Tag: Jane Eyre

+2014 Chunkster Reading Challenge+ Or, how Jorie <3s novels of hearty depth!

Posted Monday, 17 February, 2014 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

2014 Chunkster Challenge hosted by Vasilly

I, must admit, I am always quite curious about the books I gravitate towards reading time after time. Do I pick a specific genre to explore!? Is there a particular heart of depth to the stories I am selecting?! Is there any specifics that would stand out!? Setting?! Time preference!? Locale!? Or, could it be that I, Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story have a natural curiosity and eye bent towards falling in love with novels of hearty depth! What the rest of the world considers a ‘chunkser’ I consider “Now! That’s what I call a wicked sweet tome of a novel!”

Although I have seen posts attributed to this particular reading challenge over the past few years, I was always curious about the length requirements of the reader’s choices!? Apparently, any novel over the mark of 450 pages is considered a ‘chunkster’ by the broader readership! I consider anything under 750 pages to be a full-fledged novel of wickedly delightful sagas! Then, again, I happen to have a penchant for reading multi-generational sagas, of which cannot be fully contained in one singular volume! I oft find the sagas are separated into multiples; either in a running serial of the same family &/or spilt into trilogy installments. The odd quartet is thrown in for good measure as well!

I am a reader who envelops her mind, her heart, and her soul around the characters she meets inside the stories her mind illuminates for her as she reads. The main characters as well as the supporting characters all have equal footing in her heart because each of the characters mentioned may hold a piece of the evolving story. Or at the very least, provide a backdrop flow of continuity for the time, setting, and place of the novel! I love seeing the smaller details, the finer points of everyday hours which elapse at different intervals whilst your engrossed into a hearty historical inasmuch as you might be jettisoning into a time slip or time travel narrative! I like seeing the finite details because they in of themselves give a winking nod towards our own histories. How life was for those who came before us in the not-so-far-off past can be ruminated in a historical story.

This wicked sweet challenge is hosted by Vasilly of Chunkster Challenge!

{Proposed Goal of Reading *25* Chunksters}

Given the rate of probability of increasing my page counts as the months progress forward, I have decided to aim even higher than I originally felt I could achieve over the next 10 months, as I am beginning to count this challenge in the second month rather than the first! And, at the latter half of February, I might add! I originally felt only five novels of considerable length might be possible! Who knew!? I suppose this would fall under the ‘hidden talent’ category for performance artists!?

{Reading List} | Combination of Blog Tour Reviews & Personal Selections

IF a book is in italics I have bumped it into 2015 rather than reading it in 2014.

  1. Crown of Vengeance {Book 1: Fires of Eden series} by Stephen Zimmer (612 pages)
  2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1,215 pages)
  3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (643 pages)
  4. Somerset by Leila Meacham {Prequel to Roses} (610 pages)
  5. Roses by Leila Meacham (609 pages)
  6. Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham (470 pages)
  7. The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte by Ruth Hill Chatlien (484 pages)
  8. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (528 pages)* officially on hold for another year
  9. Sepulchre by Kate Mosse (592 pages)* officially on hold for another year
  10. Citadel by Kate Mosse (680 pages)
  11. The Reincarnationist (Book 1: Reincarnationist series) by M.J. Rose* (464 pages)
  12. The Memorist (Book 2: Reincarnationist series) by M.J. Rose* (464 pages)
  13. A Beauty So Rare by Tamera Alexander* (480 pages)
  14. [7,851 pages thus far!]
  15. Intangible by C.A. Gray (482 pages)
  16. Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan (456 pages)

{In consideration} | A considerable number are on my tCC List!

[projected pages to read: 8,498!]

  1. Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (582 pages)
  2. Jaran {Book 1: Sword of Heaven series} by Kate Elliott (494 pages)
  3. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (834 pages)
  4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (552 pages)
  5. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (479 pages)
  6. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (552 pages)
  7. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (473 pages)
  8. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (562 pages)
  9. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (656 pages)
  10. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (704 pages)
  11. The Crimson Petal & the White by Michael Faber (on TBR Challenge List) (833)
  12. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1,024 pages)
  13. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (753)

{Previously Read}

[Pages thus far consumed: 1,548 & counting!]

  1. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (486 pages)
  2. King’s Dragon {Book 1: Crown of Stars saga} by Kate Elliott (532)
  3. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (530)
  4. and continuing,.. as I sort out which books were of considerable length!

{*} reading in conjunction with scheduled book review of next in sequence

Already at the start of keeping track of the length of each novel I read, I am amazed at how the list begins with *13!* Curiously, I am fascinated to seeing which ‘length’ of book attracts me the most!? If spilt into 100 page increments, will it be the 400 mark? 500? I’ll have to continue this part of the discussion come New Year’s Eve, 2015!

*UPDATE (18FEB’14): As I read Christine’s note about how many actual pages I’d consume, I was curious, how many would that be!? I added the figures!

{SOURCE: Jorie Loves A Story Badge created by Ravven with edits by Jorie in PicMonkey.

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Monday, 17 February, 2014 by jorielov in Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Discussions, Chunkster Reading Challenge, Classical Literature, Debut Novel, Fantasy Fiction, Gothic Literature, Historical Fiction, Inspirational Fiction & Non-Fiction, Library Find, Literary Fiction, Reading Challenges, Romance Fiction, Science Fiction

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

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

The Classics Club badge by Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story

tCC Group Check-In #8 :February: 2014

Stepping Back into the Folds of Time | tCC

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

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

Wuthering Heights via Maggie’s RAL:

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

Wuthering Heights via Riverhead Books RAL:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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

*Forthcoming Reviews, Book Tours, and Exciting News!* | A JLAS Update!

Posted Saturday, 26 October, 2013 by jorielov , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Forthcoming Reviews, Book Tours, and Exciting News!
{A JLAS Update!}

My dear readers, I must apologise for the extended absence I have taken here on JLAS! I was hit quite hard earlier in the month when I took ill, and in the weeks since, I was dealing with a family matter that is now resolved, however, I have lacked the proper time to not only complete the readings I was happy to have the opportunities to participate in but I did not have the proper time needed to populate my blog with postings and reviews until now, as I am editing the posts that will start to go live lateron in the weekend and into the early bits of Halloween week! I have lots of exciting things to share with you, and I do apologise if it looked like I had vacated Jorie Loves A Story, but hopefully, you did see the two postings I put on the top margin!?

I originally posted this NEWSFLASH:

The review of “The Study of Murder” by Susan McDuffie, has simply been delayed whilst I recover from being ill. I apologise for my absence, but I will be resuming life on my blog shortly! Thank you if you had ducked back to see the review, as it will post this week instead!

And, followed it up with this NEWSFLASH:

| Small UPDATE: 21 October | My review of “The Study of Murder” is in-process as well as a review of “Redheart” by Jackie Gamber. I am working on my first 2 discussion posts for “Finnikin of the Rock”, as well as my second post for “Jane Eyre”. I have 3 “Pride & Prejudice” posts in the mix for “Classics Re-Told”. Between now and the 1st of November, I will be working on getting my posts back on track, as I had an extended leave due to a family matter that is now resolved. I appreciate everyone’s patience during my absence.

My heart you see has been in the right place, but I have unfortunately not been able to give my dear readers the content they were hoping to see on my blog! Thankfully, I have noticed that you (my subscribers and faithful readers) have held with me during this time and for that, I extend my gratitude to each of you! :) I wanted to post this today to duck in and say, I am thankful for your patience and I look forward to interacting with you quite soon! Therefore, let me not delay the exciting news I have to share with you, so that you will know what will be coming up next!

The Study of Murder by Susan McDuffie

“The Study of Murder” by Susan McDuffie

This review was meant to posted on the 12th of October, however, as foresaid, I was delayed until this weekend to complete my full review of this book. I will be posting my review on Sunday, 27th October!

RJ Sullivan Vitrual Blue Book Tour with TCM

“Virtual Blue” By R.J. Sullivan

This exciting book tour is heading to JLAS on Monday, 28th of October, as I will be reviewing the 2nd book in this exciting (Blue) series by Mr. Sullivan, whose humour I expect to leave me in stitches!

Redheart by Jackie Gamber

“Redheart” by Jackie Gamber

I was attempting to post this review shortly after “The Study of Murder”, however, my entire posting schedule for October has been altered from how I planned it originally. Therefore, I am going to be posting my review of this first book of the Leland Dragon series on Wednesday, 30th of October.

Iluminations by Mary Sharratt Book Tour HFVBT

“Illuminations” by Mary Sharratt

My first book tour with HFVBT (Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours) will be alighting on my blog on All Saint’s Day, the 1st of November! I am looking forward to this, as I always enjoy my ‘first’ tour with each touring company!

Meanwhile,… there are a few reading challenges and read-a-longs,

Septemb-Eyre hosted by Entomology of a Bookworm

Remember, I was reading “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë?! The good news, is that I am still in the middle of the book, and I am going to be posting the next installments as soon as I am ready to reveal my next impressions! I have longed to know how this story proceeds, as I left off right as Mr. Rochester and Jane were starting to interact with each other! :(

Classics Re-Told: 19th Century & Gothic Classics | Focus: Pride & Prejudice hosted by Bookish Whimsy

I picked “Pride and Prejudice” as my focus for this lovely Reading & Viewing challenge to uncover all the ‘after canons’ that were interconnected with Ms. Austen’s original story! I actually did quite well in viewing a few adaptations in motion picture as well as encountered quite a few ‘after canons’, however, the posts are in-progress and will be fleshed out for proper posting over the course of the next weeks! Two of my favourite adaptations that I stumbled across during this wicked challenge were the 1940 film adaptation with Greer Garson and the re-telling adaptation of “Lost in Austen”.

During the course of October, whilst I was off-blog for a fortnight, I lost my footing with this reading challenge, as the posts I was meant to contribute, which is why I’ll be making amends for this by posting everything after the weekend in full, but hopefully, will get a few pieces up on JLAS before the conclusion on Sunday! :( I was so hopeful that I could have participated with this during the event itself, but life sometimes takes us off-guard and re-focuses our attention elsewhere! Needless, I am simply thankful to have discovered this book, and will enjoy making my rounds to the blogs/readers who participated!

And, the exciting news is that this event:

Sci-Fi November | Hosted by Rinn ReadsIs the one in which, I am participating in a month-long series of posts that will revolve around my chosen 3 topics of interest, which are as follows: Steampunk, Time Travel, and Dystopian! I will be posting a more comprehensive post about this lovely event on Halloween, as the kick-off is the 1st of November!

What a wonderful time of the year for reading, eh!?

The winds are starting to turn crisper, leaves are starting to fall, and all the lovely divine foods that give us comfort and goodwill are starting to become available at the farmer’s markets! Days were being out-of-doors is a pure delight, as the temperatures forestall the heat, and there is an energy in the air that uplifts the soul! Autumn is always such a beautiful time of the year, and I am thankful, that this year, not only do I get to enjoy the natural environments, but I am able to turn inward, and explore a lovely diverse range of books and celebrate the joys of reading! I wonder what books your exploring and picking up!?

November will be an exciting month here on Jorie Loves A Story, as I have *5!* book tours arriving!!

I hope you were able to *catch!* Jorie Loves A Story’s first contributor post, “World Book Night: from a Giver’s Point of View” by Greylen!? This posted a few days ahead of the official 2014 World Book Night Sign-Ups went live! I am curious if any of my readers are taking part in this exciting event!?

Be sure to stay tuned!!

And, I thank you for your patience until I could return!

Autumn and Harvest blessings to all!

{SOURCES: Book cover for “The Study of Murder” provided by the author, Susan McDuffie. Book Cover for “Redheart” provided by Tomorrow Comes Media. Book Tour badges provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours respectively. Finnikin of the Rock Read-A-Long badges provided by Bookish Whimsy. Sci-Fi November Badge provided by Rinn Reads. “Septemb-Eyre” & “Classics Re-Told” badge created by using the Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven with edits by Jorie in Fotoflexer.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

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Posted Saturday, 26 October, 2013 by jorielov in Classics Re-Told: 19th Century & Gothic Classics, Finnikin of the Rock, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Sci-Fi November, Septemb-Eyre

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.

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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