Category: Wicked Valentine’s Readathon

#WWWWednesday No.4: Jorie welcomes Autumn w/ a heap of lovely #fallreads and a touch of #summerreads still in progress!

Posted Wednesday, 14 October, 2015 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

WWWWednesday a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

I loved the premise of this meme {WWW Wednesdays} due to the dexterity that it gives the reader! :) Clearly subject to change on a weekly rotation, which may or may not lead to your ‘next’ read which would provide a bit of a paradoxical mystery to your readers!! :) Love the concept! Therefore, this weekly meme was originally hosted by Should Be Reading who became A Daily Rhythm. Lovingly restored and continued by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Each week you participate, your keen to answer the following questions:

  • What are you currently reading!?
  • What did you recently finish reading!?
  • What do you think you’ll read next!?

After which, your meant to click over to THIS WEEK’s WWWWednesday to share your post’s link so that the rest of the bloggers who are participating can check out your lovely answers! :) Perhaps even, find other bloggers who dig the same books as you do! I thought it would serve as a great self-check to know where I am and the progress I am hoping to have over the next week!

Join the Convo via: #WWWWednesday

Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission.

What are you currently reading!? (Wednesday to Wednesday)

  • A Woman of Note by Carol M. Cram (blog tour Thursday!) (Synopsis)
  • Decorum by Kaaren Christopherson* (Synopsis)
  • Those Who Remain by Ruth W. Crocker (Synopsis)
  • The Tulip Resistance by Lynne Leatham Allen* (Synopsis)
  • Summer Campaign by Carla Kelly* (Synopsis)
  • Fool’s Gold by Zana Bell (Synopsis)
  • A Thousand Words for Stranger by Julie E. Czerneda (Synopsis)
  • The Particular Appeal of Gillian Pugsley by Susan Örnbratt (Synopsis)
  • Yellow-billed Magpie by Nancy Schoellkopf (Synopsis)
  • #SRC2015: Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave (Synopsis)
  • #ReadingIsBeautiful: Summer by Summer by Heather Burch (Synopsis)
  • Ignoring Gravity by Sandra Danby (Synopsis)

*Titles were blog tours I missed hosting over the Summer.

A beautiful mixed bag of readerly delights await me, as I tackle the stories I had meant to read and review over the Summer (June – September) whilst dipping into my first reads for Autumn! As you might have noticed I have an appreciation for stories during the war eras and for war dramas in particular, but I took a chance on a non-fiction piece that is set around redemption and solace when I elected to read Ruth W. Crocker’s book. The Tulip Resistance will be taking me behind the lines of war from a Dutch perspective whereas I generally enter through the World Wars through the British or French lines of perception. Read More

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Posted Wednesday, 14 October, 2015 by jorielov in 18th Century, 19th Century, Anthology Collection of Stories, Back to the Classics, Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Discussions, Books for Review Arrived by Post, Chunkster Reading Challenge, Classical Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Foodie Fiction, France Book Tours, Get Steampunk'd, Go Indie, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Library Find, Love for Books Readathon, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Reading Challenge Addict, Reading Challenges, Rewind Challenge, Science Fiction, Seriously Series Reading Challenge, SFN Bingo, TBR Pile Challenge, tCC The Classics Club, The Dystopia Challenge, Tomorrow Comes Media, Wicked Valentine's Readathon, William Shakespeare Challenge, Wuthering Heights, WWW Wednesdays, Xchyler Publishing

_+ #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)

Comments via Twitter:

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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

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

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

WWW Wednesday badge by Jorie in Canva

I loved the premise of this meme {WWW Wednesdays} due to the dexterity that it gives the reader! :) Clearly subject to change on a weekly rotation, which may or may not lead to your ‘next’ read which would provide a bit of a paradoxical mystery to your readers!! :) Love the concept! Therefore, this weekly meme is hosted by Should Be Reading. Each week you participate, your keen to answer the following questions:

  • What are you currently reading!?
  • What did you recently finish reading!?
  • What do you think you’ll read next!?

After which, your meant to click over to Should Be Reading to share your post’s link so that the rest of the bloggers who are participating can check out your lovely answers! :) Perhaps even, find other bloggers who dig the same books as you do! I thought it would serve as a great self-check to know where I am and the progress I am hoping to have over the next week!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What did you recently finish reading!?

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

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

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

What do you think you’ll read next!?

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

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

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

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

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

I had a bountiful bookish postal surprise day

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

My Wish List banner

&

Violet Patterson Blog Tour via Tomorrow Comes Media

&

Inscription by H.H. Miller

via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

&

A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet    

and Moments in Millenia (anthology) edited by Penny Freeman

via Xchyler Publishing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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

+tCC Group Check-in No.8+ February 2014

Posted Saturday, 15 February, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , 0 Comments

The Classics Club badge by Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story

tCC Group Check-In #8 :February: 2014

Stepping Back into the Folds of Time | tCC

To seek out the classics, but also, to soak into their worlds, their settings, and their language. To fully become aware of the essence of why the writers’ left behind these tomes of exploration for next generations to ponder and muse upon their worth. To float through centuries and dance through literary genres whilst engaged in the craft of writing as scribed by those who came before us. – Jorie’s reason for reading the Classics February 2014

I could not get my footing in the Classics during the month of January, as I had high hopes of participating in the Wuthering Heights (#WutheringHeights) readalong via my good friend Maggie’s RAL! The chapters were evenly distributed throughout January, but what I lacked was not interest but time! Time to truly absorb myself into the flow of the story and to settle my mind into the heart of the discussions! I was reading non-stop in January, as I had quite the stacked review schedule going for blog tours, but I missed being able to grab a book at my leisure! I’m thankfully current at the moment, which is where the serendipitous offer by @RiverheadBooks (info on their RAL) to join them in a Wuthering Heights discussion between mid-to-late February & early March felt like a second chance to discuss & read this wicked classic by Emily Brontë! I will be going between the schedule for Riverhead Books & dropping in on the conversations in-progress via Maggie’s blog! Here are the following schedules for both as outlined in my blog’s sidebar:

Wuthering Heights via Maggie’s RAL:

Week 1 (Jan5-11): Chapters I-IX
Week 2 (Jan12-18): Chapters X-XVII
Week 3 (Jan19-25): Chapters XVIII-XXVI
Week 4 (Jan26-Feb1): Chapters XXVII-XXXIV (End)

Wuthering Heights via Riverhead Books RAL:

Chat #1: 21Feb
Part I: Chapters I-X
Chat #2: 28FEB
Part 1: Chapters XI- Part II: Chapter 7
Chat #3: 8MAR
Part 2: Chapters 8-20

Likewise, whilst in engaged in the Wicked Valentine Readathon I decided to pull off a book from my library shelf (borrowed through my local library vs. my personal library!) which falls under my Back to the Classics reading list! I am referring to The Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola! I consider my efforts for both tCC & Back to the Classics to be of equal measure as they sort of walk hand-in-hand with each other!

In September, I had taken upon myself to participate in Septemb-Eyre which was a RAL for reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I only managed to complete the first check-in point for Chapters I-XI, with the full intention of re-visiting the story and resuming where I had left off before the hourglass closed on 2013. However, due to life’s way of distracting our reading adventures, I never once had the pleasure of picking up the story right where Rochester starts to play a more keen part in Jane’s life! When I had first learnt of Maggie’s RAL for Wuthering Heights I felt it would due me well to resume Jane Eyre at the same time! I might be a bit behind the eightball in reading classical literature, but I am striving towards reading the stories as time allows me to absorb them! I can foresee blogging about Eyre & Wuthering Heights in repetitious succession!

Whilst engaged in a #LitChat conversation about #WarandPeace I found myself proposing the idea of joining the War and Peace Book Club via LitChat! (as mentioned in my Wicked Valentine journal entry) What I had not remembered is that I truly had included War and Peace on my tCC list! I thought for sure I had omitted its inclusion as I always felt that it would be a rather daunting book to read!

It would have been placed on my very first tCC Spin List if reading these particular classics had not knitted together when they had! I would have listed it under “Intrigued but wavering of resolve!”

And, of course imagine my surprise when I saw a tweet from the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi talking about how War and Peace would not be able to be contained inside 140 characters on Twitter!

The reason I knew I could soak into War and Peace at this particular junction is due to the fact, we’re only reading approx. 200 pages per month, whilst checking in via topics broached through LitChat’s website! I was even able to check-out the exact! same translation Ms. Sachs is using for herself! I am also reading the 1,215 pages translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky! As this is what I declared to the lovely Mod for the RAL: (@DanaSachs)

You convinced me when you said “200 pages per month!”, yes I can handle that amount of reading!! I hadn’t realised you were going to break it down into something drinkable and lovely such as that! Wicked sweet! I’ll have to sort out how to make a proper blog post about this, and then, of course, I need to put myself on hold for the book! I must confess *this!* is the classic I was most akin at avoiding from reading until I was trapped inside during a raging blizzard! Mind you, I live in the perpetual sunshiny South and my days in Winter are yet to evolve into existence, but ooh! I think I always felt I needed much more ‘time’ and ‘space’ and of course, the proper ‘mind-set’ to begin War and Peace! Thank you for convincing me otherwise!! And, alas! I have not only a birthday to celebrate in June but the completion of a classic I dare not have thought possible to read by thirty-five!

I am ever so blessed to have found The Classics Club, which has led me to finding such a wonderful community of bookish souls threaded not only throughout the club but outside it; in literary circles I might not have crossed had I not the forethought and intention of reading through my classics TBR list via the Club itself! I am thankful too, that I am not the only one curious about the classics OR willing to engage in discussions about our impressions therein!

{SOURCE: Wildlife photography by Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story, badge edited & created in Fotoflexer by Jorie. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Saturday, 15 February, 2014 by jorielov in 18th Century, 19th Century, An American in France, Back to the Classics, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Classical Literature, Gothic Literature, Library Love, Literary Fiction, Photography of Jorie, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Reading Challenges, Septemb-Eyre, tCC The Classics Club, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, War and Peace RAL, Wicked Valentine's Readathon, Wuthering Heights, Wuthering Heights RAL

+Wicked Valentine’s Readathon+ Because Jorie cannot help but join a readathon!

Posted Saturday, 8 February, 2014 by jorielov 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

I am not entirely sure about you, but when I start to see a heap of tweeting conversing about #wwreadathon, and nearly all of said tweets are flying through the twitterverse by bookish blogosphere friends & acquaintances, wouldn’t you be a wee bit curious as to what *everyone!* is clued into save you? Yes. Wells, add-on the fact your editing your #ChocLitSaturdays post for 8th of February whilst sorting through your Home Feeds on Twitter, and you have my Friday Night Special! Cheers! Whoa? There is a sweet readathon surrounding one of me favourite holidays?! Who knew? Not I! No! IF I had known I’d have been better prepared! Wouldn’t be writing this completely off the cuff in other words! Laughs with a hoot in her voice!

The fact that this particular *readathon!* started on the 7th of February is coincidentally the very day I was meant to compose a “Stories of Jorie” post to get myself started off on the right foot in 2014 by journalling my bookish blog experiences! The 6th of February marked my seventh month as a book blogger! *Leaping Lizards!*

Book badge provided by Squeesome Designs and used with permission.+ Motivations & Goals +

I truly want to sit back and relax into some wicked sweet romances which celebrate St. Valentine’s Day essence of friendship, romance, and relationships! Valentine’s Day is for friends & lovers alike as it’s a holiday which celebrates the joy of having ‘love’ in our lives! Love can be platonic or it can be romantic; the greatest gift is the reception of love and the gift of love. I have a few titles in mind but as I pick off books from both my personal library shelf and my library shelf, all I want to do is soak into a narrative which carts me off someone quite fantastically absorbing,… to where the hours slip past me and I nearly forget to blog because the characters have held onto me so tight and thick, I dare not let them go! This will serve as my journal update master post, but I am most likely going to be blogging as the days go by as well as tweeting up quite a storm (via @JLovesAStory!)! Give me a wink or a nod if you’re participating! I appreciate conversations here on Jorie Loves A Story, so please scroll through my Story Vault if your stuck on what to read! Kindly drop me notes throughout the readathon & I’ll be returning the favour in kind! Let’s all get bookish and geeky this St. Valentine’s!!

Rather than counting the days of the readathon itself,

I will be journalling the days I can participate!

Day 1: 7th February 2014 A brilliantly wicked day for Jorie who received quite a heap of good news via her Inbox on the bookings of near-future blog book tours! To see what is evolving on Jorie Loves A Story during the months of April, May, June, & July kindly click over to Bookish Events! Smashingly exciting! A brief walk in misty grey skies and ethereal Wintry rain, revealed a pair of woodpeckers absent-mindly but rather productively tapping into trees; barely aware of Jorie standing in rapt awe shooting digital stills! Rather than reading, she spent time editing her bookish blog! And, considering she was unaware of the readathon, she considers Friday a ‘free’ day!

Day 2: 8th February 2014: The day began by editing her ChocLitSaturdays feature post “Dangerous Decisions” by Margaret Kaine (a ChocLitUK author!) as well as assembling the latter days of Seventh Star Press Week! I was re-reading passages of the novel, but for the most part I was blogging my impressions & getting the post ready to go live.

Day 3: 10th February 2014: I am finishing reading “The Brotherhood of the Dwarves” by D.A. Adams & reading book one of the “Fires of Eden” series “Crown of Vengeance”. Both are fantasy novels from Indie Press Seventh Star, and each will have a featured review on my blog! Tuesday & Wednesday respectively! D.A. Adams guest posted his inspiration on writing on dwarves & Stephen Zimmer stepped forward with his inspiration behind Ave, the world in which “Fires of Eden” resides. After I conclude both books, I am going to be stepping outside review reading and engaging in a book I have been itching to read since it arrived from the library! Shh! Its a surprise! :)

Day 4: St. Valentine’s Day 2014: I have been progressing a bit slower than I had hoped with both the readathon and my reading adventures! I am still wrapped up inside “Crown of Vengeance” by Stephen Zimmer, looking towards posting the review on *Monday!* whereas I had previously had hoped to post my review this past Wednesday or Thursday at the latest! I don’t want to rush the narrative, as this is a High Fantasy story with a full-bodied world! I am torn between what book to read next, as I am itching to dive into “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy (reading alongside LitChat; the twitter chats I duck into on Mondays/Wednesdays), “The Spymaster’s Lady” by Joanna Bourne (one of the dear Word Wenches!), and “The Ladies Paradise” by Emile Zola (one of my Back to the Classics selections). I had mistaken the date of when “Under the Wide & Starry Sky” by Nancy Horan was due to go back to the library. Therefore, whilst it boomerangs back I’m in a re-queue waiting pattern of 10th position! Which isn’t too bad, actually! I simply adore finding *biographical fiction* selections & this one appealed to me as I know very little of the author it focuses on: Robert Louis Stevenson! Previously (prior to Jorie Loves A Story) I had read “Girl in a Blue Dress” by Gaynor Arnold, which I am including on my list for Bree’s “Rewind Challenge 2014!” (note to self: complete list for rewind challenge!) A bit envious of Audra being able to read it over Valentine’s weekend! :)

I had a bit of a wickedly bookish week, as two review books came in which I was most delighted in seeing up close & personal:

The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte Tour via France Book Tours&

Citadel by Kate MosseSuch a delightful St. Valentine’s to receive a book in the Post, eh!? The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte arrived in Monday’s Post, but I had the delightful pleasure of receiving Citadel on 14.2.14!!

I also discovered there is a wicked sweet readathon beginning the very day “Wicked Valentine” concludes:

Love for Books Readathon badge provided by A Novel Heartbeat.I ended merging out of Wicked Valentine straight into Love for Books!!

Best update is revealed in my No.3 WWW!

This marks only post in correlation

with “Wicked Valentine’s Readathon”

Hosted by:

My Self Confessions

(blog is no longer available: Summer 2017)

{SOURCES: Badges for “Wicked Valentine’s Readathon” & “My Shelf Confession” were provided by My Self Confession’s blog. Permission granted due to the embed codes provided. Blog dividers are provided by Shabby Blogs. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. So Many Books, So Little Time book badge provided by Squeesome Designs; who give free resources for bloggers.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Saturday, 8 February, 2014 by jorielov in Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Books for Review Arrived by Post, ChocLitUK, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Seventh Star Press, Seventh Star Press Week, Wicked Valentine's Readathon