Category: Inspired by Stories

Austen in August 2013: A Reading Challenge!

Posted Thursday, 1 August, 2013 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Austen in August badge created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Carli Jean (Public Domain : Unsplash)

Austen in August: is an annual reading challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. The goal is to read as many Jane Austen novels, stories, and unfinished manuscripts as you can whilst encompassing the spin-offs, sequels, re-tellings, and biographies that also exist about this wickedly dynamic author who is still able to captivate an audience 196 years after her death! Meanwhile, Austenprose is hosting a Bicentenary Pride & Prejudice Challenge which expired to join on 1 July 2013! Therefore, I am quite thankful I made it under the wire to join this one! As I want to have a main focus on *Pride and Prejudice*, yet wander into other stories as well! Sign-Up Page for Austen in August; Master Post to Link your Reflections on Austen.

Books I Want to Focus On:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; Vanity and Vexation: a novel of Pride and Prejudice {original UK title: Lions and Liquorice} by Kate Fenton; Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor {Being a Jane Austen mystery} by Stephanie Barron; Pride and Prescience or A Truth Universally Acknowledged by Carrie Bebris; Mr. Darcy’s Little Sister by C. Allyn Pierson; Two Shall Become One: Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Sharon Lathan; The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater; The Independance of Miss Mary Bennett by Colleen McCullough; Pemberley by the Sea {alternative title: The Man Who Loved Pride and Prejudice} and Mr. Darcy’s Obsesssion by Abigail Reynolds; Pride, Prejudice, and Jasmin Field by Melissa Nathan; Dancing with Mr. Darcy: stories inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House {anthology} by Sarah Waters; Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (inspired by); Persuasion by Jane Austen; The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz (re-telling of Persuasion); and Sanditon and Other Stories by Jane Austen.

An extra addition: I was Jane Austen’s Best Friend by Cora Harrison*

{*} a random find whilst at the library!

Reasons I Want to Take on the Challenge:

Even before I first picked up “Pride and Prejudice”, I instinctively knew that I would be a life-long appreciator of Jane Austen! There was a drawing towards her works, her life, and her styling of writing that I cannot quite pin-point yet altogether know was threaded throughout my growing years and adulthood. I still remember for one of my birthdays {in my twenties} I purchased the “Jane Austen Library” out of one of the mail-order book clubs I was a member of at the time! I cannot recall directly if it was the Book-of-the-Month club OR another one, yet the books were hardback and had the most beautiful cover art I had then come across attributed to her collective works!

Prior to this, my Mum found the “Sense and Sensibility” screenplay {in hardback} which was directed by Emma Thompson. She also gave me a copy of the novel, in order to read and cross reference both texts. I remember beginning both quite eagerly, but I never properly became engaged into either! Around the time of the Keira Knightley adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice”, I felt that perhaps the stars were aligning and I could once again dig my heels into a book that had left me museful for most of my life! Especially with all the references being made in motion pictures {ie: “You’ve Got Mail”} making me ever the more curious,… I finally picked up a pocket hardback edition at Barnes & Noble! My greatest Austen moment thus far was being able to soak up the narrative during the opening week of the film and seeing it before it left the theaters! Quite chuffed I pulled that off, I must say!

When a friend of mine suggested reading Persuasion together, I thought that that would be a swell idea, except to say, my heart was not into it at the time, and this is one book that I simply added to my shelf! Which is why I have included as part of my August readings!

As homage to my quest to understand Jane Austen, and to make a nodding at the first book that enticed me to her works, I decided to focus on “Pride and Prejudice” and the books that were spun into life out of respect of her canon and out of the inspirations that the story led other authors to create.

Austen As I Read Her:

  1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

My Favourite Resources for Jane Austen:

  • Jane Austen Knits – despite being aware of this lovely zine which drops once or twice a year into our lives, I have not yet had the proper chance to collect the volumes! Each visit I make to Barnes & Noble, I find myself properly flushed with excitement over what the issue will contain! One day!
  • Austenprose
  • ? perhaps I shall find new ones ?

 The books I had intended to read during this reading challenge have been re-directed and absorbed into: Classics Re-Told: 19th Century & Gothic Classics. Please re-direct your attention to the new post all about the details of this challenge, by which, I have the opportunity to carry-on with my goals as I had originally conceived them! My first post for Austen in August serves a dual-purpose, as it will also mark the first contribution piece for Classics Re-told! Therein I discuss the wrap-up for Austen in August as well.

{SOURCE:  August in August badge created by Jorie in Canva. Photo credit: Carli Jean (Public Domain : Unsplash).}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Thursday, 1 August, 2013 by jorielov in Austen in August, Inspired by Stories, Re-Told Tales, Reading Challenges, Sequel Authors, Spin-Off Authors

Books of Eyre Challenge 2013: Let us re-discover, Ms. Jane Eyre!

Posted Thursday, 1 August, 2013 by jorielov , 4 Comments

Books of Eyre Reading Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva Photo Credit: Daniel Ruswick (Public Domain : Unsplash) I have been a supporter of Jane Eyre since I first learnt of her story! To uncover a self-directed / self-motivating reading challenge to consume not only the original “Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte” but to be encouraged to read sequel authors as well, is quite a smashing idea! One that I dare not pass up on the ability to undertake, as “Books of Eyre Challenge 2013” hosted by The Musings of ALMYBNENR, began on 1 January and concludes 31 December! Plenty o’ time for me to dig into this wicked sweet reading challenge and make a bit of headway!
Level Three: Governess {Read 15 Books} Ideally this is my goal!

My Declaration of Participation is thus: To start off by reading *Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte, by which, I have yet to actually do! I have always had the very best of intentions, without a lot of positive results! After I conclude her original masterpiece, I will move onwards forward through the list I have populated below as the books that appeal to my literary wanderings,… seeking out books whose stories not only pay homage to the canon left behind by Ms. Bronte but take on a unique charted course of their own, delving into the same structure of characters and story. I have set my goal to read Eyre books lower than the number of Eyre books I have sought out. I did this as a calming balm not to worry if my intentions at the on-set differ towards the ending hours of 2013!

PERSONAL GOALS & MOTIVATIONS: for Books of Eyre 2013: To consume one Eyre book at a time, opine my impressions afterwards, and link my post to the Books of Eyre monthly list To seek out other participants entries as the months slide forward To seek out other book bloggers that might not realise this Challenge is underway, and to encourage their participation To attempt to listen to the musical versions of Jane Eyre To attempt to watch each motion picture adaptation of Jane Eyre

 

The Appealment of an “Eyre” Reading Challenge: I always had a sense of knowing that Jane Eyre would not only become a story and a {classic} novel that I would be wholly endeared too, but it would spark a curiosity to seek out stories and novels that were inspired into being due to Ms. Bronte’s canon! In this way, stumbling across a reading challenge to uncover and absorb into re-tellings, spin-offs, and sequels of the enduring Ms. Eyre was rather happenstance! There is such a breadth of heart woven into her story, bold determination, and a survival instinct to make do and make good no matter how your circumstances try to define you. It’s a powerful story of overcoming and never surrending who you are whilst defining how you will live and how you will thrive.

My initial introduction to Ms. Jane Eyre: Came during the early hours of a morning wretched by the plight of the sickly girl frustrated beyond hilt and despite to do something that could advert her misery! She plucked the remote control up off the nightstand and dared the tv to illuminate a movie that could curtail sleep and cast aside her anguish! She had to flip through several channels before stumbling across a seemingly British teleplay with gothic underpinnings! A few scenes in, she was not only hooked but she had abandoned the remote! A few scenes more and she deduced she was watching an adaptation of Jane Eyre! She felt betwixt with herself for even considering to watch this film knowing full and well that she had intended always to read this particular novel ahead of seeing its adaptation,… her eyes veered back to the discarded remote and her heart leapt out a response to qualm her furrowed brow. Her tired eyes moved back to the screen and she became fully entranced with Thornfield Hall!

Book Choices of Mine: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (original); Thornfield Hall: Adele: Jane Eyre’s Hidden Story by Emma Tennant (sequel); Rochester: A Novel inspired by Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre by J.L. Niemann (sequel); Rochester: Consummation: The Continuing Story Inspired by Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre by J.L. Niemann (sequel); Jane Eyre’s Daughter by Elizabeth Newark (sequel); Death of a School Girl & Death of a Dowager{Jane Eyre Chronicles: 1 & 2} by Joanna Campbell Slan (spin-off); Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler (spin-off); Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (prequel); Adele, Grace, and Celine: The Other Woman of Jane Eyre by Claire Moise (sequel); Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (re-telling); The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart (re-telling); Jeanna Starborn by Sharon Shinn (re-telling); Jane Eyre’s Husband: The Life of Edward Rochester by Tara Bradley (re-telling); The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (spin-off); A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont (sequel); Jane: A Modern Re-Telling of Jane Eyre by April Lindner; Jane Eyre’s Rival: The Real Mrs. Rochester by Clair Holland; Mrs. Rochester by Hilary Bailey (sequel); Jane Rochester by Kimberly A. Bennet (sequel); Wish You Were Eyre by Heather Vogel Frederick (spin-off); Mrs. Rochester: the surprising sequel to Jane Eyre by Warwick Blanchett; The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey (re-telling)  – 23 books found!

Plus, one musical score: Jane Eyre: the Musical: Original Broadway Cast Recording by Paul Gordon (composer); as well as film adaptations for *Jane Eyre* {1943; 1996; A&E, 1997; Masterpiece, 2006; 2011}, *Wide Sargasso Sea* {BBC, 2006; 1993}; an opera directed by Brendan Maher and a song by Stevie Nicks on her ablum “In Your Dreams”, and *Rebecca* {1940; 1997}!
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{*UPDATE: 10 August 2013: According to this list featured over on Bookish Whimsy, as a personal accounting of all novels spun-out of the canon she wishes to read, I daresay, I will be participating next year, if Books of Eyre goes into a third year! I barely broached the surface, apparently! I’m still proud of myself for what I was able to find, but ooh! Look at all the books left to read!!}

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Books of Eyre: by order of reading

  • Book One: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (2013) via Septemb-Eyre! (Chapters I-XI)
  • Book Two: Keeping Kate by Lauren Winder Farnsworth (re-telling) (2015) (review)
  • Book Three: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (prequel) (2016) (review)
  • Book Four: All Hallows at Eyre Hall by Luccia Gray (sequel) (2016) (review)
  • Book Five:  Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall by Luccia Gray (sequel) (2016) (review)

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This began as a month-long event I was participating, and I decided to expand it to become inclusive of my first Classics Club experience; thus making this a self-directed challenge and not limited to the constraints of it’s original event.

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{SOURCES: Books of Eyre Reading Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva Photo Credit: Daniel Ruswick (Public Domain : Unsplash). It took me half a second to realise her blog name is really stating her name: ALMYBNENR! And, at a third glance it reads: Amber Lynn I used to know what this is called but forgive me, I have forgotten!  Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Thursday, 1 August, 2013 by jorielov in Bookish Whimsy, Books of Eyre, Inspired by Stories, Re-Told Tales, Reading Challenges, Sequel Authors, Spin-Off Authors