Category: Readerly Musings

Blog Book Tour | “Hunting Shadows” by Charles Todd

Posted Monday, 9 February, 2015 by jorielov , , , , 1 Comment

Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin.

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Hunting Shadows” virtual book tour through TLC Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the publisher William Morrow, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

I borrowed the first book in this series from my local library’s ILL (inter-library loan) services for my own edification and was not obligated to post my reflections and/or review on the story’s behalf. I wanted to understand a bit of the back-story on the principle character of Inspector Ian Rutledge prior to reading the 16th book in the series. I originally perceived the idea to read this book and the 15th book in the series prior to my tour stop, however, the hours disappeared before I could. I appreciate the chance to get to know new mystery and suspense authors I haven’t yet stumbled across myself.

Blog Book Tour | “Hunting Shadows” by Charles ToddHunting Shadows
by Charles Todd
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

In the latest mystery from New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd, Inspector Ian Rutledge is summoned to the quiet, isolated Fen country to solve a series of seemingly unconnected murders before the killer strikes again

August 1920. A society wedding at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire becomes a crime scene when a guest is shot just as the bride arrives. Two weeks later, after a fruitless search for clues, the local police are forced to call in Scotland Yard. But not before there is another shooting in a village close by. This second murder has a witness; the only problem is that her description of the killer is so horrific it’s unbelievable. Badgered by the police, she quickly recants her story.

Despite his experience, Inspector Ian Rutledge can find no connection between the two deaths. One victim was an Army officer, the other a solicitor standing for Parliament; their paths have never crossed. What links these two murders? Is it something from the past? Or is it only in the mind of a clever killer?

Then the case reminds Rutledge of a legendary assassin whispered about during the war. His own dark memories come back to haunt him as he hunts for the missing connection—and yet, when he finds it, it isn’t as simple as he’d expected. He must put his trust in the devil in order to find the elusive and shocking answer.


Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Also by this author: An Unwilling Accomplice, A Duty to the Dead

Published by William Morrow

on 21st January, 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Published By: William Morrow (@WmMorrowBks),
an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (@HarperCollins)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook

Converse via: #HuntingShadows, #InspectorIanRutledge

About Charles Todd

Charles Todd is the author of the Bess Crawford mysteries, the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, and two stand-alone novels. A mother and son writing team, they live in Delaware and North Carolina, respectively.

Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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Posted Monday, 9 February, 2015 by jorielov in 20th Century, Blog Tour Host, Blogs I Regularly Read, British Literature, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Crime Fiction, England, Equality In Literature, Good vs. Evil, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Hard-Boiled Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Military Fiction, PTSD, Readerly Musings, Realistic Fiction, Suspense, the Roaring Twenties, The World Wars, TLC Book Tours

Day 4 of the #BoutofBooks readathon, gives Jorie a reason to forego half a #bookseries & launch into an Egyptological parfum legacy!

Posted Friday, 16 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , 0 Comments

What I find most surprising as I go through the Bout is what I am finding as I read the stories I am picking up. I always consider myself an open-minded reader who appreciates a widely diverse reading life, yet what surprises me the most is that how surprised I can become whilst attempting to read a book by an author I previously felt I would be captivated by! :( On this note, I have become a bit disappointed and frustrated twiceover in one week! As I started to settle into The Reincarnationist, I was plumb aghast by what I was finding inside the opening pages of Chapter 1! To the brink that I felt that the author & publisher should have changed the genre from historical suspense to historical horror! I will write more about this in a moment, because what was even more interesting is before I boomeranged back the ENTIRE Reincarnationist series to my local library (they are such a blessing to have knowing how many books are in our local catalogue and thus are able to read when I am either about to seek a book for review &/or simply want to get caught up with an author’s work) I remembered what I had loved reading & listening about The Book of Lost Fragrances.

I also knew Seduction & The Collector of Dying Breaths would follow the same vein of thought & intrigue as this particular Book 4 in the series, so before I carted off this half of the series I was less than enthused to be reading now, I decided to take the high road. I thought, no wait! What if the books centered in a focus about ‘scent’ and ‘parfum’ are written in a different style than the previous books!? What if that style was more agreeable to where my reading sensitivities and interests could find common ground!? I pulled these books out of my library bag, placed them on the shelf, and walked out the door. As I returned, I was both apprehensive and joyful in knowing that I could quite possibly have found a way to enjoy an author I had read so very much about!

At the very same time, Richard Brooks was requesting I continue his journey, and I did not want to keep him waiting! :)

Book I am Reading:

  • The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose – barely made it to page 12! Books 1-3 go promptly back to the library!
  • The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
  • Chain of Mercy by Brenda S. Anderson

Books &/or Memes I am Blogging About:

  • Chain of Mercy: a book review of a debut novel (editing at time of post)
  • 10 Bookish and not So Bookish Thoughts (editing at time of post)
  • Booking Through Thursday (editing at time of post)

Blogs I am Visiting (including non-bouter blogs):

Twitterverse Events I Attended:

  • #k8chat – I enjoyed visiting Ms. Tilton’s chat during their 1st Anniversary celebration the prior week, and I could barely believe it was time to visit with them once more! Their topic of discussion was Diversity in Lit, which I have been talking about since Black History Month in February! I am enjoying keeping in the loop with the on-going dialogue of open-mindedness in reading & exploration of stories. I happily shared links to my own blog, engaged in the conversation, & rather unexpectedly had the pure joy in *winning!* a copy of a novel by an author I have been most delighted getting to know through tweetchats: Ms. Ellen Mulholland! And, coincidentally, the book I have won is a Young Adult novel set in the style of coming of age and is a contribution to LGBT fiction from a similar point of view of Etched On Me, on the level that the character is going through a moment in their life where they want to better understand & accept who they are. I do know the story is lighter than Etched On Me in its scope, but poignant in how the story is told by its author! I was thrilled to bits as this brings the author & I full circle in regards to going from acquaintances online, to fast bookish friends (we tend to have a bit in common as we converse), to a book blogger discovering a new author’s work! Isn’t life bookishly beautiful, at times!? I cannot wait to see “Birds on a Wire” arrive by postal mail! :) Cheers! Thank you K8chat!
  • #10MinuteNovelists – Except to say I did not stay very long because their tag for some reason was being wonky & quirky, and I felt as though I was not able to properly follow the line of thought threaded into the conversation! :( Such a shame as I enjoy visiting with them!
  • I had properly forgotten about #StoryDam! As I appear to be forgetting my regular tweetchats of late! Need more post-its!?

Notes:

I am not certain how I erred twice in one week with books I was quite eager to read, but apparently, I have as when I first opened The Reincarnationist novel I was expecting to be swept away into this historical suspense novel akin to The Skin Map (a still need to finish novel left-over from Sci Fi November!)! I was not expecting to be appalled and more than a bit grossed out by the gutting scene of murder and chilling attack of a woman before I even reached page 15! I promptly put the book in the stash of books being carted back to the library this afternoon! I mean, truly!? I am now a bit betwixt understanding how all my research into the Reincarnationist series is now ending on such a sour note, as one thing I cannot handle to read is brutal mind-bending gore inside of a historical novel! There was a delicate grace in my readings of Citadel by ?. I am not finding the same to be true of M.J. Rose as it is reading more like a horror centered novel than a historical!? I am most confused! As this reminds of how much I appreciate Anne Rice’s research and dedication to writing her novels but at the very same time, cannot find the heart of  mind to read the novels which have enchanted readers for decades! :(

After my library run,…

I decided that it was time to give The Book of Lost Fragrances a bit of a go, as what did I have to lose at this point in time!? From page 1 to page 34 I was literally entwined with the story, the characters, and this tingling nudge towards following one’s heart and nose through a story which was written with a passion for the past and the history of perfumery! :) I was greatly entranced by the Egyptology focus, as much as how a person can have a gift in ? ask Mum the word! ? that not only gives them a field to work in but a gift that takes on a path their life must travel. I loved being consumed by the crushing grief of Jac as she starts to reconcile her sorrow against the fact she does not want to admit that she’s gifted with the ability to see past death and visit with her Mum between the veils. I loved the atmosphere shifting between the tombs Napoleon Bonaparte was attempting to plunder in his quest for conquest, as much I appreciated the Gothic Literature undertones I have always enjoyed reading. This had the etchings of historical suspense, and I felt my spirits starting to soar a bit! The fact that I could reach page 34 and not find one thing wrong except for the fact my dear eyes could not drink in the narrative fast enough was a marker of improvement!

In Chain of Mercy, I found myself captivated and compelled to read Richard Brook’s story simply because he is a broken man in his spirit who needs not only a boost of encouragement but he needs to re-affirm his acceptance of understanding his own humanity. He’s at a cross-roads in his life where he needs to not only determine the course he wants his future to be set upon but in which method he wishes to arrive into that future. I love the fact that his character is not only flawed, but he is genuinely going through a lift shift that takes patience, perservance, time, and the ability to truly look in the mirror seeing your faults and knowing you can overcome them. And, to me that is a very compelling story to engage yourself and find the pages cannot be turnt fast enough!

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Contemporary & More (#36) by padfootandprongs07

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Post Six: of

Bout of Books Readathon

{SOURCE: Bout of Books Badge created by Jorie in Canva to give readers & visitors who come to her blog a way to know of  its existence and therefore increasing the mystery & lore surrounding it! The booktuber video “Contemporary & More (#36) via Padfootandprongs07 had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share a random joy discovery during Bout of Books. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Friday, 16 May, 2014 by jorielov in #10MinuteWriters, #K8chat, #StoryDam, 10 Bookish (& Not-So-Bookish Thoughts), Blogs I Regularly Read, Booking Through Thursday, Bookish Films, Booktuber : Bookish & Geeky Readers, Bout of Books, Brenda S. Anderson's Blog, Coming-Of Age, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Literature for Boys, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Readerly Musings, School Life & Situations, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Young Adult Fiction

Day 3 of the #BoutofBooks readathon, and Jorie is happily entrenched into the life of Richard Brooks!

Posted Thursday, 15 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

I am never certain what I will find inside of a story, nor how my excitement to read a new & emerging voice in Inspirational Fiction will sit with me. I most often find that I will appreciate several titles by any particular author that enters my reading life; but to find the authors of whom I would have the absolute honour & conviction of knowing I could read EACH & EVERY title they create — that is a booklover’s dream! As soon as I first started to turn the pages inside “Chain of Mercy”, I knew I had found my next Inspirational Author of whom I will spend a lifetime enjoying reading their works!

Books I am Reading:

  • Chain of Mercy by Brenda S. Anderson

Books I am Blogging About:

Blogs I am Visiting (including non-bouter blogs):

Twitterverse Events I Attended:

  • #LitChat: Author Q&A with Hazel Gaynor whose début novel “The Girl Who Came Home” is a time slip about Titanic! After the conversation, I was so inspired by what I learnt I simply had to properly catch Mum & Da up on this new story out of the Titanic canon of knowledge! They in turn surprised me by adding this novel to my birthday queue! I was over the moon in joy!
  • #boutofbooks: the tweetchat & reader Q&A
  • A happy random joy convo spun out of #boutofbooks tweetchat was meeting Cari Lamperski! (a fellow #Hearties & #POstables!) Which simply means we love Hallmark Channel series like When Calls The Heart & Signed, Sealed, & Delivered! I was pleasantly surprised by how much we shared in common & I am most looking forward to seeing her alight on my blog as time allows! As much as I hope we get to randomly meet-up on Twitter again! :)

Notes:

Truly, a joyful day for literature and reading for me all the way around! :) I was happily engaged with the pace, setting, and style of Anderon’s novel as much as I knew that I was on the verge of settling into a new-to-me author’s first body of work which would launch her writing career! I happily found ways to tweet about the Interview I had posted for her already, as well as found out that another Winslet Press author was visiting her blog! I never had the proper chance to drop by & engage on the post about Unraveled but hope to do so on the morrow!

I did not have a lot of time to read as there were flickering thunderstorms throughout the afternoon & early evening hours, to where it made it a bit dicey to blog!! I kept working on editing Brandy Purdy’s Interview as best as I could in-between the lightning strikes! When the post finally went live I was rather chuffed for having the determined grit to work around the storm & still manage to get my thoughts properly into place! :) I love interviewing authors as you might have noticed dear hearts, and to host two interviews in one week was simply sweet bliss!! I also found it incredible I could add-on a Book Spotlight for “The Ripper’s Wife” as that was one title that took me by complete surprise!

I am enjoying finding a balance between reading, blogging, tweeting, and supporting not only the authors I am interacting with through conversational chats, blog tours, book reviews, or blog hops — but to reach out to other Bout’ers who need a lift of spirits in the bout of books feeds! I love that part of the Bout the most! Random tweets, random conversations, and the genuine spirit of sisterhood through bookish joy! There are a few blokes in the Bout too, but I am not sure how else best to express this sentiment?!

In the back of my mind, I am also starting to think about how to compose my questions for an Editor’s Interview posting over the weekend; when to start The Boleyn Bride as well as the ChocLit novels and the fantasy anthology! I am thankful that I have been able to strike the balance I have thus far along, and am quite happy my blog is also being brought current by my readings during the Bout! One book I am going to add to my Bout 10.0 TBR is Getting Waisted!

What do you find feeling grateful for during this Bout of Books!?

Are you wrapped up in the arms of an author you are happily discovering like me!?

Post Five: of

Bout of Books Readathon

{SOURCE: Bout of Books Badge provided for all readers who participate in the readathon to help promote its existence and therefore increasing the mystery & lore surrounding it!}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Thursday, 15 May, 2014 by jorielov in Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Blog Hop, Blogs I Regularly Read, Bout of Books, Brenda S. Anderson's Blog, Elizabeth Howard Boleyn, Jack the Ripper, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Readerly Musings

_+ #atozchallenge _+ 26 Days | 26 Essays [epic journey] Today is Letter “E”. Hint: The World is a Melting Pot

Posted Saturday, 5 April, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

A to Z Challenge Day 5 Letter E I am involved in a world-wide globally connected blogosphere challenge where each blogger who signs into the participant linky is quite literally confirming their express desire to blog straight [except on Sundays!] for *26 Days!* whilst writing *26!* most intriguing & thought-producing alphabet essays! Or, to be comically inspiring, randomly cheeky, and otherwise delightfully entertaining! The bloggers who have signed into the challenge are from all walks of blogosphere life: book bloggers united alongside lifestyle gurus; writers of all literary styles nudged up against travelogues; the gambit runs the full course of each and every theme, topic, subject, and genre you could possibly light your heart with joy to broach in a blog! And, the curious bit to the journey is where your posts lead you as much as where other blogger’s posts inspire you! It’s this fantastic community to celebrate the spirit within the blogosphere as much as the spirit of connection amongst the bloggers who might not have crossed paths with each other otherwise. After all, the road map for blogs is as wide and large as the actual world outside the nethersphere of websites, pixels, and memes! Walk with us whilst we discover a bit about ourselves, our blog, & each other!

I am blogger #552 out of 2279!

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{ should be noted: @aishacs posted a multi-post Interview
on the blog Story & Chai
about diversity in literature; Part II, Part III, Part IV }

Originally I was going to focus on E P I C F A N T A S Y for Letter E, except to say, that throughout the twitterverse and the book blogosphere I was finding encouragement to draw light on another equally as important discussion of interest E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E! I grew up in a moderately sized city to the extent that the world was outside my door, the essence of the melting pot in vivid colours and dimensions was all around me. I loved the multicultural heritages I grew up near and I enjoyed the conversations I had with those who could help me understand traditions, cultures, and religions outside of my own. I have many fond memories speaking to Native Americans for instance whether I was at a bookshoppe or at an arts & crafts festival. I loved finding ways to engage with people who could dynamically shift my point of view and endear me to how our differences bridge the gap to how we are all interconnected and related.

Although I grew up in a house full of European descent (for the most part; mostly Briton though), the inertia of connectivity of other cultures was always encouraged and sought out. When you live in a city of any size, you get to see a beautiful cross-section of everyone who lives within the city itself. Whilst your riding the bus or walking down the boulevard you are greeting people as you come across them, accepting them as you speak to them, and within those brief moments of conversation you begin to grow curious about their own stories. Stories in which they grew up sharing within their own families and stories in which they grew up reading inside the books they cherished as bedtime companions.

I always celebrated then when I found multicultural characters in the stories I was personally reading as well as settings outside the norm of the net in which is regularly cast. E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E does not end nor begin on having different perspectives in ethnicity or nationality, as it also is inclusive of the ideal for a balancing of all characters and the lives in which they lead. This can include single | divorced | grandparent | foster parenting, adoptive or step-parent families, LGBT families and individuals; learning difficulties as well as those who are living with a medical handicap, illness, or affliction. Immigrant stories of people and families changing their stars for a life in a new country; biracial and multi-ethnic families. Whilst going further to extend past religious differences and spirituality freedoms to include a cross-section of all representations of a person’s beliefs as much as the differences in how we live, eat, and breathe. Full equality is giving the writer the will to focus on the characters they can personally identify with and as thus, can endear the reader to draw connection with as well. For every well-written story there is a reader who is aching to read a story which has transcended the living reality mantra of the earth being a melting pot and has taken the theory into practice in literature. I hint about my views about all of this under “My Bookish Life“.

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E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E for me is reading the world through the lens in which we live. Our world is a beautiful melting pot of cultures, traditions, religions and individualism. Why not celebrate those differences by painting living testaments of our lives as a portrait through the characters we breathe to life in novels? Giving back a bit of the grace in which we are free to live?
by Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story

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Access to Different Kinds of Literature via Color in Colorado

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Books on the Underground; Books on the Subway; Jorie Loves A Story: Booking the Rails

I recently reviewed a book for my Booking the Rails Feature where I highlighted Wonder by R.J. Palacio who wrote this beautiful book about a boy whose face is altered from other children yet the light of his heart uplifts everyone who meets him. The beauty of the novel itself is showing the grace of living your life as true to who you are on the inside as to reflect back to those who perceive you through prejudicial eyes the joy in being authentically yourself. The barriers people build up between each other can be brought down one by one if we endeavour to understand what alienates us and be determined to draw out empathy and compassion as a first response rather than fear, ignorance, and indifference.

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August has a keen philosophical intuitiveness about himself, the dynamics of his family, and his personal living environment around him. He seeks to find solace out of uncertainty and squalls chaos with simplistic truths which etch out the stigmas of which society oft-times places on individuals who are in some shape or form ‘different’ from the ‘norm’. And, the sad truth is that normalcy is in the eye’s of the beholder! To be normal is quite definitively the ability to be wholly true to yourself, your internal resolve of spirit, and in knowing who you are without the prejudgements and negative thoughts of others assembling into your heart. August has instinctively dry humour to convey his thoughts about life, dispelling any unease to meet him because he breaks the ice by simply being himself! He draws you into his sphere by engaging you in a way you were not expecting! No pretense. He’s simply ‘August’, who prefers to go by ‘Auggie’, the brother of Via and the boy who wants to live like a regular ten-year old entering fifth grade!

– quoted from my review of Wonder by R.J. Palacio

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Each book I am selecting to highlight as part of my Booking the Rails feature will be a story which will challenge convention and/or the ideals of story-telling and branch out into new horizons for both my readers and those who find the books on the trains. I want to start a conversation on those posts of giving dialogue and conversation to topics and subjects that will benefit from having a light shined on them. It’s my own wink and a nod to creating a new pathway back into the culture of being ‘bookish’ and ‘conversational’ with each other. Rather than merely nodding in agreement or staying silent altogether. More of my thoughts on this are contained on my visit to The Star Chamber Show : Episode 16. (archived & easy to listen too)

Carol Antoinette Peacock & Pepper
Carol Antoinette Peacock & Pepper in the author’s office. Peacock Family Album.

Previously, I showcased the adoptive story of Carol Antoinette Peacock whereupon her story entitled: Red Thread Sisters embarks on the journey of adopting children from China. This is one of many yet to appear on Jorie Loves A Story, as one of my sub-focuses on my blog will be positive adoptive stories for those who are considering foster adoptive options as well as international, open, and other avenues towards adopting children into their family home. I wanted to find authors who give a positive testament of the emotional keel a child or teen experiences prior to adoption as much as the transitional period after they are adopted. (if the story broaches both time periods) What I appreciated about Ms.  Peacock’s writings are her honesty in leading with her heart and her own adoptive story in which the Red Thread Sisters stems from at its core.

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There are two sayings throughout “Red Thread Sisters”, as well as in the personal letter attached in the afterword by the author herself,… one is a meditative pause of ‘light reflected as brightly lit as lunar lanterns’, and the second is the poignancy behind the entitlement of the book itself, ‘of the delicate red thread that unites all of us in a shared common bond, where those who cross our path are meant to be in our lives, and despite the appearance of the thread’s nature, will hold steadfast and strong perpetually’. The book gives pause to any woman considering motherhood through adoption and any father choosing his path of fatherhood through adoption, because it touches on the raw emotions that are silently withheld from the adoptive parents, by children who live in constant fear that something they do or say or not do even will be grounds for them to return back from whence they came. To become un-adoptable simply because they didn’t live up to the adoptive parents expectations. It’s also a book that examines adoption from the reflections of the children themselves, as they struggle to yield and bend with a new rhythm completely different from the one they were used too whilst at an orphanage, group home, or foster home. They have to learn its okay to make mistakes, to learn and grow through their experiences, and that a forever family isn’t co-dependent on perfection but rather with honesty, heart, emotion, and love. May we always keep ourselves lit from within with a light of hope as powerful and strong as lunar lanterns, to advocate for adoption and the expansion of our hearts and worlds when a child in need of a family, finds one in those of us willing to open our hearts and homes to them.

– quoted from my review of Red Thread Sisters

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One author where I found a strong sense of giving E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E a new definition of purpose is Laura Resau. Her blog is linked to my sidebar where the RSS feeds join the mixture towards the bottom. I have been making purchase requests for her books at my local library each chance that I can as well. The tricky bit is to remember which book of hers I read first: What the Moon Saw OR The Indigo Notebook!? I have taken it upon myself to read all of her novels, but I am still in the middle of accomplishing this goal! I have also read Star in the Forest.

Laura Resau
Photography Credit: Tina Wood Photography

Laura Resau is the award-winning author of seven highly acclaimed young adult and children’s novels– What the Moon Saw, Red Glass, Star in the Forest, The Queen of Water, and the Notebooks series (Delacorte/Random House). She draws inspiration from her time abroad as a cultural anthropologist, ESL teacher, and student. Loved by kids and adults alike, her novels have garnered many starred reviews and honors, including the IRA YA Fiction Award, the Américas Award, and spots on Oprah’s Kids’ Book Lists. Praised for its sensitive treatment of immigration and indigenous people’s issues, Resau’s writing has been called “vibrant, large-hearted” (Publishers’ Weekly on Red Glass) and “powerful, magical” (Booklist on What the Moon Saw). Resau lives with her husband, young son, and beagle in Fort Collins, Colorado. She donates a portion of her royalties to indigenous rights organizations in Latin America.

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The Indigo Notebook Book Trailer by the Author Laura Resau

The Indigo Notebook Page on Laura Resau’s site

[ after the 1:00 mark the song continues to be enjoyed by audience ]

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The Indigo Notebook by Laura ResauResau has the natural ability of fusing the indigenous culture of Mexico and Ecuador into her novels in such a wonderfully skilled way, that whilst I was reading The Indigo Notebook I instantly flashed back to my own memories of traversing through the interior of Mexico in and around the Federal District and the Yucatán Peninsula! One of these days I want to collect her books for my own personal library, but what I appreciated about my local library is being open to bring in authors who write multicultural stories for a young audience who could benefit from the life lessons and story contained within her pages! As I start to re-read over the books I have already read and progress forward into the ones I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading, I will be writing down my thoughts on my blog! I am always hopeful that through the sharing of my own lamentations about the writers and books which speak to me to the point of being moved emotionally, I will in one small way impact another reader’s life.

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E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E : A sampling of Books to Read

{ books I have predominately found through my local library }

UPDATE: per rifflebooks.com errors I’ve moved this list to my #LibraryThing
(as I will be reading these selections throughout [2019] part of my #BeatTheBacklist challenge)

E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E : New Authors on the Horizon

A full list of the book covers & stories is on Riffle: (share at will!)

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Equality in Literature & Diversity in Literature : walk hand in hand – July 2014

Reaching past our own heritages and our own living environments gives us a wider world view and depth of understanding. We become wholly in-tune with the harmony of the world’s spirit by embracing all the lovely and unique differences which shape our identities. We grow out of love and we give back love each time we endeavour to forge a bridge between our culture and the culture of someone else. We give our spirit a bit of a lift by the joy of celebrating the history of people who live as passionately as we do and whose traditions are as rooted in their culture and families as much as our own. Lessons of connectivity and of friendship will always abound when two souls are willing to make a connection.

One of the books I have oft spoken about online via my blog and my Twitter feeds is “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker, which is an atmospheric enriched narrative which crosses the divide between mythology and immigration. She digs deep into the setting of her novel to shift between New York City and the old world in which the Golem and the Jinni originated from. She has a deft hand in revealing human emotions and convictions out of characters who are everything except human! What endeared me to the text is her gift of story-telling to not only enchant you with a magical kinetic plausibility but to give you a full score of characters who are each on their own individual journey towards self-discovery. It’s in this inherent quest to understand both origin and worth in a world set against the tides of where their destinies are taking them, Wecker infuses her narrative with a connection of heart.

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Each were set on a course to learn and grow out of their experiences in a place neither expected to be. They each succumb to their inherent natures, but I feel only one of them is able to change the other for the good. Because one of them is stronger than the other as far as knowing how to make good on what has been turned for the bad. Their journey leads not to a resolution of sorts to overcome their individual obstacles towards true freedom, but rather too a junction point that leads them to question everything they felt they knew thus far along. And, in that conclusion the reader has to sit back and ponder the true meaning behind “The Golem and the Jinni”, for was it a journey of theirs that you took or an inward journey of understanding the limitations of humanity?

– quoted from my review of “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker

I am hopeful that more readers will seek out E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E by choosing titles by all authors of all backgrounds who celebrate our united spirit within the global society of nations and nationalities.

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Not enough multicultural books? via Color in Colorado

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Thank you for joining me on DAY 5 | A to Z Challenge!

I am a girl named Jorie who loves a story!
I am a bookish library girl on a quest for literary enlightenment!
I am predominately self-taught and library educated!
I am Mademoiselle Jorie!
Thank you for joining me on this journey!

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This marks my fifth post for the:

A to Z ChallengeFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Which authors do you feel reflect the beauty of E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R E? Which authors who are newly published OR have books which will soon be forthcoming would you recommend to be added to the “on the horizon” category of this post!? Which books have captured your heart whilst enveloping you in another person’s shoes and culture?! How do you feel progress has been made to give ever writer a voice and each story the gift for expanding our horizons?

UPDATE: 1 May, 2014: In the weeks since this post was first published I have participated in #diverselit & #WeNeedDiverseBooks movements on Twitter. I also created the tag #EqualityInLit to reflect my personal view and feelings towards diversity and equality in literature. You will denote a new category indexed on Jorie Loves A Story E Q U A L I T Y in L I T E R A T U R Ewhich speaks to the heart of how this blog post inspired me to make my views a bit more well-known.

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{SOURCES: A to Z Challenge Participant & Letter C Badge provided by the A to Z Challenge site for bloggers to use on their individual posts & blogs to help promote the challenge to others.The photograph of Carol Antoinette Peacock was given to me by the author and used with permission. Laura Resau photograph, author biography & book cover for The Indigo Notebook used with permission by the author. The book trailer by Laura Resau had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portals to this post, and I thank them for this opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers provided by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Related Articles:

Diversity Solutions with Sherri L. Smith (author of “FlyGirl”) – (mayaprasad.com)

Why I Write About India – (mayaprasad.com)

Diversity in Kid’s Books – (nytimes.com)

Booklist 2014 (for multicultural literature) – (campbele.wordpress.com)

Exploring Diversity Through Children’s & Young Adult Books: Background Reading – (cynthialeitichsmith.com)

Embracing Diversity in YA Lit – (slj.com)

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Posted Saturday, 5 April, 2014 by jorielov in A to Z Challenge, Adoption, Book Cover Reveal, Book Trailer, Booking the Rails, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Whimsy, Brothers and Sisters, CFHS The Society, Children's Literature, Coming-Of Age, Conservation, Cultural Heritage, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut in United States, Debut Novel, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Life, Fantasy Fiction, Genre-bender, Guest Spot on Podcast, Hard-Boiled Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller Suspense, Interviews Related to Content of Novel, LGBTTQPlus Fiction | Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Meteorology, Nanowrimo 2008, Non-Fiction, Orphans & Guardians, Quaker Fiction, Readerly Musings, Septemb-Eyre, Siblings, Sociology, Southern Belle View Daily, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, The Dystopia Challenge, The Rocketeer, The Typosphere, Time Travel, Time Travel Adventure, Travel Narrative | Memoir, Vignettes of Real Life, Wicked Valentine's Readathon, Writes of Passage, Wuthering Heights, Young Adult Fiction