I am involved in a world-wide globally connected blogosphere challenge where each blogger who signs into the participant linky is quite literally confirming their express desire to blog straight [except on Sundays!] for *26 Days!* whilst writing *26!* most intriguing & thought-producing alphabet essays! Or, to be comically inspiring, randomly cheeky, and otherwise delightfully entertaining! The bloggers who have signed into the challenge are from all walks of blogosphere life: book bloggers united alongside lifestyle gurus; writers of all literary styles nudged up against travelogues; the gambit runs the full course of each and every theme, topic, subject, and genre you could possibly light your heart with joy to broach in a blog! And, the curious bit to the journey is where your posts lead you as much as where other blogger’s posts inspire you! It’s this fantastic community to celebrate the spirit within the blogosphere as much as the spirit of connection amongst the bloggers who might not have crossed paths with each other otherwise. After all, the road map for blogs is as wide and large as the actual world outside the nethersphere of websites, pixels, and memes! Walk with us whilst we discover a bit about ourselves, our blog, & each other!

I am blogger #552 out of 2279!

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:

• The Incredible Journey by Sheila Bornford
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• Little House in the Big Woods {Little House series thereof} by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• White Fang by Jack London
• Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
• The Secret Garden & A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• and countless others I am being remiss at remembering having read!

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!

One 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:

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!

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 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!

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:

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.

Comments via Twitter:

@JLovesAStory I enjoyed it very much! I adore Shakespeare as well–I’ll be blogging more about that soon ;)

— Maggie Nambot (@magsteronni) April 5, 2014