” from “Doc Hollywood”) These are the treasured little moments that tend to get swept up under a rug in most recollections, and for Simons to draw a breath of focus on them made me smile rather fondly! She encourages you to ‘taste’ Provence as you would if you were a local. Straddling into Provencal life as though its not your very first introduction! Key insights and observations make this travelogue both hearty and enjoyable!

If you appreciate conversing with a new friend over fresh baked scones and a steaming latte in a mug, you will soak into Provence through the cleverly enticing narrative that Simons provides you to become addicted too! Your never quite certain what aspect of their French lives she will reveal, or how one of their experiences will lend its disclosure of connection to French history, but to me, those were the little nestlements of joy awaiting you as you turnt the page! As an added bonus there is a full recipe section provided by her husband, Oscar! You don’t have to tip your warming appetite aside for entering a French restaurant, as they have provided the reader with a good overview of key ingredients and recipes to bring France aromatically into your kitchen, hearth, and home!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

A heart for the natural world

I was in full gratitude reading that when they had relocated to France, they were operating on the theory that all areas have bike paths and designated trails. I would go so far as to admit, I might have considered that a working theory myself, except to say, of my knowledge of England what we would consider a walk on this side of the Pond, is rather a cross-country trek over unknown paths there! I find it intriguing how everyone who appreciates the natural world sorts out how to obtain a piece of it. I’ll admit, I never thought I’d be able to walk past a mile two years ago in January, but to say, I’ve reached the brink to walk eight miles sounds miraculous! Yet. I can do it without losing too much energy! My heart simply takes flight when I’m out-of-doors, the awe of discovery, the joy of seeing everything in its natural habitat, and being inside this hidden world from the modern world’s view is rather enticing!

I celebrated seeing that the author and her husband traded in bikes for hiking boots! As even on our trails here, I oft notice that there are only two sorts of people who are using them. Group A are the exercise concentrating souls who bike, run, jog, or otherwise engage in an excessive tenacity for burning calories than Group B, of whom I fall under as I am there for the natural environment.  Bikers whiz and whip past me, ring-ringing their little bells and claiming I need to yield to them even if the lane is free next to me! I am still lost how bikers have more rights than walkers!

I do admit that I am always slightly envious of Europeans on the level that wherever they find themselves, they are a stone’s throw from experiencing a piece of living history left behind! Our buildings are barely 200 years old if they are still structurally sound! We tend to tear down rather than repair or restore, which is a bit lopsided in thinking I’d suspect, as how else to leave a footprint behind of who we were before!? The achingly deep history of France in its buildings, landmarks, and monuments I could well imagine were appreciated when stumbled upon! As it had me flash back to when I was in the heart of the Mayan ruins in Mexico! Your touching the past whilst walking in the future! You feel a kineticity whilst visiting sites such as these as your literally in a place who has defied logic and stood through the sands of time!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comThe “Taking Root in Provence” Virtual Book Tour Roadmap:

  1. 25 November: Guest Post & Giveaway @ Patricia Sands’ Blog
  2. 26 November: Review & Giveaway @ The French Village Diaries
  3. 27 November: Review & Interview @ I am, Indeed
  4. 27 November: Review & Giveaway @ Enchanted by Josephine
  5. 27 November: Review & Giveaway @ The Most Happy Reader
  6. 28 November: Highlights @ Words and Peace
  7. 29 November: Review & Giveaway @ Turning the Pages
  8. 30 November: Review & Excerpt @ Jorie Loves A Story

Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

France Book Tours

{SOURCES: Cover art and book synopsis of “Taking Root in Provence”,  Anne-Marie Simon’s photograph, the blog tour badge, and the logo banner for France Book Tours were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers were provided by Shabby Blogs, who give bloggers free resources to add personality to their blogs. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Jorie submitted  request to provide an excerpt with her book review, of which was supplied by the publisher via France Book Tours.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

Related Articles:

Bob’s Red Mill – Grains of Discovery – (bobsredmill.com)

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Posted Saturday, 30 November, 2013 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Book | Novel Extract, France, France Book Tours, Geographically Specific, Life in Another Country, Modern Day, Non-Fiction, Travel, Travel Writing, Travelogue, Vignettes of Real Life

*Blog Book Tour*: Unravelled by M.K. Tod

Posted Saturday, 9 November, 2013 by jorielov , , 5 Comments

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Unravlled Virtual Book Tour - France Book Tours

Unravelled by M.K. Tod
Published By: Tod Publishing, 19 September 2013
Official Author Websites: Tod on Facebook; Tod on Twitter; Personal Site & Blog
Available Formats: Softcover and E-Book
Page Count: 440

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Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the “Unravelled” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by France Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of “Unravelled”  in exchange for an honest review by the author (M.K. Tod) of whom is also the publisher Tod Publishing. The book released in September 2013. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read: I have always been drawn into dramas set during the World War eras, including reading one earlier this year which was a time slip between both World Wars as a woman (Elspeth) embarked on discovering what had happened to the man (David) she met and loved during the war. Having read “Letters from Skye“, I was awakened to the idea of “Unravelled” most readily because at the heart of both premises is the search for truth inside the backdrop of war. War dramas can evoke so much emotion on the pure level of the war itself, but its what happens in the background of war that keeps my interest perked. How the loved ones left behind find resolve to carry-on forward whilst they have someone deployed as much as how those who survive the war itself re-integrate back into civilian life. No two stories are alike, as readily as each character elects to draw into their human condition in different ways.

 

M.K. TodAuthor’s Biography:

I have enjoyed a passion for historical novels that began in my early teenage years immersed in the stories of Rosemary Sutcliff, Jean Plaidy and Georgette Heyer. During my twenties, armed with Mathematics and Computer Science degrees, I embarked on a career in technology and consulting continuing to read historical fiction in the tiny snippets of time available to working women with children to raise.

In 2004, I moved to Hong Kong with my husband and no job. To keep busy I decided to research my grandfather’s part in the Great War. What began as an effort to understand my grandparents’ lives blossomed into a fulltime occupation as a writer. Beyond my debut novel UNRAVELLED, I have written two other novels with WWI settings. I have an active blog—www.awriterofhistory.com —on all aspects of historical fiction including interviews with a variety of authors and others involved in this genre. Additionally, I am a book reviewer for the Historical Novel Society. I live in Toronto and I’m happily married with two adult children.

Book Synopsis:Unravelled by M.K. Tod

Two wars, two affairs, one marriage.

In October 1935, Edward Jamieson’s memories of war and a passionate love affair resurface when an invitation to a WWI memorial ceremony arrives. Though reluctant to visit the scenes of horror he has spent years trying to forget, Edward succumbs to the unlikely possibility of discovering what happened to Helene Noisette, the woman he once pledged to marry. Travelling through the French countryside with his wife Ann, Edward sees nothing but reminders of war. After a chance encounter with Helene at the dedication ceremony, Edward’s past puts his present life in jeopardy.

When WWII erupts a few years later, Edward is quickly caught up in the world of training espionage agents, while Ann counsels grieving women and copes with the daily threats facing those she loves. And once again, secrets and war threaten the bonds of marriage.

With events unfolding in Canada, France and England, UNRAVELLED is a compelling novel of love, duty and sacrifice set amongst the turmoil of two world wars.

Unravel & Disseminate the Past:

It’s hard to step back into the past when you’ve lived through a brutal war, of which your memories plague you with the harshness of service. When your past cross-sects your present and propels you backwards towards that time, due to a recognition (in this case) or a footnote in lecture series of that particular war, your entire being fights against the ability to calmly acknowledge the gratitude. As a survivor of such brutality, the living mind will not entreat from memories but rather allow them to consume every inch of a person’s waking world. Edward has to weigh the past horrors with his present invitation to go back to France, whilst choosing whether or not to disclose the details he’s kept from his wife Ann. How then do you decide what to share and what to keep hidden from view?

Prior to taking his trip to France, he decided to recover letters he had hidden in a metal tin he had kept in his parents house. Letters which were not exchanged with his wife, but rather a woman named Helene. Memories of his first love flickered back to him with a warming glow of affection. He ruminated about his last search for her whereabouts and of what could have separated them. Even in the present day, his heart could not accept the fact he never found out what had become of Helene. The more you dig into your past, the more you have to decide what to allow back into the threshold of your thoughts, because if you’re not careful, the past can overcome you to a sickening degree. Whilst in France, standing at the memorial Edward’s burden is compounded by being in the presence of where the lives were lost that had become the baggage of grief of which he had never shed. He arrives at a point where he has to decide about how to resolve the past as bits of his wartime life starts to emerge back into his present world. It’s a question that deserves merit to weigh, because when there are disconnections in our lives we lose the ability to grasp the larger scope of our actions. We tend to act on feeling and instinct rather than reason. Edward has placed himself at a junction point where the further he attempts to unravel the events of his life, the further away from where he has been led lengthens.

In his vein attempt to keep his past personal and away from Ann, he starts to distance himself from his wife who is tired of his retreating into himself without sharing what is on his mind, heart, and soul. He doesn’t realise that his solitude is creating a divide in his marriage. I would hope that in the end, he would realise that it is far better to share the whole truth, than to carry-on with the lie. As this is one of the pitfalls of attempting to make reparations of the past. His further anguish as he stands on the precipice of the past merged with the present as events are propelled forward for him in France, he must make choices he never felt he would have to face. Therein lies another danger of tempting fate beyond what your willing to sacrifice.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com My Review of Unravelled:

In the opening bits of the story, Edward starts to experience flashbacks to his time at war, re-living the most brutal of situations which were spun into focus after receiving an invitation to attend the unveiling of a war memorial. Tod is unflinching in her descriptions of war giving the reader a close and personal view of what he had experienced. In the quaking reality of his visual memory, Edward starts to wonder if he can handle the reality of home and what being back home truly means to the outside world. His job as a signaler meant he had to keep a continuance viable for communication between troop locations and the front. As he started to impart his experiences on the battlefield, Tod paints the grisly truth in gruesome detail. It is not for the sensitive heart as she shares these moments. Edward’s wife Ann heard for the first time her husband’s horrors of war, finding the strength to listen and console. I believe this is a breath of humanity her husband was not expecting to find in her, as his own guilt of war nearly eclipses out all hope of compassion. Uniquely after the war, Edward remained in telecommunications in which he was still working as a man in civilian life in charge of similar duties he had during wartime.

One of the more interesting perspectives that Tod gives in her story, is the amount of Canadians who were traveling to France at the same time as Edward and Ann. She grounds the story rather humbling by showing that Edward is not the only war survivor who is coming to terms with his past, as otherwise there would not have been 6,000 going overseas to pay homage. Whilst in France, Edward is finding that there is a thin line between truth, memory, honesty, and protecting his wife from what he is not sure she would be able to handle to hear. I appreciated the sincerity of Tod’s writing, proving that being human and being in love, make certain circumstances a bit more complex than we can willingly handle to bear. Tod gives a pristine hinting of the (real) Canadian National Vimy Memorial which bespeaks of the real-life grief and harrowing escapes of soldiers who never felt they deserved to live. The alacrity of the moment encased in this scene brings to light that for each soldier lost in battle, there is another soldier leading a half-life, lost in time due to the guilt they carried back from the field.

Memories are like doors with a key to unlock each hidden image struck from view, which can take you into ethereal thoughts of which should remain inactive. Human nature turns the keys into a slippery slope if acted upon as proven in Unravelled by the actions Edward chooses to take once he reunites with Helene. Time yields to desire but by succumbing to our innermost desires we chart a course where our fate is determined by our actions. Whilst Edward was struggling to untangle his own demons (as his memories took on a different context), Ann was struggling with her own as she could not understand why Edward was seething with angst when he sent her away to London when he stayed behind in France. The developing story of Unravelled is pitting two souls against each other when they should be standing united at the moment they decide to intersect with past regrets and anguish. In this way, Tod carves open a timeless conundrum of knowing when to let the past remain where it belongs.

A slow rumbling discontentment started to shatter the everyday solace of marital bliss that Ann and Edward had experienced prior to the trip to France. One must wonder why anyone would throw away a marriage based solely on an errant day of remembrance. Ann found her voice and articulated herself whenever Edward tried to press her about why their marriage was starting to crumble, struck by the unfamiliar territory of realising that there could be repercussions for his transgressions. A fact he hadn’t bothered to consider before digging himself into such a giant hole. Ann’s strength shines through honestly and openly, as Tod engages the reader as a fly on the wall inside their once happy home. On the brink of the Second World War, their unresolved issues will become circumspect. The emotional throbbing angst of Ann is one of the more genuine approaches I have seen in fiction.

As World War II starts to erupt into their lives, so too, do new roles assert a new distance between them. As Edward is staying away longer under the presumption of war affairs, his absences start to nettle the old worries of Ann’s heart. Meanwhile, Ann has taken on a new role herself as a Signals Welfare coping counselor. At a time where they were able to patch up the past and start to shift their lives forward, I found it striking that fate would deal them another hard hand to muddle through. Tod did not waver in her ability to give a real-life honesty to the setting, as she deftly presented stateside wartime life, re-pleat with the rationing, rubber and metal drives, as well as the inclusion of the Victory gardens; the latter of which continues to inspire my own family towards self-sufficiency. The inclusion of Ann being a wartime knitter spoke to my own heart as I am a charity knitter alongside my Mum. Through watching a classic movie on TCM, I saw firsthand the sock knitting that is mentioned in the novel. It is a charity; I am not sure why knitting groups have not reinstated. Whilst Ann is caught up in her new duties, Edward is approached to have a more active role in World War II.

The impetus of the story is revealed inside the choice of cover art, as the entire crust of marital issues arises out of a forgotten tin full of letters. The memories of what the letters contain within them sets Edward and Ann on a course spinning into their future selves at a maddening pace of hurt, regret, and the illicitness of time spent away from the one you honoured by vow. If the lessons of what transpired in the past are not fully learnt and forgiven, history can repeat itself, but to which degree and to which level of sacrifice is left to be determined by the reader who walks alongside Edward and Ann as the Second World War rages onward. In the end, your left wondering if the lesson of the letters in the tin had any merit of being drawn back into the present? If the tin hadn’t been recovered would the actions have been different on behalf of Edward and Ann? This is a story that provokes the reader to render questions inside their heart long after the book is placed back on their bookshelf, as the contemplations overtook one’s thoughts as readily as Autumn springs up after Summer. Unravelled for me is a relationship-romance wrapped up in the shirt tails of a war drama, in which, you viscerally live through one married couples life.

A Love Stronger than Time:

Unravelled presents an unparalleled love triangle which fuses Ann to Edward as much as Helene to Edward. Two great loves of his life intersecting at a chance reunion in France during a war memorial dedication for World War I, jettison him into an internal turmoil of knowing which is his true heart’s desire to pursue. Each of the three are struggling with their own memories, doubts, fears, and demons of anguish and yet, at the center of the triangle remains Edward. Stalwart and stubborn in belief that he were able to reclaim his first love, it would trump his second. However, Helene is a stronger than he is which makes his journey more difficult because he has to accept reality as it has stood. Tod has an unwavering precision of giving you the raw emotional scenes that develop out of such a triangle as much as the psychological affects of how it manifests its presence in a marriage. Love can transcend time, but if time has shifted forward where lives have moved past where love was first committed to two souls, I would have to believe that the better choice would be to honour the life that was lived in the absence of such a love as great as Helene and Edward. The complexity of the story, is that Tod is presenting you with characters who might contradict your own personal beliefs as you walk alongside Ann, Helene, and Edward wondering how each of their lives will pan out or wander apart. The stitchings of their love are frazzled and frayed by time itself, and yet, as wholly true as though they were only separated by mere hours rather than years. I am not sure if any of us can determine how we would react if the circumstances were thrust upon us nor how far we could go to effectively right a wrong we feel was unjust.

On the other hand, I was struck with the powerful dilemma of Ann, who was the wife who was thought to find forgiveness for her husband’s transgressions without knowledge of how deep they ran. Her faith and her resolve to carry forward is a testament to women of her time who met every challenge presented to them with grit and determination, even if they didn’t feel empowered to do so. She is the wife left stateside who held true to the love of her husband who embarked into war and returned a hollow fragment of the man who had left. The courage it would take to grasp all the changes her world was evolving into is not even measurable. I think all of us would be blessed to have such a formidable Aunt in our lives, such as Aunt Bea to turn too when our internal world collapses. Tod wrote her character in an atypical method for the era of the story, giving her a realism that most authors shy away from.

Gratitude for Giving Light to an Unknown Piece of History:

One reason I appreciate reading historical fiction as much as I do, is that it brings to light the lesser known stories that would remain obscured from our eyes, if it were not for dedicated well-researched writers, such as M.K. Tod who breathe new life into the stories that deserve to be told. I am finding myself attracted to these stories as they are the missing fragments of the larger stories already known to all of us. These new stories shed light on certain aspects of the whole that have been left out of focus, giving us a resounding fuller picture than we had originally. War, in of itself, is a brutally difficult period of time for any man or woman called to service. They dedicated unselfishly their time, their talent, their resolve, and their lives to keep all of us safe for another day. They deserve our utmost respect and honour for their sacrifices during deployment. Erecting memorials is one way of sharing our esteemed gratitude, yet on another level, if we can remember to thank a serviceman or woman in person, at whichever moment their path crosses ours, we have the ability to share our gratitude randomly. The biggest thing to remember is simply not to forget what they gave and what we have gained due to these sacrifices that cannot be fully understood.

Fly in the Ointment:

Although I realise the stark realities of war are beyond what my imagination will allow me to endeavour to envision, I know they are from the very depths of Hell itself. However, as mentioned previously in other reviews, I do have a keenly sensitive heart and when visceral imagery turns into the grisly and macabre, I must admit that I feel my stomach turn a bit queasy around the edges.  I will admit that I might be overly sensitive at the time of reading this novel, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the level of violent images disturbed me to where I glossed over certain passages to overt my eyes entirely! Therefore, as a forewarning to a reader I must let you know that if you’d rather read a novel that doesn’t describe the verity of degree as this one you have my notation to guide you on your choice!

As much as I must make a notation about the curiously strong expressions whilst the soldiers are deployed in which the language takes on a certain ‘character’ of its own! And, it’s not always arriving in your ears when you think it might either! I was a bit surprised at the frequency on one level of regard, as at one point my ears cringed red! In cases as these where vulgarity becomes the choice expression, I ask myself if its given for literary merit or shock value to the reader. In my own opinion, I do not believe the disbursements of these words adds value to the story but rather etches a bit of its heart away instead.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

The “Unravelled” Virtual Book Tour Roadmap:

Unravlled Virtual Book Tour - France Book Tours

Be sure to catch the first half of this showcase on JLAS:
M.K. Tod’s Guest Post:
“Becoming a Historical Fiction Writer”

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:

France Book Tours

by visiting:

Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva

{SOURCES: Cover art of “Unravelled” as well as M.K. Tod’s photograph and biography, the blog tour badge, and the logo banner for France Book Tours were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers were provided by Shabby Blogs, who give bloggers free resources to add personality to their blogs. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Bookish events badge created by Jorie in Canva.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

Related Articles:

Canadian National Vimy Memorial – (en.wikipedia.org)

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Posted Saturday, 9 November, 2013 by jorielov in Adulterous Affair, Blog Tour Host, Canada, Debut Novel, England, Espionage, Fly in the Ointment, France, France Book Tours, Historical Fiction, Indie Author, The World Wars, Time Slip, War-time Romance