Category: Books of Eyre

Blog Book Tour | “Keeping Kate” (a re-telling of #JaneEyre) by Lauren Winder Farnsworth A contemporary spin on a classic novel etched inside a Classical Lit girl’s heart!

Posted Monday, 26 January, 2015 by jorielov , , , , , , 4 Comments

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

Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “Keeping Kate” direct from the publisher Bonneville Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Inspired to Read:

Originally I had it in mind to finish my readings of the original canon of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronté, as I had begun to read the classical novel during *Septemb-Eyre, 2013*! I even managed to articulate my thoughts on behalf of the first chapter sections as assigned by the hostess of the event itself! However, proceeding forward from there because a bit of a spiraling muddlement of bookish angst — I simply couldn’t put my thoughts back into Jane Eyre! I re-attempted to capture the joy whilst willing to re-read the original portion I had consumed and thus carry forward with the story alongside Maggie @ Macacroons & Paperbacks inasmuch as I wanted to start to make a positive head-way on my *Books of Eyre* reading challenge (also begun in 2013!)

When I found the blog tour for Keeping Kate, Autumn had barely winked into view, and I felt as my tour stop would be far, far ahead into January, surely I’d have enough days, hours, and weeks ahead of that particular day to read Jane Eyre? Sadly, I did not. Therefore, despite my willingness to keep a promise I made to myself about reading original canons ahead of after canons, I am once again reading them out of order! I must admit, when I read Sense & Sensibility during *Austen in August* 2014, I did not regret my choice of ‘when I read it’!

The best we can do is to attempt to read books in the order of preference we ideally have for each story, but sometimes, life has a better plan in store for us! I always felt stories arrive in our lives at the right moments in time where we’re meant to drink in their beauty; perhaps I was meant to read Keeping Kate ahead of Jane Eyre; because one thing I know for sure, I couldn’t get out of my own headspace to continue with the previous undertaking! I kept thinking I’d fall short as I continued to read the story, that I wouldn’t be able to resume where I had left off with my ruminations, etc. Sometimes we just need to ‘break out’ of our thoughts on a particular story and save it for a day that allows it to re-alight in our lives when the joy resumes within the discovery of the text!

I am looking forward to talking about this after canon with both Charlene @ Bookish Whimsy + Maggie, as they both adore Jane Eyre! I, myself came to discover Ms. Eyre through her motion picture adaptation, so you could say my entire history has been bent a bit backwards towards the printed page! Laughs.

 Blog Book Tour | “Keeping Kate” (a re-telling of #JaneEyre) by Lauren Winder Farnsworth A contemporary spin on a classic novel etched inside a Classical Lit girl’s heart!Keeping Kate
by Lauren Winder Farnsworth
Source: Direct from Publisher

"Don't you love me, Kate?" Has everything you ever felt for me really disappeared in less than ten minutes?"

"I do love you," I said woodenly. "I always will. But you'll never hear it from me again."

Kate Evans has never had a real family -- and she's never dreamed of falling in love. But when she gets a job taking care of a little girl on a lonely Utah ranch, Kate's determined to make a life for herself.

Right up until the moment she meets her irritable employer. . .

Sparks fly in this LDS twist on the classic Jane Eyre. Equal parts suspenseful, entertaining, and romantic, it's an addicting read that's sure to capture your heart.

Genres: After Canons, Classical Literature



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

Published by Bonneville Books

on 13th January, 2015

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards Badge created by Jorie in Canva. Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.Published By: Bonneville Books (@BonnevilleBooks),

an imprint ofCedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFortBooks)
Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook

Converse on Twitter via: #KeepingKate

About Lauren Winder Farnsworth

Lauren Winder Farnsworth was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is an avid reader, a chocolate enthusiast, a musicophile and a CPA…who somehow also finds time to indulge in her real obsession—writing. She obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Utah, and the only entity that holds more of her heart than her alma mater is her husband, Bryan. Lauren currently lives in South Jordan, Utah, where she spends entirely too time watching Gilmore Girls and looking for excuses not to clean.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

On the similarities and differences of Jane Eyre:

From the first moment Kate Evans walks across the page, I felt a tightening in my heart towards her, as her spirit of self-awareness and of place within the folds of her life were very true to course! Kate is the kind of character I am oft-times in search of uncovering; not merely in Classical Lit but within the Contemporary realms as well! She has a captivating way of giving you just enough of a pause of thought on what is  happening to her as to ground you within her scope of the story itself. She hasn’t had the easiest of lives but she’s not despondent about it either! No! She’s as bold and direct about her circumstances fate has dealt her as Eyre with the moxie of her predecessor for digging deep into her faith and placing a firm foothold into a future that surely must lead to something not quite as darkening as her childhood!

Rather than being taken to a Gothic estate set far away from active society, Kate is led to a small mountain towne in Utah, where the community she felt she would uncover would be quite ordinary turnt into an extraordinary settled development where estates were more regular than cabins! Tucked away from most conveniences, her new dwelling was a far cry of being the center of modern life and had a more natural bent towards embracing the natural world of which surrounded the ranch where she was accepting employment.

Thornfield Hall is turnt into ‘Thorne Field Ranch’, where Adele becomes Addie, and Mrs. Fairfaxes name receives a change of ‘firsts’. The ambiance of the place remains intact, to where opulence and finery outweigh sensible style and pleasure. Rochester has surely met his match in Mr. Thorne! I never thought you could quite elicit out a duality of whom Rochester was in both origin and spirit, but Tyler Thorne has nailed him in such a justifiable way as to honour him through reincarnation!

The main difference of course, is that instead of a dark secret in the attic that causes the most angst in the climax of Jane Eyre, in Keeping Kate Tyler Thorne is betwixt knowing how to shift forward in life after his wife abandoned him, claimed infidelity, and straddled him with a child of whom she insisted was not his own. Yet dealing with the reality of this situation and the layers in which are knitted into the in-between moments where Kate and Tyler find themselves quite bemuseful of each other’s company, therein lies the best choices Farnsworth gave the novel!

She doesn’t allow this to be a ‘quick fix’ nor does she make the situation feel ‘contrite or predictable’. She took the harder road — to show realistic choices, raw human emotion, and levelled it with honesty about the depth of the human heart. The pace of the story is the most beautiful aspect of Keeping Kate because it allows you to let the tides of the narrative wash over you, lull you into the shoes of the main characters, and take a reprieve from  your own affairs. Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Monday, 26 January, 2015 by jorielov in 21st Century, After the Canon, Austen in August, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Blogs I Regularly Read, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Whimsy, Books of Eyre, Cedar Fort Publishing & Media, Classical Literature, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Indie Author, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Jane Eyre Sequel | Re-telling, Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards, Life Shift, Macaroons & Paperbacks, Modern Day, Mormonism, Psychological Abuse, Re-Told Tales, Romance Fiction, Septemb-Eyre, Sweet Romance, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

_+ #atozchallenge _+ 26 Days | 26 Essays [epic journey] Today is Letter “C”. Hint: Curated Centuries.

Posted Thursday, 3 April, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

A to Z Challenge Day 3  Letter CI 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!


C L A S S I C A L L I T E R A T U R E settled into my heart at a very young age as I still recollect my readings of:

There is a timeless eloquence knitted into the classics which gives us a proper sense of the art of story-telling because writers from previous centuries were not as tied down to particulars surrounding their characters and narratives. It was far more imperative to write down the bones of one’s story than to be negated to following a strict guideline of where their story actually would befit a publisher’s catalogue! And, in that rampant freedom came such heart-warming stories which defy time by their ability to resonate with readers from one generation to another! There is something to be said for being able to write a story as it inks out of your heart and populates the page!

Photo Credit: Jorie of Jorie Loves A StoryOne of the best blessings for me in becoming a book blogger this past year, is that I am open to new horizons as far as where I can seek out appreciators of the classics! One of the communities that I was most anxious to join and still am looking forward to participating alongside is The Classics Club! For a girl who has spent most of her days trying to convince people there is merit and mirth within the classics, how extraordinary of a discovery this is for me! They even have their own ‘tweeting’ codes to send-off messages & notes to each other! I love the fact that they are such a warm and welcoming bunch of bookish souls – dedicated to champion the authors of the past by presenting their tomes to the modern reader in a way that is convicting of its worth! They host RALs (read-a-longs) and challenges throughout the year too! I decided to create my first ‘badge’ by using photography I had taken whilst on a road trip throughout the Mid-West states! I originally created the badge in FotoFlexer, but re-created it once I found the lovely PicMonkey which gives you more choices to make ‘badges’ pop & stand out! I think they came out quite well!

I have found several classic-minded book blogosphere events since I went live in August 2013, and although, I haven’t always been able to complete the tasks I set out too as I had joined them, the appreciation I have to reading the classics has never faltered! When I realised I had taken on too much in August (i.e. launching Jorie Loves A Story to a ‘live’ audience; participating in my first Bout of Books, undertaking my first! blog tour hosting “The Prayer Box” by Lisa Wingate for JKS Communications Publicity Firm; and trying to tackle Austen in August!) I re-attempted my Austen reading list for Classics Re-Told which was a multiple book blogger effort to read ‘after canons’ of individual classic authors and post on our individual blogs our thoughts and impressions therein! I felt for sure September was going to be the best month for me to accomplish this renewed task, however, September 2013 proved to be quite a unique month full of unexpected circumstances and events which proved taxing in my attempts to soak into Jane Austen!

If you hover your ‘mouse’ over “Stepping Back into the Folds of Time (tCC)” you will find all the classic-minded RALs, challenges, and events which get me quite giddy to be in a position to participate in! I decided to break the classical literature related events away from the regular fiction ones (which fall under RALs & Challenges in the top menu) as they are a specific focus group! One of the blessings this year, is not only am I still in-progress to read the books inside those older challenges as you can see on my main RALs & Challenges page (where I keep my progress updated) but I have unearthed a wicked sweet reading challenge entitled:

 

 Back to the Classics badge created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Nigel Lo (Public Domain : Unspash). In this particular challenge you have specific categories you have to ‘fill in the blank with the classic book of your choice’ in order to complete the challenge! I decided to focus on a portion of classic literature I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading which is classic crime! Outside of those choices, I wanted to finally set aside time to dig into Henry James, an author I have appreciated from afar for quite too long! And, then of course there is Emilie Zola of whom I had made a purchase request at my library for his novel: “Au Bonhear des Dames” | The Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola {1883}. I made a double-request to include the tv series “The Paradise” and I was quite chuffed and happy to see both were added to my local library’s collection! I am hopeful I can start to read his novel ahead of the series arriving as books tend to come in a bit faster than the dvd seasonals!

I like being challenged to step outside my own inklings of where I am thinking my reading adventures are taking me, whilst at the same time keeping myself curiously tethered to the hope of unlocking a ‘new’ author who will take me on this wicked sweet journey through language, setting, and prose of narrative! I get a happiness inside of my spirit each time I am about to enter into the realm of a classic novel; thinking about the readers who had picked up a similar version of the story as I am and wondering what their thoughts were as they opened the book for the first time!? Some of my classics are in the ‘classic’ hardback stylings of the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s. I was gifted a beautiful portable and deep blue set of Shakespeare which I am quite keen on opening this year as well! I have been wanting to set my sights to work my way through his collected works since I was a teenager in high school finding that I had an affection for Julius Caesar moreso than Romeo & Juliet; and a penchant for Much Ado About Nothing! I loved the way in which Shakespeare elected to speak his emotions in his writings. He never backed down from being fierce or representative of all the chords of human emotion but he staid within the dimensions of what is effectively dynamic given that he wasn’t one who opted to use the harsher words of the 20th Century which run thick and through. He had a way of conveying internal thoughts and outside prejudices which gave you a pause to contemplate the fuller scope of his legacies as you read his words.

The last time I was able to update my progress on where I was currently with my classics readings was on Wednesday, 19 February 2014! I had previously turnt in a group check-in for The Classics Club: 15 February, 2014, where I was blissfully excited to be reading along with #LitChat for War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy! I never dreamt I would tackle Leo Tolstoy in 2014, but this goes back what I was lamenting or at least attempting to say, there are moments when I find a book or an author settles itself into your hands, of which purpose isn’t known at the time of opening the book but alights inside your heart once you’ve completed your reading! I always felt there is a time and season for everything in life, but to take that a step further, I believe we are meant to read certain stories at certain times in our lives to where the text and context might have a greater effect on us rather than if we had read it previously or at a point in the future. By blogging my reading life, I feel as though I can extend a part of my journey to you dear hearts, hopefully inspiring you to take on your own literary wanderings and perhaps, sharing a common goal in our quest to uncover and discover new authors who lit a flame of curiosity which can only be quenched by reading their works!

Septemb-Eyre hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm

One of the classic books I am determined to complete before Summer is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronté, as I had this intensive study of the novel happening in September, but as foresaid, September had other plans for me than reading the books which were intriguing me and engaging me in long-known conversations! I was a bit surprised by how captivated I was by Eyre, as my introduction to her came about through the motion picture “Jane Eyre”:

Jane Eyre (1996) Official Trailer #1 – William Hurt (HD) by MovieClips Classic Trailers

Alongside my pursuit to focus on the after canons of Austen, specifically of Pride & Prejudice for Classics Re-Told, I have also allotted myself to read a certain number of sequels and re-tellings for Jane Eyre! (underneath the top menu ‘Stepping Back into the Folds of Time: Books of Eyre’) Some characters enter our lives and give us the ability to want to know of them. To seek out more about their person, or to understand more of their depth than we previously were clued into on our first introductions. Jane Eyre is a woman who has such a quiet strength of resolve, she enables us to genuinely seek more out of ourselves whilst facing adversity as much as she endears our heart whilst presenting herself without embarrassment or unease. Eyre is a champion for everyone who has had humble beginnings and who strives to not only reach past her circumstances but to carry-on forward with the hope of her dreams and for finding a man who would allow her the honour of returning her love.

I was not even certain if I could participate in the War and Peace Book Club for LitChat as I was struggling to hold the War and Peace Book Club badge created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Alex Tamon (Public Domain : Unsplash). massive hardback volume our leader recommended for the RAL! Normally reading a hefy book would not be as complicated, but I am finding of late my hands falter a bit with the larger books and I do a bit better with a paperback version in which I can carry with me or snuggle into a comfy chair soaking into the narrative at will. My local library pulled through for me, whilst I was visiting a different branch than my home location I asked the question of seeking a paperback of War and Peace which would be easier for me to read? Apparently my local library has a secondary ‘hidden’ collection insofar as to be able to offer patrons unchecked out editions of classical literature! This refers to the fact that I have a copy of War and Peace but it is without a due date! The blissful freedom in knowing that I can take my time with the text, and not have the fear of having the book boomerang back to the library every fortnight as apparently this particular novel is of greater need in being read right now! I am trying to see when I can begin my readings, but I think early this coming week will work just fine, as I want to read the first 400 pages in order to get properly caught up, as I am unfortunately two months behind at this point! I had so much happening all at once that I fear that between sorting out when to read and how to gather the book back from the library, I exhausted the hours I could have been reading Tolstoy! Therefore, in coming weeks you will start to see the lovely badge I created here float into view as I journal my impressions as I read and gather my thoughts in order to participate actively in the topical discussions in which Dana Sachs is hosting via the War and Peace Book Club for LitChat!

Of all the books on my Classics List to be read, there is one section that I am most proud of curating, which is the category for “Magical Realism” as I was first introduced to this genre through The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker! I am forever speaking on the book’s behalf via Twitter, and attempting to draw out a line of conversation on the post I created to highlight the book, because it was singularly one of the best library discoveries I made last year! A complete accident of sorts drew the book into my hands! The type of book I had trouble putting down because I didn’t want to part with the characters, their journey, or the story in which I felt closely tied into by the time the final chapters were concluding! The post evolved to become a bit of a primer for “Magical Realism” itself as a genre, and for that, I was quite happy as I literally copied over all the lovely books I unearthed and placed them on my Classics List! This is why I felt it was quite keen of Mr. Danish in sharing my passion for the genre and how wicked sweet it was seeing that we are drawn to the same authors & stories!

If I had to pick my Top 5 Magical Realism books I want to read next, I would select:

  1. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
  2. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
  3. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
  4. The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
  5. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
  6. +1 for good measure: The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern (a book I began at Christmas 2013 & have wanted to complete!)

The first selection has been a hardback I purchased from a big box store the year it was released as it was one of the few times a newly released book had captivated my attention to the fullness of Howe’s. I have been properly entranced ever since and whilst engaged in a recent conversation I was urged to place this book on a ‘post haste’ schedule of reading priority’ of which I couldn’t agree more if I stressed how itched I am to begin! Harris’s story arrived to me on two separate occasions and for two separate birthdays: in my early twenties a family friend was going to surprise me by seeing the motion picture and then, two years ago this Summer I was gifted the book by a dear friend. The book has nearly haunted me as a result! Sarah Addison Allen I discovered by stumbling across her website a handful of years ago and finding she offered the best backgrounds for a reader’s delight! Those same backgrounds for my desktop are lost to the ethers when my computer crashed and died in late 2013. The spell her stories cast on me have not been lost! White’s novel has had a murmuring of an effect on me as I have overheard reader’s speaking on the book’s behalf in my local library as much as I have been involved in conversations online or through email to dear friends who insist that I put down all the books I am currently reading and shift over into The Language of Flowers! I couldn’t blame them, as the premise had me at first reading! Which brings me to The Mistress of Spices which is one of my first Bollywood discoveries and of course, a hidden discovery for ‘Magical Realism’ as at the time I had viewed the motion picture I was entranced by the style of Indian film-making and less concerned by the genre in which it fit! I was quite curious then to read the book after finding that it had been an adaptation!

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh Invalid book: 0 by Pan Macmillan

More curious to note is that my next C L A S S I C A L L I T E R A T U R E readings will be of:

  1. The Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola
  2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronté (as a RAL with my dear friend Maggie!)
  3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (RAL with LitChat)
  4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (to follow War and Peace!)
  5. A Shakespeare Play

Which brings me to my next foray of C L A S S I C A L L I T E R A T U R E is to embrace all the lovely BBC and/or other adaptations on film! I am striving towards reading stories ahead of seeing their adaptations as in the past, I have always lost hours in which to make this plausible! There are times where I have known there was a book ahead of the motion picture (i.e. “Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World”) and times when I hadn’t truly known there was one at all (i.e. “Cheerful Weather for the Wedding”). I am looking forward to seeing which adaptations sweep me away into the story I fall in love with on the printed page and which adaptations I find fall a bit short! Which is a continuation of something I have already begun to do, as I have seen more theatrical versions of “A Christmas Carol” than you can shake a stick at! The story never fades from the fondness of my heart nor does seeing how each new ensemble cast handle the breadth of the tale! I have also seen a handful of classic adaptation and modern for “Pride and Prejudice” the last one being a re-telling entitled “Lost in Austen” which I actually discovered whilst participating in Classics Re-Told in September! My review of the mini-series never surfaced which is one review I am most keen on finishing after I watch the mini-series for a second viewing! (time frame unknown: it was an ILL)

I look forward to making connections with other bookish souls who wander around the same books as I do, all the while retreating into the C L A S S I C A L L I T E R A T U R E past and finding new friends along the way!

Parjunkee Designs

My passage into C L A S S I C A L L I T E R A T U R E has only just begun to move forward again, and as I find ways to bring the books to life in my musings, I shall be sharing my lamentations in posts throughout Jorie Loves A Story as a way to become part of the nexus of conversation surrounding the books which throughout time have held a finger-hold on us.


Thank you for joining me on DAY 3 | 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!

This marks my third post for the:

A to Z Challenge

And, might I add as an observation on Day 3? 

I was oft curious to find out if other appreciators of C L A S S I C A L L I T E R A T U R E enjoy reading and then viewing adaptations and/or if they have a preference of only viewing certain books in motion picture over others!? Where does your own heart lead you into the wide realm of C L A S S I C A L L I T E R A T U R E as you step back into the folds of time yourself!? Are there authors who you picked up and were quite shocked you did not soak into their narratives? Were there any startling surprises in where your wanderings led you? Which authors have withstood your reading adventures of being the ‘key’ authors who lead you back time and again!?

{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. Wildlife photography by Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story, badge edited & created in PicMonkey by Jorie. “I Like Big Books” badge by Parajunkee Designs is a free resource provided for book bloggers. The book trailer by Pan MacMillian & the film trailer by MovieClips Classic Trailers 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 more about this novel & film. Back to the Classics badge created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Nigel Lo (Public Domain : Unspash). War and Peace Book Club badge created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Alex Tamon (Public Domain : Unsplash).}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Thursday, 3 April, 2014 by jorielov in A to Z Challenge, After the Canon, Austen in August, Back to the Classics, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Book Trailer, Bookish Discussions, Bookish Films, Books of Eyre, British Literature, Classical Literature, Classics Re-Told: 19th Century & Gothic Classics, Crime Fiction, Gothic Literature, Library Find, Magical Realism, Poetry, Re-Told Tales, Reading Challenge Addict, Rewind Challenge, Romance Fiction, Sequel Authors, tCC The Classics Club, William Shakespeare Challenge

WWW….Wednesday #2: One Book at a Time, One Day at a Time!

Posted Thursday, 26 September, 2013 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 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!?

Afterwhich, 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 better question would be to ask “What is Jorie not reading!?” (smiles a bit mischievously!) You see, I fell behind on my Septemb-Eyre + Classics Re-Told Reading schedules, but I stubbornly refuse to abandon ship on either project! Afterall, I am stitching together posts this week for 4 adaptations in motion picture for “Pride and Prejudice”, as well as making headway towards having book reviews ready as well! Therefore, I am knee deep inside Chapters XII-XXI of Jane Eyre, expecting to post my ruminations by Sunday, which coincides with my review of The Boxcar Baby, which I am starting on the morrow! The Pride books I am reading are as follows: Mr. Darcy’s Little Sister by C. Allyn Pierson, The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater, and The Independance of Miss Mary Bennett by Colleen McCullough.

Meanwhile, I have seven! lovely books in progress at different stages of absorption:

  1. Larkrise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
  2. Bluebird or the Invention of Happiness by Sheila Kohler
  3. The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti by Annie Vanderbilt
  4. The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland
  5. Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs
  6. Murder on Monday by Ann Purser
  7. & Thyme of Death by Susan Wittig Albert

To the keenly observant, this list was included on my #1 WWW! I still fully intend to read each of them!

What did you recently finish reading!? The Secret Keeper K.B. Laugheed! This story bewitched my mind, as it was such an engrossing multi-dimensional stroke of narrative!! I was quite gobsmacked when I read the other reviewers’ opinions, as I would never consider this to be a book for a pre-teen! Unless they were emotionally mature, but even then, its not a story of innocence nor of a life lived wrapped around the warmth of hearth and home! Its a gutting testament of the power of overcoming your past and carrying forward into your future! I seriously wonder at times, am I reading a different book altogether!? When I was between the ages of 9-12 I wouldn’t be caught dead reading a book with such heavy story-lines as these, because I was wrapped up in: Anne of Green Gables, Mandie, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Thoroughbred, The Black Stallion, Agatha Christie, and other childhood favourites I’ve outlined under “Children’s Lit: The Undiscovered Frontier“.  By 13, I was exploring more mature texts, as I was in a Michael Crichton, John Grisham, and Tom Clancy phase by then, but evenso, the books I chose to read by them were not on this same theme. I was also entering my cowboy and frontier fiction days, yet those authors were more tempered than Laugheed in their descriptions of frontier Americana. As I would consider this book akin to “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” the tv series, which I watched in my twenties! The story is still haunting my thoughts, because I very much want this book to transform itself into ‘a first of a series’ OR at the very least ‘one of two’ stories stitched together. Its very much one half of a whole! I truly love this book, for adults! I’ll step off my soapbox now, my ire was irked that’s all!

What do you think you’ll read next!? I will be diving into the world of Ave, [The Fires of Eden series] by way of a short story collection that knits together previously spoken about characters or events, inside The Chronicles of Ave: Volume I by Stephen Zimmer! My review of this lovely collection will be live on my blog: 5th of October! Continuing forward with Eyre, Chapters XXII-XXIX will be consumed next, as well as Two Shall Become One: Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Sharon Lathan, Pemberley by the Sea {alternative title: The Man Who Loved Pride and Prejudice} and Mr. Darcy’s Obsession 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 and Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. I am still awaiting materials through ILL &/or books to boomerang back to me, to complete my Classics Re-Told Project, therefore, this is an abbreviated list!

BONUS: What did you forego reading at the moment to read again lateron? Sadly, I had to let go of Lucid Stars by Andrea Barrett, which was an ILL book, and therefore, will be a bit trickier to get back again! I simply ran out of hours to read all the lovely books I was attempting to read having been ill for a week [third week of September!]. There are times when you simply cannot do anymore than your able too. The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe, and Jane and the Unpleasantness of Scargrave Manor slid into this category as well! I was able to reach the audio clip that I shared with you during my Top Ten List for Autumn Reads, yet that was about as far as I made it before it was called back! With Scargrave, I felt like it would be possible to conclude the story, but in the end, the hours rain out of the hourglass! I am back on hold for both of these lovelies, and eagerly await their return! I have also decided that for whichever reason, my ‘time’ to read Mistress of my Fate has not yet arrived!

Whew!

I wonder what everyone else is up, too!?

{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, 2013.

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Posted Thursday, 26 September, 2013 by jorielov in 19th Century, After the Canon, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Books of Eyre, British Literature, Classics Re-Told: 19th Century & Gothic Classics, Cosy Mystery, Debut Novel, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Historical Fiction, Library Find, Literary Fiction, Reading Challenge Addict, Science Fiction, Septemb-Eyre, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, the Victorian era, WWW Wednesdays

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

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

Septemb-Eyre hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Originally Entitled: Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Currer Bell

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

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

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

| Currently in the Public Domain |

| Page Count: 643 |

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

Ruminatively Expressive about Week I

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

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

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

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

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

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

Septemb-Eyre hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Angel of Earth, Forevermore in Elysium!

[abode of the blessed, heaven]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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

Septemb-Eyre: A Jane Eyre Read-a-long! Declaration of Participation!

Posted Monday, 2 September, 2013 by jorielov , 20 Comments

Septemb-Eyre hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm

 

I first stumbled across The Classics Club several months ago, whilst I was initially creating Jorie Loves A Story. I am not remembering what led me to it precisely, although I’d imagine it had something to do with the book blogs I was discovering at the time! Always want to take a nose and peek at a blog, as you never know what your about to discover! Common interests, book challenges, read-a-longs, wicked sweet linkage to explore, dare I say, a new book to read? In this vein, I was settling it in my mind that I would properly join The Classics Club in January {2014}, which encouraged me to work on the bits of how I wanted to construct my personal Classics Challenge therein! More or less, this is how I came across: Septembre-Eyre: A Jane Eyre Read-A-Long! Hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm, who appears to have wanted to read this book nearly if not more dearly than I! What a better way to begin my Books of Eyre Challenge, then to read Jane Eyre with others!? Especially considering, August has grown to be a bit all-encompassing now that I added in Austen in August!
Specifics of this Read-Along Include: 
2 September 2013: Septemb-Eyre Declarations of participation & Introductions;
9 September 2013: Chapters I-XI;
16 September 2013: Chapters XII-XXI;
23 September 2013: Chapters XXII-XXIX;
and 30 September 2013: Chapters XXX-End.
A wrap-up posting about my adventures during Septemb-Eyre!

Why I have always wanted to read

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë:

 

There is something altruistic about the Brontë’s writings, and in the vein, of Ms. Charlotte, she had a way of penning the life of Jane Eyre who brought out this attribution in the fullest of light. Eyre, in my mind, was a humble woman with a caregiver’s soul. She never shied away from doing what was right, even if it put herself in a quandary of a position lateron. She led with her heart, pinched her nose towards a determined air of strength, and drew a measure of a breath for what life had given her the opportunity to have, rather than focus on what was lacking or unavailable for her to achieve. She took great courage in extreme adversity, and was led to a man named Rochester who never knew that the one thing he needed was a living angel to help show him the way back towards peace, redemption, and the blessings of life yet lived.

I knew of her story, long before I ever dreamt of seeing an adaptation of her life spilt out inside of a motion picture. As you might already have gathered by reading other entries in my blog, there is a curious notation of ‘how’ and ‘when’ I come to read the books that alight in my life. There is even a curious nodding in knowing why some books are first read, whereas others are first seen. This isn’t always the case, as exceptions to rules are always fluttering just outside of view. Yet. In this particular case, Jane Eyre arrived to my heart and eyes via the 1996 motion picture adaptation starring Charlotte Gainsbourg {as Ms. Jane Eyre} and William Hurt {as Edward Fairfax Rochester}. It was one of those early morns, where I was vexed by the anguish of a bout of unwellness that would not shake off of me rather easily, but instead, wanted to clinge to me, withering me away in a restless torrent of unease. By the time the clock nearly stroke 3am, I was well on my way towards punching the television remote to find ‘something!’ remotely sensible to be on at that particular hour! I did not think I’d find much, as anyone whose struggled to get through a night such as that, and dares the television to produce ‘something of a pang of relief’ will attest that the limitations of quality is more plausible! Therefore, before I could turn the channels to far afield, my knackered and weary self stumbled across a period drama! What great fortune, eh!? I sorted out how to sit comfortably, and started to drink in this gothic lit world. It took me a bit to realise what I was watching and what was unfolding before me. Jane Eyre, you see, is one of those classical works of literature I always fashioned I’d drink in through the text prior to sorting out which adaptation I wanted to watch next. In this way, I was quite gobsmacked that I was pleasantly delighted despite my otherwise vexing condition! I was watching Jane Eyre! I could hardly believe my fruitious good luck!

And, such begins my proper introduction into this lovely story! I never forgot my intention to read the book, nor did I ever forget the impression of the actors who in this particular version left a strong mark on my heart! The portrayals spoke to me, and etch themselves into my mind’s eye. I daresay, each new version I shall watch next will be bent against this original one that I found! It’s a story of self-reliance and self-motivated propensity to survive no matter what blight on your path life may afford you to circumvent. It’s a story of a woman who any young girl or mature woman can align her heart with and rally alongside as Jane Eyre finds her voice and her self-worth whilst setting up a life she can proud to call her own.

And, why I wanted to participate in a read-along verse reading it on my own:

Reading is such a sedentary and solitary experience, whereupon you may or may not ever cross paths with another reader who is as excited and enchanted by the texts that you find as riveting as though they were freshly printed and released the day you stumbled across them! Time is temporal for a lot of our activities in life, such as correspondences and letters, and in the exercise of examining works by authors who turn our eye and settle into our unconsciousness long before their words spark a breath of life inside us. In an ever expanding world of technologic shiftings, it’s harder yet, to find readers who truly are wrapped up and encased into the ‘classics’. Prior to find The Classics Club, I wasn’t even sure if it was still en vogue to be as enraptured as I am with this lot of literature! Except for a few kind souls I am sure, who are scholarly and keen on glimpsing the hidden truths in such long forgotten texts by modern students.

Reading one particular book in a collective of readership will be new to me, as I have just recently participated in my first ‘reading marathon’ {Bout of Books, 8.0}, by which, I can attest that falling rather ill twice in a score of seven days does not bode well for accomplishing your goals; although, on the flip-side, I did settle into a regular rhythm of absorbing the words, settings, and characters, for which I am evermore grateful! These are the moments where you wonder, what was the true goal and outcome we were meant to achieve!? You pause, a smile breaks through your thoughts, and you continue onward towards your next bookish challenge that has intrigued you to participate! Thus, arriving at: Septemb-Eyre as I cross-reference my reading of Jane Eyre as my first book towards my end-goals of Books of Eyre Challenge! I am whet with anticipation to see what the four weeks shall reveal, not only for me, as a new reader of this wickedly smashing book, but of the revelations of being a collective reader embarking into the life of Jane Eyre during the same time frame!

As I wander around to the other readers’ blogs,

I noted the following:

[These are my impressions on Introduction Day,
by which, I shall return each week to see their next impressions!
]

Charlene @ BookishWhimsy: She has perplexed me with her inquisitive enquiry about the ‘twist’ and what pray tell, are ‘silly posts’ as a method of updating!? Hmm,… methinks I will have to stay tuned with a whetted curiosity! Being that she is truly one of the biggest and most ideal cheerleaders for all-things Eyre, I am thankful to see she is participating!! I am not going to read her previous take on Eyre though — I’d be plumb too tempted to read about the bits that would be different from the film, and as that is how I am coming into the plot, I’d rather be happily surprised!

Kerry @ Entomology of a Bookworm: To read that she has four copies of Jane Eyre, but has yet to read one! I can relate to this, because I have at least two copies of Pride and Prejudice; two copies of Outlander; and two copies of a variety of other books that I am now forgetting! The reason being!? Whilst being packed or in-between relocating moves over the years, I never knew which box had which book! Laughs. It took until the [2005] adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for me to resolve that picking up the pocket edition was in my best interest! I read it then, as I read it this past August! I have yet to get through Outlander as both copies are tucked into boxes I have yet freed; except to say, I have read most of The Outlandish Companion, which was an unexpected gift for me during Nanowrimo 2008 by my Mum! :) As an aside, when I join The Classics Club, I can just imagine all the corridors of literature I shall be embarking down myself! :)

[Having read her comment on @ The Coffee Girl] Did not realise she wasn’t keen on Pride and Prejudice, perhaps after I am able to complete my posting of it, she might re-attempt it for a third time, as it truly is one of my favourite stories of all-time!! I am always so happy to get entrenched into Longbourn, Netherfield, and Pemberley!

[Side note: I attempted multiple times to leave a comment only to see it go “poof!” right before my eyes! What gives!?]

Loosheesh @ Loosheesh Can Read Too: A newbie to [tCC- I did not know they shortened it like that!] The Classics Club, who, like me, has been enchanted by all the lovely blogosphere events that either they host exclusively for members OR are little additions that anyone [like me!] can participate in! A bit like how Adam @ Roof Beam Reader hosted Austen in August!? She has a delightful sense of humour whilst describing her reading tendencies, and I love her light-hearted attitude! :) On the Darcy vs. Rochester war-of-heroes, I do suppose I will be the odd-duck out, as I lay claim to each of the men rather equally!

[Side note: Unfortunately, her blog is hosted at BookLikes, and without an account there I cannot leave her a proper comment, so I will be leaving them on my Septemb-Eyre updates postings. I could not find a contact email for her either! Quite sad! I wanted to drop her a bit of encouragement and talk about Jane Eyre!]

Coffee badge provided by Squeesome Designs and used with permission.Lori @ The Coffee Girl: I loved how we both chose to read Pride and Prejudice during Austen in August!! :) What happenstance that is! My review of the book is soon-to-be added to my blog, as I have only been working on it since the 18th of August, the day in which I first began it! For me, it was a re-reading, but only my second! despite my long history of appreciating it! She most likely will enjoy my post of this, and likewise, I look forward to reading hers after mine goes live! According to Adam, I have only today + the morrow to get my tail whipped into shape so it can be placed in the official Linky!

Ahem! I love how she fully fleshed out her first post, and gave the history of Jane Eyre in her life! Love it! I was not a bit surprised she’s more actively vocal in social media outlets — I think I am one of the lone book bloggers who picked her blog verse the rest of the lot! :) I had to smile whilst reading how she selected most of her reading list!! Ahh, the Gilmore Girls shall live evermore! Strangely, I never wanted to read Jane Eyre because of the cultural attachments it provoked,… it was simply one of those stories that alighted in my mind as being one that would wholly fulfill me and sustain inside my memory for a lifetime. There are certain stories and characters that never quite detach themselves from me, and I simply sensed this would be true of Jane Eyre!

Alas! A fellow gothic fiction appreciator! I wonder, pray tell, if she’s stumbled across Kate Morton as of yet!? I am seriously neglectful in my Morton reads, as I have checked out at least 3 of her books [at the library! of course, given the badges, eh?!], yet I am always wrapped up in something off the cuff that takes me away from the text! Deep sighs. [my choices thus far include: The Distant Hours, The Forgotten Garden, & The Secret Keeper] I do not share her itch for Faulkner, but the gothic fiction genre is one I am keen to explore! [Magical Realism is another that is closely hinged to it!]

Like her, I do agree, that the most important aspect of read-a-longs is that we each finish our chosen book in our own way. Even if it runs counter-current to the event, we must all do what is right for each of us. A bit like how I thought my delays in finishing Pride and Prejudice was somewhat of a disappointment, only to be cheered up by Adam himself by a message he sent me on his own Austen in August experiences this year! :) Truly. We each give as much as we can, to both reading, blogsophere events, and to our respective blogs. There are no epic fails and there is no right/wrong approach to our end goals!

I have been wanting to use one of these coffee badges in the worst way! I think I finally found a reason too as she is a coffee drinker! :) Despite my appreciation for tea, there are a few coffees that I enjoy drinking myself! My java of choice will forevermore remain: Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Americano-Misto, as it was my first cuppa of java that felt as though it was only a slight deviation from my regular tea mistos! Light, airy, with rich undernotes of chocolate and berries! Joy in a cuppa! Then, as I started to etch out of my comfort zone with trying other variations, I have come to find joy in: straight-up espresso raspberry mocha latte! [if I were to look against calories, i’d do it up with ‘whip, rasp & choc syrup’!] Although, I do appreciate a good drip coffee as well, such as Highlander Grog! :) All the whilst, I am still and will remain a dedicated tea drinker! :)

[Side note: I attempted to leave a comment only to have it disappear on me again! What is up with my java settings!?!]

[UPDATE: Its not my java settings, its a disagreement between WP blogs + Blogger blogs! Oy for pete’s sakes, I went through this during the Bout! Double exasperated sighs! I finally could post my comment to Lori if I used Name/URL!]

Jacyln @ Covered in Flour: Her sensibility won me over, at the mentionments of: thirty-something addicted to books, adore Jane Eyre, books are scattered into boxes (smiles wickedly!), ANGLOPHILE (wait til she reads My Bookish Life!), enchanted by Brit Lit (if she only knew how much I was too!), TEA-aholic (double grins!), and hiker! Okay, so is it too soon to follow a new blog!? And, who isn’t keen on upstate New York!? Hmm,… back to her post! I best leave a comment before she wonders why I followed her without one! Laughs. I love her on the fly wit and how she just adores Eyre and that’s reason enough to read Jane Eyre! My sentiments were entwined as this for Pride and Prejudice!

Brooke @ The Blog of Litwits: She is one of the few who is re-reading this lovely story, as I am noting that we [the Septemb-Eyre girls; as a bloke hasn’t yet joined us!] fall into a few categories: re-readers, newbies, and dedicated through adaptation of motion picture [that would be me!]. I am enjoying reading our own unique journey towards Jane Eyre as they are each very personalised and individual! She is also a member of tCC, by which I can already tell I am going to enjoy being a member of myself, if it will continue to lead me to such wonderfully engaging readers such as these! :) Although I hadn’t recently purchased my copy, it is a new copy as well which has yet to be broached!

Madeleine @ Owl You Need is a Good Read: The poor dear reminds me of myself, one month ago, whilst launching JLAS, undertaking Austen in August, settled into Bout of Books, 8.0, participated in the first Blog Pen Pal Exchange, encountered an illness, a 4-day migraine, technical difficulties during the Bout & afterwards [more than half the Bout’er blogs wouldn’t load – who knew I needed to switch browsers!? I love! SeaMonkey now!], waylaid by fierce lightning and thunderstorms, AND just when I was thrilled to bits about all the lovelies I am reading, the hours ticked off the clock and I arrived at September before I could make a backwards glance and wonder, “Where did dear August go off too!?” I give her credit!! IF she can pull it off, I tip my hat in congratulations!! I learnt a hard lesson in not taking on too much, which will make me feel less stressed and provide more enjoyment out of the events I dearly want to participate in! Of course, I wouldn’t be a bookish girl worth her salt if I didn’t admit, that I just might get in over my head again (at some point), and relish the experience I gather even if I fall a bit short (again!)!!

And, she’s a librarian to boot! I wonder what she will do when she sees all the library love on my blog!? And, that she can get some for hers as well!? :) :) Those badges that Squeesome created on behalf of a suggestion of mine still makes me grin like a cheshire cat!! :) In full honesty, I think I came across her blog in the recent past!? I wonder!? Blog Nation or the Bout!? Hmm,… I know this, because I loved the entire concept of their blog! I always considered myself an ‘owl’ in many ways, as there are various metaphors for bookish souls, inasmuch as I adore the House of Ravenclaw! :) Ironically, I sort of forgot to give out the personal bits in my post, yet thankfully most of what might be curious to know about me is located under My Bookish Life! Again, I realise I am one of the minority who blogs but does not tweet or engage on other bookish sites.

Stacy @ Novel Meanderings of an Academic: I was happy to see that this is her first blogosphere event and that she too, is as enraptured by Jane Eyre as I am! I realise I’m coming into this from a different perspective, but ooh, anyone who adores Ms. Eyre is alright in my book! :) Laughs. Her parents gifted her an especially keen edition of the novel, which reminds me of the gifted copy of Little Women I received from mine! Parents and grand-parents of bookish girls definitely know how to surprise their kin time to time, eh!? :) I am most curious if she is still in school or is a professor!? Its hard to tell, as I hadn’t realised that her blog doesn’t have a lot posted on it until after I left my comment! A happy mystery!

Maggie @ An American in France: Its her first time reading Jane Eyre, and decided to take up this read-a-long after having completed Mansfield Park, a month beforehand! I am hopeful that the heart of Eyre will attach itself to her, because that is one of the special parts to Jane! I am now wondering, how all the newbies are going to feel about the story, as most did not see a film adaptation like I had!? Hmm,… only the weeks shall reveal! I must confess, ever since I went to her blog as a member of the Septemb-Eyres, I was curious about her life in France! A country I am reading more in literature, and a country of ancestral origins!

Cham @ Eat Ur Banana: [WP + Blogger are Disagreeing Again- this was meant to post on her blog!][By 10p Thursday, I am able to leave comments! I rock!] Good afternoon, Cham!  I am hoping that this note will post, because so far today, two of the Septemb-Eyre blogs I’ve tried to leave notes on [Estella’s Revenge + Good Books & Tea] have not yielded a live comment! I am not sure if its a disagreement with WP + Blogger again(!), or if its something else! I’ve checked all the java settings on my end, plus SeaMonkey has less hiccups than Explorer hence why I switched over — I digress! Technologic issues aside, I wanted to drop by and say, I’ve been stalking your blog since last night, curious when your post would go live! :) Laughs. I am starting Jane Eyre today rather than yesterday, as I nearly exhausted my eyes trying to finish Pride and Prejudice!! I think my world is always a bit chaotic when I have certain books I want to finish by certain deadlines! Laughs.

Wow! Your over 30% into the book already!? And, here I thought we were all going to just read the selected chapters each week! Wow. Impressed! I am a new reader of Eyre, but I am not a stranger to Eyre! You’ll have to visit my blog to sort out what I mean! I can relate to what you mean, as I used to only talk about books with my close circle of friends as well, but one thing I am enjoying about being a book blogger now is that I get to talk about books & bookish culture with some of the most giving and genuine readers I have ever met! :)

Rachel @ A Home Between the Pages: [hasn’t posted yet – I presume by 12th of September she is not participating?] Except to say, that her post on The Golem and the Jinni, intrigued me to no end, as I have been awaiting finding other readers who are as engaged into that story as much as I was! I simply was over the moon in pure joy reading her recollections, and I know how hard it is to capture the full essence of the story whilst attempting to write a blog post, because I had the same issues — its a story that is lit bright and deep in your mind and heart. Chava and Ahmed do not readily leave your conscience, which is why they were sprinkling out into my review of The Clockwork Man, which was my contributing piece for The Clockwork Carnival. They stay with you. They murmur their experiences in your ear. And, she is quite right, your slightly haunted by them, because its not a story that unhinges from you very readily!

Sam @ Tiny Library: [hasn’t posted yet – I presume by 12th of September she is not participating?] Except to say, that I read that she is reading Z: a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, and I was most esteemed to see that, as that was one of my favourite reads of 2013!! I spent the greater portion of the first six months wrapped up in the lives of the Fitzgerald’s, as this is what I relayed to her on her blog: :) I came in search of your Septemb-Eyre post, but saw that you are reading Z(elda!) for which I have such a warm-hearted memory of reading this year myself! :) I decided not to blog about it as I was wrapped up with the Fitzgerald’s lives for the greater part of January-May, with the full measure of my joy overflowing when I went to see The Great Gatsby!! I had originally wanted to read the book prior to the film but in the end, I was simply thankful I had the opportunity to see the film in June rather than May, as I was a bit delayed getting to the theater! What a brilliant way to conclude a six-month emmersion as much as celebrating my birthday! As I get into Gatsby the novel either lateron this year or early next, I will re-visit the film! To me, this new version (its the only adaptation I have seen!) truly peered into their lives as an example of how outrageous a portion of their lives had become and how true to form all that insanity can yield. I kept smiling because pieces of Z floated to mind throughout the film!!

Meanwhile, I hope that you are having a nice visit with Zelda, and walk away with a good feeling like I did when the story concludes. Their lives were tumultuous yes, but there was a lot of mirth to them as well. The ending gutted me, but its the ending that was real.

What I had forgotten to relay to her though is that I was one of the First Impressions readers who read it through Book Browse, and participated in a book club discussion of the book.

Andi @ Estrella’s Revenge: I originally came by her blog via Bout of Books, 8.0, to which I was thankful to see she is involved with Septemb-Eyre! :) I am not sure what is wrong or why I cannot post my comments, but I had this one compose for Andi, yet it will not post on her blog! [I tried EVERYTHING: Name/URL, Anon, WP, & OpenID!] [By 10p, Thursday night, I am back and posting up a storm!] Hallo, Hallo Andi!  I was practically stalking your blog last night into the moon hours, wondering when your post would pop up! Laughs. I had such a fun time going to everyone’s blogs, dropping notes, and then, awaiting the ones who hadn’t posted to, erhm, post! As I mentioned on my post, it was nice to ‘see’ you again, after having concluded the Bout!  I couldn’t help but smile and chuckle throughout reading your “Intro!” to Septemb-Eyre! I should have known I’d be in for a unique read, as I was back-reading your blog a bit last night,… laughs. Petty thief. Classic! Cannot wait to read your weekly updates — they are sure to be as wickedly unique as this one! By the by, should I bypass “The Other Typist” completely or go in blind and compare notes with you lateron!? [ducks book flying in her direction at the mere mention of this book!]

Stephanie @ Strazzy Books: [hasn’t posted yet – by 12th of September, I presume she isn’t participating!?]

Tea and Book badge provided by Squeesome Designs and used with permission.Shan @ Good Books & Tea: First of all, I am thankful to see that not only are we a diverse group of readers who appreciate the classics, but we are equally diverse in what we like to drink as we read! I am a tea girl who digs coffee, and therefore, for me, heaven is a book with either a cuppa tea OR a cuppa java! :) Rock on, dear hearts! Now, then, she’s one of the newbie readers of Jane Eyre, such as I am, (alongside Kerry, our fearless leader!), even though I might have seen a motion picture adaptation AND know the gist of the story, that is in no way an indication that I know what actually transpires inside the novel! Therefore, I am a newbie, too! :) I am most curious to sort out what kind of tea she likes to drink the most, as I personally love the sinfully delish chai latte for a break from the everyday cycle. However, my favourite teas are always: green, white, red, and herbal! :)

After attempting to post this on the 3rd & 4th of September I truly give up! I wanted her to read this note: [On Thursday, the 5th, I sorted out I needed to switch browsers for the SECOND time this week! I am posting again in other words!] Shan, I am always up for a new citrus infused tea — which brand do you recommend if I were to try orange pekoe for the first time!? I left you a long reply over on my blog! :) Yes, I do concur with you!! We have populated quite a lovely group indeed in Septemb-Eyre! Cheers!

Sasha @ Sasha & the Silver Fish: [hasn’t posted yet – by 12 September I presume she isn’t participating] Except that she was mentioning tCC Master List that she has written up on her blog, and I noted that most of the titles that she wants to read are ones that I am not yet familiar, which was extraordinary, as most times when I come across tCC Master Lists, I can pick out more than half that I recognise! I love an unexpected day like this! :) I look forward to seeing her thoughts on picking up Jane Eyre, as I noted that she is re-reading it! I can say this, I am going to enjoy being in the fold of tCC come January! Lots of wonderful bookish soul are in that club!! :) :)

Alison @ The Bookish Girl Reads On: OOh my dear, dear stars! Pray tell, am I the only soul who finds an attraction to both Mr. Darcy AND Mr. Rochester!? For me, Darcy won me over with the letter he wrote to Elizabeth as it was so very reminiscent of a real-life event of someone I know personally, that I think when I read that for the first time in 2005, it simply eclipsed my heart in a way that could only naturally be logical for me! I would think though, that more would be esteemed to find him dashing after such a revelation, but perhaps, he comes off a bit too stilted and proud, even with the inclusion of the letter? Now as far as Rochester is concerned, he reminds me quite a heap of Mary’s Uncle in The Secret Garden, almost to the brink of wondering if getting nearer to him is possible or wanted? Yet. Both are heroes in their own ways, and their mannerisms were accepted by the women who loved them. Who truly is to say who was right or wrong, when love is forever blind!?

I enjoyed reading her maddening adventures in University, and how it nearly wrecked her for appreciating drinking in a book on her own terms and for pleasure, rather than dissection! I think that was a misstep in my thinking that I’d appreciate a Lit course at University; I suppose I juxtapositioned my own hopeful wishes on that scale but did not take into account the headache of the time schedules, the grueling structure of enquiries, and how in the end, you might not dare want to open up another book if it would spark a memory of the experience! She walked away with the ability to put tongue-and-cheek on the situation and still appreciates classical literature! I count that as a blessing!

MJ @ Creative Madness Mama: [hasn’t posted yet – by 12th of September I presume she is not participating!]

Jen @ Under a Gray Sky: [hasn’t posted yet – by 12th of September I presume she is not participating!]

Kwame @ The Wandering Bookmark: He mentioned that he has read Wide Sargasso Sea which is actually one of my selections for Books of Eyre that I will be reading this year! I am thankful that he didn’t spoilt the surprise and left it to our own inklings to seek it out! He is amongst the re-readers who embarking down a familiar path, but I do wonder, how each of them will react to the story at this point of time in their lives!? As I was discussing earlier on another blog or perhaps even my own (as it all blurs together at some point!), that our experiences and the time intervals can change our reactions and perceptions! Will be intrigued to watch her progress!

Crafts4Others: Joined as she was given Jane Eyre, as her Classics Club spin cycle choice! I have heard of those spin cycles, as apparently from what I have gathered tCC members are either joyfully celebrating OR are deeply worried they may or may not enjoy the book that has come up to read next! I am thankful that she is not only reading it to mark it off her tCC List, but will be joining those of us who have not yet read the novel!

to be continued shortly, as I am awaiting everyone’s introduction post! :) checked again on 8 September, still waiting!

And, the most humbling revelation is that Kwame is a bloke, for whom, I accidentally mistook for a girl! Oy vie! I promptly wrote him an apology and explained that I had complete egg on my face for not realising the gender of his name! Sadly, this is not the first time I have misunderstood a person’s name, but I always feel most grievous for the slight, as I am always trying so hard to get ‘names’ right! Of course, the other side of this for me, is sorting out how to properly ‘say a person ‘s name’, as I find myself betwixt a mystery on ‘that’! moreso than naught! Therefore, we are not just ‘Septemb-Eyre girls’, where the ‘Septemb-Eyre Collective: blokes and lasses together!’

Book badge provided by Squeesome Designs and used with permission.such as Jane Eyre!

{*NOTE: This particular post will serve as an archive of all the posts yet to come for this read-a-long. Therefore, you will find more links threaded to my postings as this continues to move forward in the box above which stipulates the time frame of the read-a-long itself. As you check back, be sure to click through to the next post in line! The same will be true on my Absorbing Lit page where this is cross-posted!}

This Jane Eyre RAL is hosted by:


Kerry’s Archived Posts on Septemb-Eyre

and is in conjunction with my reading challenge:

Books of Eyre Reading Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva Photo Credit: Daniel Ruswick (Public Domain : Unsplash)

{SOURCES: Seriously wicked bookish + coffee badges {entirely FREE!} provided by Squeesome Designs! Blog badge for Entomology of a a Bookworm provided by the share codes off the blog itself. Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with editing through PicMonkey by Jorie.  Books of Eyre Reading Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva Photo Credit: Daniel Ruswick (Public Domain : Unsplash).}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • Septemb-Eyre
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Posted Monday, 2 September, 2013 by jorielov in 19th Century, Books of Eyre, British Literature, Classical Literature, Gothic Romance, RALs | Thons via Blogs, Septemb-Eyre, the Victorian era