Category: Seriously Series Reading Challenge

#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

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

+Reading Challenge+ Seriously Series Reading Challenge, 2014!

Posted Monday, 6 January, 2014 by jorielov 0 Comments

Seriously Series Reading Challenge Hosted by Reading the ParanormalFor someone who tends to fall in love with serial fiction at the drop of a hat, it would appear that this particular reading challenge is a natural fit for me! The only bit I was worried about is if I was able to complete reading the series I only have one or two books of through my local library, but as there is a clause that states its at the readers discretion to decide how to continue onward, I will simply take the library route post haste! One day, it truly is my dearest of goals to complete my ‘sets’ of the series I am most unabashedly an appreciator of! Most will be read throughout the year in this challenge, and hopefully, as I write about them I can inspire others to take a chance on reading what I feel are stories worth exploring! Now, I best get to the particulars, setting up which series I will tackle over a twelvemonth, and JUMP IN!

 

General Overview: {official blurb & rules!}

How serious about series are you? We’ll find out in 2014.

In the summer of 2012, Amanda @ On a Book Bender and I hosted an informal challenge that focused on completing books in series that we owned. It was enough of a success that we decided we wanted to turn it into a year-long challenge–with a few minor changes.

Definitions:

For this challenge, a series is defined as a collection of two or more books that belong together and where the second book is published before the end of 2014. This is a pretty broad definition of series, and it includes traditional series like the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, less traditional series like Stephanie Perkins’s YA contemps (Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door), and shorter series, like Kendare Blake’s Anna series (Anna Dressed in Blood, Girl of Nightmares).

A series is considered complete in one of two ways: either as finishing all the books that you own in the series or as obtaining and reading all the books that have been published in the series to date. Because we don’t want this challenge to become a financial burden, how you choose to define completion is left to your discretion.

How It Works:

To allow for the greatest level of flexibility, we’ve separated series into three categories: series started before 2014, series started in 2014, and series rereads. Series started before 2014 are defined as series that you have started reading before Jan. 2014 and that you still have unread books to get current in (or finish) the series. Series started in 2014 are defined as any series that you start reading between Jan. and Dec. 2014, and the second book in the series must be published before December 2014.

A series reread is defined as books that are part of a series that were read before Jan. 2014 and that are reread between Jan. 2014 and Dec. 2014. A series reread does NOT have to include the full series. For each category, there are different levels of seriousness about series that you can choose. Semi-serious is reading 1 to 6 series, seriously serious is reading 7 to 12 series, super seriously serious is reading 13 to 18 series, and seriously spectacular series star is reading more than 18 series. What this ends up looking like is this:

Semi-Serious:

Series Started Before 2014: 1-6 series | Series Started in 2014: 1-6 series | Series Re-Reads: 1-6 series

Seriously Serious:

Series Started Before 2014: 7-12 series | Series Started in 2014: 7-12 series | Series Re-Reads: 7-12 series

Super Seriously Serious:

Series Started Before 2014: 13-18 series | Series Started in 2014: 13-18 series | Series Re-Reads: 13-18 series

Seriously Spectular Series Star:

Series Started Before 2014: 18+series | Series Started in 2014: 18+ series | Series Re-Reads: 18+ series

Goals and Progress:

Want to sign up? Create a post or page about this challenge, what goals you would like to accomplish (mine is here, as an example–currently, it’s my 2013 page, but it’ll switch over to the 2014 challenge in January), and then link up your post here at Reading the Paranormal. In addition to the sign up, every three months, there will be a check-in, where you can report your progress and reassess your original goals. That schedule will look like the following:

  • April 1st: January–March
  • July 1st: April–June
  • October 1st: July–September
  • January 1st, 2015: October–December

 Ready to sign up? I know I am! :)

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comA seriously serious serial fiction reader chooses which series to read,…

Semi-Serious:

Series Started Before 2014: 1-6 series| Books in Series I Own

Each of the following series I originally started to read prior to 2014,

and in so doing, decided to start to gather the books!

  1. Aunt Dimity by Nancy Alterton | Aunt Dimity’s Death {Book One}
  2. Coffeehouse mysteries by Cleo Coyle | On What Grounds {Book One}
  3. Daughters of Boston by Julie Lessman | Complete Set*+
  4. Mary Russell by Laurie R. King | borrow through local library+
  5. Lady Emily by Tasha Alexander | borrow through local library
  6. Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig | borrow through local library

{*+} I do have the complete original trilogy “Daughters of Boston”, however, I am using this as a general series name to include the two sequel trilogies that follow suit by Ms. Lessman. The same family is included throughout the stories and timelines, but as the family grows over the generational years, as does the story! Rather than confuse the three or appear to be reading more than one singular family’s saga, I am using the original trilogy name to suffice identification! {+} I did make an enquiry if I could count series that I had started to read through my local library vs. only committing to series I had started to purchase! Thankfully, I can!

Semi-Serious:

Series Started In 2014: 1-6 series| Books in Series I Own

  1. Moses Lake by Lisa Wingate | Firefly Island {Book Three} | cross-applies to my 70 Authors Challenge

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comBreaking it down per series:

Aunt Dimity by Nancy Alterton | Previously Read in Sequence: {which I will re-read!}

  1. Aunt Dimity’s Death
  2. Aunt Dimity and the Duke
  3. Aunt Dimity’s Good Deed

Aunt Dimity by Nancy Alterton | Semi-Serious Readings

  1. Aunt Dimity Digs In
  2. Aunt Dimity’s Christmas
  3. Aunt Dimity Beat’s the Devil
  4. Aunt Dimity: Detective
  5. Aunt Dimity Takes A Holiday
  6. Aunt Dimity: Snowbound
  7. Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin
  8. Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea
  9. Aunt Dimity Goes West
  10. Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter
  11. Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon
  12. Aunt Dimity: Paranormal Detective
  13. Aunt Dimity Down Under
  14. Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree
  15. Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch
  16. Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince
  17. Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well

Coffeehouse mysteries | Previously Read in Sequence: {which I will re-read!}

  1. On What Grounds*
  2. Holiday Grind

{*} I have single handedly re-read this first in the series *at least!* three times!

Coffeehouse mysteries | Semi-Serious Readings

  1. Through the Grinder
  2. Latte Trouble
  3. Murder Most Frothy
  4. Decaffeinated Corpse
  5. French Pressed
  6. Espresso Shot
  7. {insert} Holiday Grind
  8. Roast Mortem
  9. Murder by Mocha
  10. A Brew to Kill
  11. Holiday Buzz
  12. Billionaire Blend

Daughters of Boston | Previously Read in Sequence: {which I will re-read!}

  1. A Passion Most Pure
  2. A Passion Redeemed

Daughters of Boston | Semi-Serious Readings

  1. A Passion Denied
  2. A Hope Undaunted
  3. A Heart Revealed
  4. A Love Surrendered
  5. Love At Any Cost
  6. Dare to Love Again
  7. A Light in the Window

Mary Russell | Previously Read in Sequence: {which I will re-read!}

  1. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice: or On the Segregation of the Queen

Mary Russell | Semi-Serious Readings

  1. A Monstrous Regiment of Women
  2. A Letter of Mary
  3. The Moor
  4. O Jerusalem
  5. Justice Hall
  6. The Game
  7. Locked Rooms
  8. The Language of the Bees
  9. The God of the Hive
  10. Pirate King
  11. Garment of Shadows

Moses Lake | Semi-Serious Readings

  1. Larkspur Cove
  2. Blue Moon Bay
  3. Firefly Island

Lady Emily | Previously Read in Sequence: {which I will re-read!}

  1. And Only to Deceive

Lady Emily | Semi-Serious Readings

  1. A Poisoned Season
  2. A Fatal Waltz
  3. Tears of Pearl
  4. Dangerous to Know
  5. A Crimson Warning
  6. Death in the Floating City
  7. Behind the Shattered Glass
  8. The Counterfeit Heiress

Pink Carnation | Previously Read in Sequence: {which I will re-read!}

  1. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

Pink Carnation | Semi-Serious Readings

  1. The Masque of the Black Tulip
  2. The Deception of the Emerald Ring
  3. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose
  4. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine
  5. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
  6. The Mischief of the Mistletoe
  7. The Orchid Affair
  8. The Garden Intrigue
  9. The Passion of the Purple Plumeria
  10. The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla
I am most eager to even nibble out half of each list if there are more than three titles included, in order to get a better handle on the serial fiction that I enjoy reading each year! There are a heap more series, but I am not sure if I can include *all!* of them, as I am reading the ones I am thinking of rather exclusively through my library at this point in time! I might add a few series here or there, as I still have quite a few on hand, such as “Virgin River” for instance that I might elect to read as the year progresses! I might even dip into more of my 70 Authors Challenge list to even it out as well! Time will see! I am curious, which series get you excited to read in 2014!?

{SOURCE: The Seriously Serious Series Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva.Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. }

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Monday, 6 January, 2014 by jorielov in Reading Challenges, Seriously Series Reading Challenge