Category: After the Canon

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