Category: That Friday Blog Hop

*Release Day* The Spirit Keeper by K.B. Laugheed |A Ruminative Tome of Introspective Freedom

Posted Tuesday, 24 September, 2013 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

The Spirit Keeper by K.B. Laugheed

Published By: Plume, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), 24 September 2013
Official Author Websites Site | Twitter | Facebook
Available Formats: Softcover
Page Count: 352

Converse on Twitter: #TheSpiritKeeper

The Spirit Keeper on Book Browse
Excerpt on Penguin Group’s site

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comAcquired Book By: Book Browse First Impressions Programme: I received a complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review on Book Browse from the publisher Plume. The Spirit Keeper was amongst the offerings for August 2013, as this book will be published 24th of September 2013. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared therein or herein.

Initially I Wanted to Read: I wanted to partake in her journey untoward becoming one man’s living vision of ‘a creature of fire and ice’ and to see if they could fulfill each other’s destinies therein. It is such a curious proposition, to be taken by force from one’s own family, and re-positioned into a life, by which, you’re in complete unfamiliar territory, amongst people who speak a different tongue than your own, and by your own wits, have to determine how to survive. I was curious by how she was going to effectively change her life and heart; and to what end she must do so! This felt to me like a piece of Magical Realism wrapped up inside a Historical Fiction, rooted into the conscience of the American Frontier! I was besotted with the plot, and needed to read it to ascertain what the story truly was about! The Spirit Keeper spoke to me, as a book I needed to read rather than merely a book I wanted to read! I listen to my intuition in other words!

Inspired to Share: The book trailer for The Spirit Keeper, keeps the atmospheric liltings of the novel fully intact! The fiery crimson hair and pure, glistening blue eyes of Katie O’ Toole are visually represented as well!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

“The Spirit Keeper” by K.B. Laugheed Book Trailer by Penguin Group (USA)

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

A brutal and savage world envelopes you as you dip into this narrative: Within the opening sequences, I was at first, rather taken aback by the imagery that was greeting me, and on reflection of the story’s arc, I shook off my fright, and realised, how else could it have been writ!? I warmed a bit to the ensuing exchanges, and limited my scope of the worst bits that would befall Katie’s family, as I am not one who endeavours to be explicitly aware of such horrific events! I was much more keen to arrive at the heart of the story, by which, I had first been curious to read! The bit about how an ordinary girl suddenly finds herself in the middle of an extraordinary journey! I will lament, that if you’re a reader who begs off for lighter faire, you might want to caution yourself, as within Chapter One, the author does not hold back on the grim realities of what it was like in the 1700s when an Indian War Party descended upon a settler’s family.

Flickerments of “Medicine Man” (the motion picture) streamed through my mind, as did “Dances with Wolves” (the motion picture), as in each story, those who only spoke English, learnt to adapt and to live amongst the natives by which they found themselves belonging too better than their own kind. I am drawn into stories that attach us to whole new cultures, traditions, religions, and walks of life. Stories that etch into our imaginations a wholly new world, where there are similarities, but otherwise, as we dip into their narratives, we find ourselves in a foreign land, attempting to understand what we cannot yet conceive possible.

Whilst in the opening chapters of her journey, with her new traveling companions, they reached a village of Native Americans, by which, upheld the custom of women’s huts. I had first learnt of this tradition awhile ago, but the memory of where and how is lost to me! More readily to depart is that the same sequence of knowledge was included in my reading of The Forest Lover, which was a selection of mine for Bout of Books, 8.0! I am still in-progress with that particular book, but what I found fascinating is the depictions of this ritual that both authors gave to their readers! I will be attaching an article about these huts, as I find it rather curious how intimate and safe they truly were for women! They achieved a heightened sense of freedom in asking questions and conversing on topics that might not otherwise have been considered kosher in their everyday lives!

An incredible journey of self-preservation, fortitude of spirit, and overwhelming grief: I was not quite prepared for the journey that Katie, Syawa, and Hector embark upon! It wasn’t so much the long distances that they must traverse through rough hewn terrain, but rather, they are each going through a personal, intimate, internal journey concurrent to their outward journey towards the men’s originating homeland! Each is carrying secrets of their own experiences, and in Katie’s instance, her life is muddled and blighted with far more devastation than anyone could ill-afford possible to a seventeen year old young lady!  Her lot in life has been tempered by abuse and misguided notions of love, unto where she has encouraged a naïve sense of the living world, and has grown an ignorance of how right a life can be lived! I grieved for her and bleed emotions with her recollections of past memories,.. memories that were nearly too hard to bare and to ruminatively lay pause upon. It is through Syawa’s gentleness and effective way of easing her out of her shell, that she truly started to see who she was and who she could be. I only wish I could pronounce Syawa’s name, as I feel as guilty she does in her own story, about the misunderstandings that evolve out of not understanding language and meaning of words, phrases, or names outside our own native tongues! Read More

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Posted Tuesday, 24 September, 2013 by jorielov in 18th Century, Book Browse, Book Trailer, Debut Novel, Diary Accountment of Life, Early Colonial America, Environmental Conscience, Equality In Literature, First Impressions, Fly in the Ointment, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Native American Fiction, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, That Friday Blog Hop, The American Frontier

Top Ten Tuesday #1 | Top Ten Books for Autumn: TBR Choices!

Posted Thursday, 19 September, 2013 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

"Top Ten Tuesday" hosted by The Broke & the Bookish

[Official Blurb] Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature / weekly meme created by The Broke & the Bookish. The meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke & the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your Top 10 Lists!

Topic of 17th of September, 2013: Top Ten Books for Autumn | TBR Choices!

Each of the books listed below will re-direct to the author’s page dedicated to their novel!

I decided to focus on the books that have intrigued me over the score of the past nine months, as much as highlighting a few choices that are books by which, I have waited years to appreciate and settle into their delicious worlds! Therefore, this is a hodgepodge listing of books I’ll be reading via my local library or off one of my bookshelves! It is a curious jaunt through history, time, setting, and place! I would have to speculate that everyone taking part in today’s List will be just as cleverly unique in their choices as I am!

The Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle

Ever since I made my rounds through the blog tour for Queen’s Gambit, I found myself quite a bit more intrigued by the life of Katherine Parr! And, therefore, the lives of the Tudors, of whom, are one of the under read of all eras for England in my reading life! What drew me in quite readily into her story, is how determined she was to succeed given a plight of circumstances that most would not know how to artfully overcome, much less save their heads & lives in the process! She was living in an age, where men trumped women to the fullest extent of the term, and where, having your individualistic views, heart, and ethics were tantamount to getting yourself executed!

I became rapidly endeared to her, and to the turmoil such as her life befell her, from the brink of happiness after Henry VIII passed from this life, I nearly felt as though he still had a grip on the outcome of her future, as there were hintings of ill-fated romance throughout the tour, once she ends up in the arms of her beloved Thomas Seymour! I felt as though he is a sure-fire cad and a most arduous rogue!

I originally learnt about this book through Book Browse (it was a First Impressions selection!) and Shelf Awareness (which adverted a bookaway contest!), which made it seem all the more apparent, that by the time I discovered the book was ‘going on tour’, I would thus continue to follow its progress! Queen’s Gambit was on tour with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours [one of the book tour companies I am working with to host upcoming books this November!], between 12 August – 13 September 2013. You can still follow the tour route if your curious about seeing the different perspectives of the bloggers, as I only will highlight a few here! Despite entering contests to win a copy of this book, I am most assuredly will be reading this through my local library, by which, I am in the next position to receive it! I cannot remember if I had placed it on hold once before or naught, but this time around, I believe the timing will be rather keen!

The reviewers I appreciated reading the most heartily were the following:

Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle Showcases the Compassionate Katherine Parr, Sixth Wife to Henry VIII (hookofabook.wordpress.com – Oh, for the Hook of a Book)

Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle (peekingbetweenthepages.com)

‘Queens Gambit’ Author Elizabeth Fremantle Q&A (thetudorbookblog.com)

The Tudor Book Blog Book Reviews: ‘Queens Gambit’ by Elizabeth Fremantle (thetudorbookblog.com)

Blog Tour: 133 Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle (dreyslibrary.com)

Book Tour, Review, & Giveaway: Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle (alwayswithabook.blogspot.com)

If you do drop by the tour page, you’ll find rather happily that there are *three videos!* awaiting you! One is the book trailer for “Queens Gambit” and the other two are the author herself, explaining the rich history that evolves inside the book! Likewise, if you click over to the author’s website, you’ll find an excerpt and trailer!

I paused the clip when I realised it was relaying a bit of medical narrative, as I was not in the mood to listen to medical descriptions whilst I type this post! However, I liked the choice of narrator! I am always a bit nervous about the inclusions of medical drama, as there was such a time I could handle it far better than now, as I was an ER-girl way back when it originally aired! On top of which, medical dramas & ME dramas were always series I felt drawn into quite readily! These days!? I’m lucky if I can handle NCIS by averting my eyes during the death or morgue scenes! Sighs. As it’s the ‘family’ on NCIS that keeps me interested!!

The Irresistible Blueberry Bake-Shop and Cafe by Mary Simses

The entire basis for my encouragement to read this particular book, and by which, I made a purchase request at my local library to acquire, is due to a curious mentioning of said book in a note-card I received from my Nordic friend! The complete story surrounding this curious introduction is spilt out in my previous post, entitled ‘Reading Knows No Boundaries‘. I was beyond elated to see the book arrive so quickly after requesting it, and as is the custom, the requester gets the privilege to read the book first!! Sadly, for me, I did not get much past the short excerpt that you can hear through this clip, as my heart was willing to push into an all-night read fest ahead of its return, but my eyes were not as agreeable! I sort of fell asleep whilst attempting to read it in one-sitting!! I have resumed my que in line to read it as it made its rounds to other readers in my library district, noting that I moved down from 1 to 9, and I’m around position 7 at the moment! This must mean that the book not only progresses well from the opening chapters, but that is a book everyone is savouring if they are taking the full fortnight to read! Either that, or I am not the only one plagued by interruptions in my reading life!

What enticed me into the story, was the nodding it gives to Hallmark Channel’s Original Movie “Daniel’s Daughter”, where a neat and tidy exec is attempting to resolve a ‘slight issue of family business’ prior to walking down the aisle! She finds instead, that she shouldn’t have shunned her hometown nor her best friend from childhood for such an extended absence! The delight for the appreciator of relationship-based romances is what ensues from there, and how antiques, small townes, and quirky neighbours unite inside the journey one woman takes to go home! (if you couldn’t tell it’s one of my favourites!) Moving back into the ‘Blueberry Bakeshop’ for a moment, in the early chapters, I noticed a cross-similarity in the protagonist’s method of reasoning with Katherine in “Daniel’s Daughter”.

I was yearning to go forward from there, but the mystery will have to remain intact for now! Perhaps it’s best that Autumn is still dawning here in the South, as you’d have mistook our September for high noon in Summer! Our clime is not akin to rust coloured leaves, dipping temperatures, whippy breezes, and pumpkins aglow for the harvest season! We’re sweltering and melting rather slowly, wondering what it is like to live with half the sunshine we’re blessed to experience!? Give me fog! Give me grey skies! Give me Autumn! Dare I mention, that the fact she’s uprooted into a completely new environment, way of life, and towne that draws her into its nexus and heart!? That she’s on the brink of a life altering choice, which attracts me to no end to read the climax and ending? Autumn for me is a season full of delightful and unexpected changes. Daring months to seek out an adventure and do something rather extraordinarily different!

For a reason I am not sure I understand, this excerpt fails to reveal that the ‘picture’ in the paper that has her all in disarray, is a passionate embrace of a kiss by her rescue swimmer! I reveal this here, in case you click on ‘play’ and feel a bit lost! This doesn’t reveal anything except to set up the opening sequence your going to listen too! When I reached the ending of this sequence in the book itself, I thought ruefully, “Isn’t that the backwards way of resolving the issue at hand? Wouldn’t a mass sell-out of an uneventful local paper draw further attention to the AP Wire Press? As to why that particular issue was sold-out suddenly? Wouldn’t it have been better to ignore it completely and let the story die where it was printed?” What about you!? What are your thoughts on this scene!? And, remember, I didn’t get very far along yet, so don’t spoilt what happens next!! 

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

The soundtrack of music that accompanies this book is ethereally enchanting!

It’s worth clicking over to listen too!

Listen to an audio excerpt on this page for this novel!

{ update: as of October 2014 the audio excerpt is no longer available }

A book whose rich historical tapestry drew me into its folds long before I arrived at Barnes & Noble to select which hardback edition I would be taking home with me! I remember it was a kiss-hallo to Autumn that year, and I was curious about selecting a book that would alight in my mind’s eye, a fully embodied sense of time and place. A story that I could become enraptured and enchanted by at the very same time. I was looking for something rather different and unique, a bit out of the ordinary of what I might have selected for myself at the time, and a new author, if possible! I wanted to continue to carve out a way to find writers who stood out from the pack, and delivered something hearty for their readers to chew on! I felt that I had found all of this and a bit more in Katherine Howe’s début novel!

This book has been winking at me from the shelf I placed it on, evermore making me curious to settle into a comfy chair and open the text to see what awaits my curious eyes! The full background and research that went into this book, I uncovered from somewhere around the time of purchase, but I am not remembering exactly where I read it, but I have a sneakingly familiar notion that it was included in a write-up on début authors inside the little booklet that Barnes & Noble provides!? It’s the booklet (forgetting its name?!) that reveals the premise of books that are releasing and a bit about their authors!? From that short snippet, I know I must have gone online directly and unearthed even more! I appreciated the dedication of Ms. Howe to represent the novel and the history behind the story in such a beautiful way!

To find a story that is in of itself a historical mystery, that revolves around one woman’s intentions of unlocking the suspense and allure around a hidden and lost book of knowledge, excites me rather readily! I love mysteries that tip the scales of history on their axis, and make you, as a reader on the tip of discovery alongside the character who is doing the sleuthing!

Again, the music evokes a certain atmospheric tilting, and as the narrative begins, you are entering into a wholly different time and place. Pulling back the shades and veils on our American history, until you arrive at the late 1600’s, where superstitions ran rampant. The cures and tinctures of apothocarists and herbalists were still very much suspicious to the general populace. Next to a mid-wife, an apothocarist was not without their measurements of judgement. Howe is etching into our eyes, not only the distinctive time in history that we are arriving into, but the murmurs of everyday life. She chooses her words carefully and artfully to gain full disclosure of what we are drinking in. And, this I appreciate very much!

Into the Free by Julie Cantrell

Listen to an audio excerpt on Oasis Audio!

I am a regular visitor to Southern Belle View, and have been such, since January 2013 when I first discovered this lovely blog filled with five extraordinary women, each of them a published author; four for fiction, one for non-fiction. They etch their books with stories of heart and soul, binding their audience into a comfort oasis of faith and peace. Their characters (of the four who write fiction), are strong of fortitude, lean on their faith, and have the uncanny way of finding themselves in a muddlement of adversity, coming-of-age, and/or of a life change that is about to be thrust upon them! At least, from what I can gather of their stories from afar, as up until I read “The Prayer Box”, I have merely been a visitor happy to spend time with the women of the Porch! If their blog is any indication of their own character and gift they bestow to us through their writings, I can attest that they are warm-hearted, caring, and personable,… devoted to their time with each other as much as giving of time with their readers. Drop by sometime if you haven’t yet already! I encourage you to meet them as I have come to know them!

Having said this, “Into the Free” is one of the books I’ve checked out of the library far too numerous of times to even dare to admit possible, but in the waiting that I have had to read this novel, the more curious I have become to know of its central character: Millie! Throughout the long months of the 2013 leading into September, a curious new chapter of Millie’s life was revealed in the 1 September 2013 release “When Mountains Move” which picks up the story where the last began! As I have not yet read this first installment, I am a bit in the dark and out of the loop! I did, however, attempt to drop by the Porch each day last week whilst the showcase was on the sequel, but having not felt very well in the ending days of the week, I regret I missed most of what was exchanged!

A curious note should be made that one of my favourite literary exploitations is of Southern Lit and of Southern Gothic! I am not as widely versed in either, but I have gathered a knowledge and cursory knowing of which authors might tempt me to read their stories as much as which stories might endeavour me to wrap my heart around them! Ms. Cantrell (& the ladies of the Porch) are amongst this short list I have been compiling! Therefore, I am hoping that once I conclude this novel, I can move on into the others that have interested me as well! I am finding these stories a bit of a calming balm and that is a credit to the authors who pen them!

I re-directed you to the Fantastic Fiction page for “Into the Free” as try as I could, I did not find the synopsis page on Ms. Cantrell’s blog! Although, there is a nice overview on the audio excerpt page! I am not sure who is reading Millie’s spunky and curiously engaging observations, but her vocalisation of Millie is endearing me to reading her story moreso now than before I ever heard her voice! Parts of this is reminded me a bit of how much I loved “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate”! A book I need to re-read at some point, so that I can convey my full appreciation for its story here on my blog! It’s one of those books that stays with you a bit, long after you’ve put it down! And, I have a suspicion, that Millie and her story inside “Into the Free” is going to be the next one that lingers warmly with a smile on my lips and a hitching in my heart! Listen to her keen awareness in this excerpt and decide if you too, want to embark with her on her journey!

Lucid Stars by Andrea Barrett

I alluded to my reasonings of why I want to dig into the works of Andrea Barrett, in a foreshadowed posting entitled: Austen, her name is Jane Austen! Except to say, that Jane Austen wasn’t the total focus of my post that day, as I was eluding to why I have been fascinated by the works of Ms. Barrett for most of my young years! She’s an incredible inspiration for a reader as much as a writer, and it’s her style of story-telling and the inter-connectedness of her collective works that allows me to think in new ways by which, we as writers create our written legacies, in whole new dimensions of space and mirth! It’s not oft you come across a writer like Ms. Barrett, and I am keenly thankful to finally be at a place where I can start to uncover the words she’s leaving behind!

In this first book, Ms. Barrett introduces us to a rather ordinary family who is transitioning through life changes that will not shock nor surprise many readers, as she is not the first author to explore this particular issue that disrupts the bliss of domestic life. I have always appreciated the landscape of her prose is inter-connected to the skillful observations of a poetic mind inclined to drawing a line of metaphoric symmetry to stitch her stories together! I appreciate that the title of this book is a key to unlocking the true meaning and essence of why she penned it!

I was not able to uncover much about this first book of Andrea Barrett, except there are a few videos on YouTube where she is being interviewed, yet they are discussing other books that she has written since this one was published. Not to be outdone by the absence of material online, I did unearth a review by Kirkus, which might give you a bit of a further clue as to how different her writing style is and what the lay of the story involves!

Finding Camlann by Sean Pidgeon

Read an excerpt in lieu of audio on the publisher [W.W. Norton]’s page for this book.

This was a novel that was adverted through Shelf Awareness earlier in 2013, as a bookaway contest, by which I did enter, but did not win. I was hoping at some junction down the road it would end up in the library’s catalog, as the premise and back-story of research that yielded this book endeared me to the author & the story he told! The quest of writing this particular novel was expanded over half of this writer’s adult life! I can attest that writing a novel takes a heap of time, whilst your involved with living your life, and it did not shock me to read this revelation on his website, because it nearly is truth to form a telling of my own journey as a writer! It’s not your typical historical fiction début, as it allows for more than the regular appearances of contextual time, place, and setting to evolve the story forward in motion.

The legend behind King Arthur is one that always left me wantonly curious to know more of the story! I regret that I never found the time to sit and read about Arthur in the past, but perhaps, if I had, I might not be able to drink in this narrative with the new eyes that I will bring into it!? I oft find myself musefully reflective about how the choices we make in our reading lives have direct impacts on our appreciations of each story we read! If we were to have read one particular book or sequence of books on the same vein of subject or topic, would that then, change or alter, our future perceptions of similar readings!? It makes you curious to denote that for each choice we make, there is a curious nodding of serendipity guiding us as we shift forward! As how can we ever be too early or too late to pick up a book that we’re interested in reading!? And, who is truly to say, which order is best for each reader who alights into the world the book provides!?

If I were ever to have a choice between reading an excerpt or listening to one, I might feign in preference for an audio clip! Mostly as I do not always like to dig too deep into the story that I am about to read, although this differs between book to book, so I cannot readily say, I will never read a full excerpt of a novel, because, point of fact truth, I already have in other instances! In this one, though, I yielded to watching the book trailer which is on his personal website! Again, I applaud the atmospheric music!!

The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James

Listen to an audio excerpt on Simply Audiobooks.

One of my favourite haunts in the blogosphere, is actually the blog of a published author: Lauren Willig, of the Pink Carnation series! I cannot recollect when I first started to drop by her blog, as for a few years, I was awaiting the right moment to join in on reading her blog with the other readers’ who had already become acquainted with her series! Perhaps, I am inclined to guilt on this score, when it comes to becoming engaged with writers, yet, I do not always feel this way, as foresaid, I have been visiting the Porch without any foreknowledge of the writers’ books therein! Whichever caused my hesitation, I amended it, and nearly each week, I would check in to see ‘what was new’ with Ms. Willig! Much to my delight, she regularly shares her reading life (by which has ten-folded expanded my own TBR List!), in various re-occurring features!

This is one of the authors she shared on her blog, although, the second book is the book she referenced in her post! By which is entitled: An Inquiry into Love and Death. The title grabbed me at ‘hallo!’ and I knew I wanted to read it instantly! I had long since started a quest for seeking out Gothic stories as much as underlit stories of paranormal origins that did not fall into the ready category of parapsychological fiction that is all the rage at the current moment! I am a bit picky when it comes to which story whets my interest and which story averts my attention completely! This is of the style I am seeking!

The story is set in 1922 as it unfolds, with that curiously familiar tonings of British life found in London. It’s a rather abrupt sample of this story, but what I enjoyed the most was listening to how the author’s name is said aloud, as I wasn’t sure of the infliction for “Simone”. Cheers to uncovering this, as I am usually always the one who says author’s names and their character names rather creatively! One thing I can say, is that if there is a ghost story such as this, I am most keen to read it!

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

I am not sure when I originally discovered this book, but I do remember I was meant to participate in a Booktalk Nation event, where she was being interviewed. What drew me into the story were the parapsychological elements that I like to see included in stories, time to time, such as the gift of first sight! Combine this gift with the art world, and I couldn’t have been more over the moon for wanting to read this story! What is intriguing for me, is the aspect of a simple touch can lead to the greatest journey you’re not expecting to take and a hidden history of an artifact that proves provenance! I like how this appears to be a time slip novel as well, as the story shifts between different time points to convey the story forward!

I now realise what the opening sequence is pertaining too, as its a telepathic connection that she’s not sure she wants to engage in, but cannot keep the subject of her intruding thoughts away from her. I love how she’s quite determined to blend into regular society, as if nothing paranormal had occurred! Or, that she is slightly different and unique from the other commuters on the route to work! I am thinking that this is a story of not only a woman who holds the key to a piece of art’s provenance, but rather still, a woman who embarks on a journey that perhaps leads her to accepting who she is and the gift she’s been given!

Loving a Lost Lord by Mary Jo Putney

Listen to an audio excerpt of this novel on AudioGo.

I was first introduced to Ms. Putney’s writings as a young girl, age 10 or 11, who had stumbled across her inclusion in the Victorian Christmas novella collections! I have always had a hankering for Victorian literature, most keen was I on the romances, and of course, if the dashing men and ladies could have a story set around the Christmastide, you should know, I would always be there to greet the festivities!! There is just something quite natural about the Victorians and Christmas! For nearly nine full months now, I have been hanging out with the Wenches (The Word Wenches), by which, Ms. Putney is a regular contributor! Here, I am getting a quick overview and proper introduction to today’s world of romance, bent on historicals and enriched by research by women who love their craft!

I have long since wanted to sort out which Putney novel I can read now as an adult, as time eclipses off the clock ever so quickly, that when you think you have a world of time at your fingertips, you start to beg to wonder!? Why not start now!? In this way, I have settled on her first book “Loving a Lost Lord” of the series, The Lost Lords. Whilst listening to the latest in this series coming out this year [Sometimes A Rogue], I think it spurned my interest to settle into this series first before the others!

This audio clip introduces us to the back-story of “the Lost Lords”, who had met as youngsters who were in a special group of students who needed a modified series of instruction, if my ears heard right!? My computer’s speakers are grieving me slightly, as the muttering of the computer is superceding the vocality of the narrator! I used the Fantastic Fiction link to give the premise of the novel, as the page on her personal website provided a written excerpt rather than the synopsis. I included the main page for her Fantastic Fiction as a way to scroll to see the Victorian Christmas novellas I was mentioning!

Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman

I came across her first novel, “Saving Cee Cee Honycutt” through my local library, but having not read it, I decided to introduce myself to her writing through this second novel. Generally, I read the first book I come across, but after listening to the audio excerpt, it became even more apparent that this story would nestle itself into my imagination, as readily as “The Prayer Box” had, as it’s one of those gentle stories that glides into your life at just the right moment to appreciate its meaning. In fact, I think between “Into the Free” and “Looking for Me”, I shall be entertaining quite lovely company!

The narrator of this story has a smooth and calming Southern presence that allures you into the world she’s introducing you too! It reminds me of the scene in “Doc Hollywood”, when Michael J. Fox rang the Grady Weather Forecast phone number, just to listen to the voice on the other end of the line. A calming balm to his stress and situation so far removed from Grady. I think sometimes stories like these niche themselves into our peripheral view, at a moment where a glistening of hope and a story of transformation could be just the right story for the season that we are entering! As foresaid, I always lamented that Autumn is a season for new experiences and unexpected adventures, and this book stays true to that point of view!

Those of you have a keen sense of knowing when and how I curate my blog, will already be readily aware that there is a new “category” in my sidebar, which reflects “Publishers on SoundCloud”! Like the counter productive category of “Publishers on Scribd”, this is a new resource I am finding to use as a book blogger! Not only on that level, is my interest entranced with audiobooks, but rather, my keen interest in seeing if I can partake of an audiobook as ambient atmosphere as a backdrop to knitting! I have oft heard stories of knitting groups that select different audiobooks to knit alongside too, as our minds and hearts are always on our stitches, but it’s nice to have a rhythm in the background as a guide to follow as well! I loved the idea! Most keen was the notion that the most recommended genre is cosy mystery! I never had the proper chance to seek out audiobooks until recently [as part of Classics Re-Told ], and so in this way, I am treading into new territory! My only offense would be to note, that there is a streamline shift off audiobooks on CD to audiobooks ONLINE or in digital download formats!!

I hope not to sound like a broken record here, but although, the ‘snippets’ of previews for audiobooks is keenly helpful through SoundCloud, my preference is to listen to an audiobook in a traditional format of audio synchronicity! In this way, I will always seek out books in CD formats, by which, I am not co-dependent on my computer (&/or other tech gadgets!)! Which in my mind, defeats the whole point, as I’d rather stay flexible and fluid as I read and discover stories! I recognise the changing tech, but personally, I love my ‘offline’ life and world! I realise too, you can pick up portable digital devices that work with headphones, but seriously, sometimes you just love the tech you love, and try to limit the ‘extra’ tech you do not necessarily need! Right!? At least, this is true for me! We each must be true to who we are at all times!

My question to you, the reader, which do you prefer!? As a method of previewing a book ahead of reading it!? And, if you could, rather than simply state one a quick response, give a bit of a leeway into why its your preference and/or preferences of choice!?

A. Chapter Excerpts (via Author Websites, Blog Book Tours, Publisher Websites, Scribd, etc.)

B. Book Teaser OR full-on Book Trailers (via YouTube, Vimeo, or elsewhere) as well as searching for author interviews that could be archived.

C. Audio Excerpts (via SoundCloud or similar sites)

D. Reading an author’s biography, bibliography, book synopsis prior to looking up their personal site &/or blog to see if you can find further information about their writing life or novels.

E. Following their book tour either virtually (Blog Book Tour Stops, Facebook Parties, Twitter Parties, Newsletter Giveaways, Website/Blog Bookaway Contests, Booktalk Nation Interviews, etc.) or physically showing up at one of their dedicated tour stops. Oft times in this medium of gathering information, you are most likely able to speak to the author directly and can ask questions that pertain to their latest book OR a book off their back-list that intrigues you. As well as having the opportunities to ‘win!’ their book!

F. Speaking to your librarians to see if they have read the author in question and can relate to you a bit about their style of story-telling.

G. Seeking out book blogs of which might contain snippets of the author’s career, through past interviews, guest posts, blog book tours, OR simply a book of theirs was reviewed by the book blogger which can offer a further clue as to determine your level of interest.

H. Speaking to your friends, family, and circle of reader enthused souls who might be able to give their impression of the author OR the style of the book, if it contains a theme or genre that is known to them.

I. Any combination of the above!

[I specifically fall under the “I” category in total!]

[I originally intended to post this on Wednesday afternoon.]

[And, I’ll tell you one thing: I am quite keen on audiobooks now!

Wow! It’s like theatre on the radio!]

[This marks my second contribution for:]

That Friday Blog Hop

[*NOTE: Any and all purchase links that are attached to SoundCloud are not affiliated with Jorie Loves A Story.]

{SOURCES: Audio Excerpts of: “The Queen’s Gambit” by Elizabeth Fremantle, “The Irresistible Blueberry Bake-Shop and Cafe” by Mary Simses, “The Firebird” by Susanna Kearsley and “Looking for Me” by Beth Hoffman were provided by embed share codes by SoundCloud. Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with edits by Jorie in PicMonkey. That Friday Blog Hop badge provided by XOXO Rebecca where the weekly event is hosted.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Thursday, 19 September, 2013 by jorielov in Antiques, Arthurian Legend, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book Browse, Coming-Of Age, Contemporary Romance, Family Drama, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Library Find, Life Shift, Literary Fiction, Parapsychological Suspense, Rebels and Rogues, Shelf Awareness, Small Towne Fiction, Soundcloud, That Friday Blog Hop, Time Slip, Top Ten Tuesday, Tudor Era, Women's Fiction

Septemb-Eyre: Chapters I-XI | A tumultuous beginning, of a girl determined to make it on her own!

Posted Wednesday, 11 September, 2013 by jorielov , , 8 Comments

Septemb-Eyre hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Originally Entitled: Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Currer Bell

[Miss Brontë, like Jane Austen, lived in a time and age, where pen-names were of necessity to disguise their gender!]

Published By: Smith, Elder, & Co., London England |16th of October, 1847

Published in the United States, originally a year following in 1848.

| Currently in the Public Domain |

| Page Count: 643 |

Acquired Book By: Purchased at a big box store within the last several years, by which of whose origin is lost to time itself. It was my intent to read Eyre alongside a friend of mine, yet our goal was never achieved, hence why I was encouraged to join a blogosphere community read-a-long and interact with other Eyre enthusiasts! My version is the Puffin Classics unabridged edition, by which Jane Eyre is seen on the cover with a gothic lit road behind her, her eyes cast aside to the left. Adorned in bonnet and cloak, with her hands clasp in front of her, and a look for anticipation for which we can only yet imagine. She stands in her adult version of herself, with all the tribulations of her childhood thus behind her. Her countenance eludes that there is a story behind her eyes, awaiting to be shared and viewed indiscriminately; as she would readily expect no less of the readers who read of her story.

Ruminatively Expressive about Week I

Although, in the corner of my mind, I drew in a memory of my last viewing of Jane Eyre (as described on the originating posting of this reading challenge; see link attached below!), I was deeply curious about how my heart and mind would shift over and into the text of the canon! Its such a curious proposition to become intimately acquainted with a particular work, ahead of reading such a work, and then, as your whet with anticipation of delving into it, your struck by a curious enquiry of mind,… shall I become thus removed or thus wholly attached afterwards!? How will my perceptions alter as I read Ms. Eyre’s life unfolding upon the printed page, and will I, as I had with Pride and Prejudice, hearing the echoing effect of dialogue whispering in my ears as I read!? Hearing the voice of Eyre through the subtle and calm notings of Charlotte Gainsbourg?!

I was curious too, where the original story begins, and the measure of creative liberty of the motion picture will start to blur, and etch into each other. Which scenes have I latched onto as being the epitome of Jane story, that will in full effect, be additions rather than admissions, to where the overall takeaways will alter, deviate, and shift as I read!?

I would purport, that as these murmurings alighted to mind, I was at first a bit more anxious to pick up the book, than I had first realised possible, as I truly, attempted to put Jane Eyre off until the last possible hour! What ironic turning of events! As it were, I, of whom was rallying around the other Septemb-Eyres (my endearing reference for those blokes and lasses participating in the collective reading challenge), for the very start of this challenge to get underway, found in herself, a air of trepidation!! How unlike me! And, yet, part of that has a bit of founding in our pursuit of reading classical literature, we walk a bit of a dance between what we know, what we expect to discover, and what is shortly revealed as we consume their tomes! There is a measure of uncertainty that perhaps, even the best of readers, are cautious as he/she proceeds!

For you see, I had selected the bookmark for reading Eyre on Monday last, as we were making our meet + greets, as its a thin and narrow metal bookmark, adorned with beadings and ribbons that are attached at the top center piece. Enscribed in its center is a bold and uplifting quote from Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt, which I felt was more than fitting for the nature of story that was about to unfold as I lifted page after page, absorbing into a world that entices me and distracts me at the same time! And, yet, which hour did I first lay heart and mind to rest, to cast aside any fear or anxiety to read Eyre!? A shade past midnight on this very Monday morn, the very day we’re meant to impart our impressions of the first eleven chapters of Jane Eyre’s life! Four hours readily dissolved, as I was purposely elsewhere, drinking in the hearty words of Ms. Brontë’s choosing, by which, she would not alleviate the causal reader’s interest for a less hardy array of turns of phrase, but which a literary wanderer drank in with pure celebration! Such words! Such ways to describe the angst, the anguish, and the inner-most workings of thought in a character such as Jane Eyre! A girl quite ahead of herself, both in a curious perception of her set of circumstances, and the quality of changing said perception by her experiences and encounters at Lowood School for Girls.

Such was my beginning, but alas, its below that I am putting my thoughts down properly, and even, in a vain attempt, to list the murmuring echoes of Ms. Gainsbourg, as I had Ms. Knightley’s elsewhere! As well as to draw to light a few differences I noted between the text and the one adaptation I had previously seen!

It should also be said, as this is a collective reading, we are surely to depart an excessive array of [*SPOILERS*] to the reader who has not yet picked up this text! Due proceed reading past this point on your own liberty, and know, that if what is expressed has spoilt your joy of discovering Jane for yourself, kindly note that this notice was placed to prevent such a bad tiding!

Septemb-Eyre hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm

In walked Jane Eyre, as calm as a willow bending in the wind,…

or should I say, that attribution belongs to another, a Ms. (Helen) Burns, of whom, Ms. Eyre draws a readily acquaintance and confidence as she’s removed from Gateshead and placed into custody of Lowood Institution for Oprhans! No, pray give leave, to express that Ms. Eyre is a firecracker of unrequited internal rage and admonition for her plight as thus handed down to her in life, as her parents are long since dead; her last surviving relation put to rest in the grave prematurely, and she is left to the dealings of her Aunt, [Sarah Reed, of the late Uncle Reed, her direct relation] of whom, is presented rather apt to reflect Angelica Houston’s character in “Ever After”, as she presides such blatant disregard for her niece, Eyre! It’s only in the reflections of Jane, as an older self, that we find a disconnect between the younger Eyre’s presumption of what was occurring and the wiser Eyre’s imparted understanding, that not all was as first known when the story starts to unfold!

The edgings of the story are wantonly haunting, as the world around Ms. Eyre is draped in grey tones, rain sodden exteriors, and the atmosphere of Gothic underpinnings, as there is rumours of a potential haunting of her Uncle, whilst alive was tender and kind towards Jane, but in whose death, wrecked a miserable state of affairs to unfold and befell her! I was quite appalled at her nephew’s extensive violence towards her, [in this regard, young Harry Potter lived comparatively comfortably!] and her Aunt’s diffidence not to correct the improper and unkind behaviour! Such grievances I can only try to attempt to tolerate, as I know the resolution of the story in-full, but that does not make it any easier to read or rather, observe her humble and caustic beginnings! If anything, it sets up in my mind how far Ms. Eyre had to transmorph into the resolute and strong adult she became!

As Brontë, deftly brings to life the under kernels of Eyre’s hardening and the porticoes of her knowledge that if she were to embark down certain pathways, she might not soon return! Much less, would she want to be such a creature!? To walk through this world, fully hardened and affaced to all the goodness that surely must still be present!? I can sympathise with her on this level, as when your day-to-day existence is presented in a continuous imprisonment of harsh punishment [solitary confined to the nursery, never allowed outside or downstairs, always finding reprimand  rather than nurturing, and an absence of time being measured by usual perimeters!], I can understand her reasonings and her deepest of questions regarding not only the state of her personal affairs, but her state and place in the world itself! How angst ridden we should all feel, to have no Hope, no Light, and no perceivable exodus of our allotted circumstance!?

Her knight of sorts, comes in the shape and form of an apothecarist, who on a lark suggestion on her behalf, suggests that she is sent off to school, and given opportunity to make something of her life; rather than to be cast-off and put aside as she has been thus far forward! Her Aunt devilishly sets into motion to put her into proper place and denounce any notion of her ever becoming more than a humbled lowly counterpart of a human, as in her own eyes, she at this point didn’t seem to attach any wantings of Jane to succeed in life, no matter in what caste placed henceforth! Thus, we see the arrival of a most devious and darkly embodied cleric [Brocklehurst] who takes the task a bit too severely to not only punish the lower class of orphans (as he perceives them to being!), but he inflicts his personal religious reasonings for such outrageous declarations of “humble them before God, equip them with rations beneath regular souls, and do not attach favour, kindness, love, or humanity, for they do not deserve it!” (this is a paraphrase in my own words of the outrageous words spewed out of his mouth at Lowood & Gateshead!) A ghastly character, (reminiscent of Snickett’s Count Olaf, the caregiver of the Bauldelaire orphans!) you would not want to engage with, and yet, he is the one who presides over the teachers and caretakers of Lowood!

I took direct offense of his inability to accept that young Jane took pleasure in reading not one or five, but nine books of the Bible! Because her attention was focused solely on the passages held within: Revelations, Daniel, Genesis, Samuel, Exodus, Kings, Chronicles, Job, and Jonah, yet not inclusive of Psalms, he took this omission as a guilt of an girl with a wicked heart, a wicked soul! In his eyes, a wretched creature who will suffer hell and damnation, live a cursed existence and will need every ounce of her self-defiance to be rid from her by direct force! For a man of the cloth, his mind was closed and obtuse in its scope of the differences individuals take to walk a spiritual life amongst the living! How contrite and hypocritical this evoked an ire in my mind, as he would soon be bled out as a torturous tyrant!

Once Eyre is transcripted into Lowood, I started to see a shifting in her character, as she was thus removed from her previous environment, and placed into another; just as stark, cold, desolate, and un-inviting surely, but with the hope of ‘something better’ to alight in her life even still! I saw this in the appearing of Miss Temple , whilst at the same time, Miss Scratherd was rather an odious addition to her life! The affection that was revealed upon her exit of Gateshead, by way of Bessie, her nursemaid surprised me rather shockingly, as foresaid, it did not appear that there were any kind regards bestowed upon her, aside from the rhyming songs and fantastical stories she would give to young Jane; a reflection of an internal kindness that was not always extended elsewhere. By the time I had settled into Lowood, I felt sorry for Jane not to realise the full reality of Bessie’s adoration and love, until it was nearly too late to even admit existed! Therefore, by extension, the propellent of Miss Temple, becoming a solid ally and rock in her young years, I hoped that the encouragement and positive influences she may shower onto Jane, might in effect, re-direct the course of her outcome in life. It aught to be acknowledged, that up until this particular junction, Eyre was truly living by her wits and instincts, rather than the subjection and conjectures of a teaching adult!

Helen, by contrast to Jane, is a young teen whose angelic presence and inclinations of foreknowledge past her young years, gently guides her towards finding peace from her past, acceptance of her present, and a resolute hope for her future! Never had anyone listened to Jane’s conscription’s of woe, whereupon allowing the merit of what was disclosed to be absorbed and turned over in one’s mind, before selecting the appropriate response to give a young girl of ten years! For Helen, instinctively knew that if no one took the time to intercede on Jane’s behalf, she would be a begotten and fallen soul, doomed to be restrictive of the blight of life condemned to her by her Aunt! Helen, therefore, took every opportunity to enfuse the light and love of God, with the insightfulness of a woman at least thrice her age, to educate Jane how the edification of spirit and the education of the mind can lead to a truer freedom than by fierce altercations by which Jane was [at that time] proficient in being subjected.

This led to a continuation of Eyre’s soliloquy of conscience thought, which extrapolated the complex of the whole set of observations that her sensitive eyes took in around her. She was fiercely attached to the installment of liberty and justice for those who were taken askance and punished severely for their [supposed] indiscretions and faults of character. She was a budding sociologist in many ways, as she overturned many a thought as to how mature adults could subject children to the life by which they did at Lowood School for Girls! It was part abomination and part torture, to think that human decency and respect had fallen to such low degrees as the state of affairs the school was subject to before the revolt of the community to condemn its principles and organisation after the bout of typhus had consumed and taken the lives of nearly half the students! [They began with just past 80 girls strong!] How I celebrated this liberation! This show of support for innocent lives who lived without a proper voice! For me, it came nearly too late to right all the wrongs that had transpired, but to think that they received liberation at all was reason enough to celebrate!

Ill tidings and sorrow soon followed closer to home, as Eyre found herself in a position to lose the one confidante that knew her best of all: Burns! Helen’s young body fell to consumption and was taken to Heaven at the young age of 14 or 15. A trusted saint whose grace and conviction of faith inspired her young friend to trust in a being greater than them both, and to rectify by the means given before her, to re-write her own future. My throat was held tight with emotion, as I was nearly consumed by the grief that washed over me during Helen’s last night; where Jane was nestled close to her in an embrace of sisterly friendship. I nearly felt young Burns’ epitaph ought to have read:

Angel of Earth, Forevermore in Elysium!

[abode of the blessed, heaven]

The story shortly shifts forward eight years, no less! To where Eyre is on the brink of a new cross-roads in her young life. She is now nearly eight and ten years, and on the departure of Miss Temple to her martial life elsewhere than the village surrounding Lowood, she is illuminated by a startling discovery! Her life was lived up to this point, on the foothills of others around her, by whom, she drew her intense strength to carry-on. She was fully content to continue on at Lowood School, having graduated [at least this is presumed], and begun her tenure of teaching. Two years, she has not once felt the need to think about the world outside of Lowood, but with departure of Miss Temple firmly in place, she curiously steals away glimpses of the world beckoning to her just outside the walls; a sight she can readily see from her window. In her chamber, she steals away hours in the night, to come across an idea of a transition she could undertake, that would illumine her achievements but not uprise her past her station. An odd and singularly unique voice brings to light the notion of place an advert in the local newspaper, offering her service as a hired Governess [a teacher in the employ of a family to teach their children at home; the precursor to the modern home study movement], by which the [potential] employee could contact her at the local Post Office.

In my mind, I felt as though Helen herself was coming down to remit a seed of inspiration into her dear friends’ subconscious, if to help guide her towards the next bridge she needed to cross to obtain a measure of independence. Her conformity into life at Lowood was part ambition to succeed and transcend her environment(s), but also, as a measure of grace to find within its structures and limitations the sanctity and security it afforded her. In this way, when she purported the ability to advert for a means better than the one she currently had, she was in this way, seeking to step out of the shadows of her ill-begotten family, and the pseudo-control of Lowood. When Mrs. Fairfax’s letter arrived poste haste seeking her position to be substantiated, Jane drew in a breath of hope, that perhaps, her time had finally come! Trepiderious? Yes. Excited? Most definitely! By receipt of the initial letter, Jane made the motions come to life to grant her full release of her Aunt [who not once contacted her since she left!], and of Lowood, itself! On the eve of her journey to Thornfield Hall, dear Bessie [her nursemaid!] re-appeared into her life, keeping in tow a shy toddler, and endeavouring to bestow upon Jane everything that she had so very dearly wanted her to know eight years ago! Bessie was there as she left Gateshead Hall, and again as she left Lowood School for Girls! At the precipice of each turning tide of young Eyre’s life, Bessie was there to rally behind her, and bide her farewell! 

Jane’s voice in the story has matured, and taken on a different scope than her former young self could articulate to the reader. You can tell she has not only deepened her compassion for humanity, but has facilitated a genuine ability to be humble in all manners, seek servitude and provide a need for others at all costs to personal needs or wants, and to rectify her mind towards self-assurance that come what may in life, she was now in the ability to provide for herself, rather than rely on the opinions of others as a vindication of who she was! Her entrance into Thornfield was under the [blind] preconception that Mrs. Fairfax was her charge’s caregiver, when in fact, she is refuted of this upon arrival, and has instead uncovered that Adele is a ward of Thornfield’s master, Lord Rochester! I didn’t bring to mind this entreaty, as much as I would preferred, enso, as though it was being seen for the first time, I appreciated that Ms. Brontë allowed a bit of softening to occur in Jane’s life! Up until this point, every day would lead to a possibility of confrontation, and with her settled here, in Rochester’s absence, I felt as though she could untense her muscles so to speak, ease into a new setting, and feel accomplished in her ability to communicate with Adele in the child’s native tongue of French!

As the grounds are slowly described and revealed, you get the sense that there is a bit of an ominous undercurrent to the estate, as though a small sense of foreboding is leading your senses to stand alert and ferret out what ‘is not quite right, yet not altogether wrong’ at the same time! This is further apparent, when Jane heard a women’s odd sounding laughter whilst Mrs. Fairfax was leading her around the turrets. A plausible answer was provided, but I, nor Jane, took it for any weight other than a passing acceptance that we have not yet been long at Thornfield to be in a position to question things further!

The starkness of Thornfield is warmed by Mrs. Fairfax, and the engagingly bouncy inclusion of Adele, of whom promotes a well-being that I had not yet seen visible in Jane’s life. She doesn’t have to forecheck everything she says or does, at least not at this point, as her cursory impression of Thornfield is limited in Chapter 11. I am on bated breath to sink further into the text over the next week, and eagerly await what fascinations will greet me! I know that the estate itself is as much as a character as Eyre and the inhabitants therein. That is one of the attractions I find with Gothic Literature on a whole — a near Hitchtockian accounting of setting, time, and place, to where your psychological suspended into the subtext!

What staid with me throughout the entirety of the opening chapters, is the elucidation of Ms. Brontë, who thus effused her fictional work with counterparts of reality at each turn! She mastered the ability to absolve and absorb what weighed heavily on her heart, pouring out her grief and emotional keenings into the breath she gave Jane Eyre! She took the tragedies of her own life [her elder siblings died as a result of a school similar to Lowood!] and gave them a proper tomb to cleanse herself of feelings she most likely could not dissipate otherwise. I believe, its through her pen, she tapped into a greater purpose that gave her life meaning and worth, than anything she could readily achieve in her everyday life. She suffered greatly by her own experiences, as I read she and her sisters [Anne and Emily] were afflicted by anxiety disorders, but with her pen, she cast aside all of this, in order to cast into the world a tome of her intellect and wisdom.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Wednesday, 11 September, 2013 by jorielov in 19th Century, Books of Eyre, British Literature, Classical Literature, Gothic Romance, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Septemb-Eyre, That Friday Blog Hop, the Victorian era