BW8: Pick a book by the cover

Are you ready for a mini challenge?  Just realized I hadn't done any yet this year.   

Most of the time, when picking out a book at the bookstore or shopping online, I look for a familiar author or a book someone has recommended.   A few years back, a blogger friend of mine posed a challenge to pick a book based on its cover. The catch however was not to read the synopsis or reviews or anything else that would tell you what the book is about.  Pick the book, blog what you think the book is about, then read it and find out if your supposition was correct.  Easier said than done especially when you are as nosy as I am. The hard part is not  reading the excerpt on-line or if in the bookstore, reading a few pages here or there to see if it captures your attention. 

I've tried it a few times and have picked up some very interesting books using that method.  
This time, I went on Amazon and looked at  the new releases and chose books by authors I've never read, had an intriguing picture or title. I picked out some books after checking out the synopsis, but I resisted temptation and didn't read the excerpts or reviews. 

Euphoria by Lily King

Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Miramont's Ghost by Elizabeth Hall

Beautiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

 
So which one do you think I should read?   I'll read the one that receives the most votes and let you know what I think of the story.   Join in the fun. Go the the library, bookstore or online and  pick a book based on its title or cover.

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History of the Medieval World - Chapter 10 (pp 72 - 76)

Cracked in Two (392 - 396 AD)

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BW7: She Walks In Beauty

Lord Byron by Richard Westall 1813

She Walks In Beauty 

By 

Lord Bryon

She walks in beauty, like the night

   Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

   Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

   Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

   Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

   How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

   So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

   But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

   A heart whose love is innocent!

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 History of the Medieval World - Part Two - Fractures

Chapter 9 Excommunicated (Pp 63 - 71) 

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BW6: Victorian Era

Our Flufferton February wouldn't be complete without mentioning the Victorian Era with ran during Queen Victoria's reign from her birth in 1807 until her death in 1901. It was the age of the English novel and the writings of Charles Dickens, William Thackary, George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans) as well as the Bronte Sisters.  The leading poets of that time were Lord Alfred Tennyson and the husband and wife duo, Elizabeth Barret Browning and Robert Browning. 

Children's literature was introduced with the writings of Lewis Carroll and Anna Sewell as well as Robert Louis Stevenson and Anthony Hope. For a bit of history, check out Children's Books in the Victoria Era from the International Library of Children's literature

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, founded by Dante Gabriel Rossetti with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Milais, tied together the arts and literature creating art, full of symbolic realism,  from the influences of poets Shakespeare, Keats and Tennyson. 

The major writers of this period are:

• Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888)
• Brontë, Charlotte (1816-1855)
• Brontë, Emily (1818-1848)
• Browning, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861)
• Browning, Robert (1812-1889)
• Carroll, Lewis (1832-1898)
• Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881)
• Dickens, Charles (1812-1870)
• Doyle, Arthur Conan (1859-1930)
• Eliot, George (1819-1880)
• Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928)
• Hopkins, Gerard Manley (1844-1889)
• Housman, A. E. (1859-1936)
• Kipling, Rudyard (1865-1936)
• Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1802-1838)
• Rossetti, Christina (1830-1894)
• Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828-1882)
• Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894)
• Swinburne, Algernon Charles (1837-1909)
• Tennyson, Alfred (Lord) (1809-1892)
• Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-1863)
• Wells, H.G. (1866-1946)
• Wilde, Oscar (1854-1900)
• Yeats, William Butler (1865-1939)

Check out the Victorian Web for links to many of the major authors

And to fan the flame further, Check out these lists and have fun adding to your wishlists:

Mystery Fiction set in the Victorian Era from Murder by Gaslight

Popular Victorian Era Books

Romantic Reads of the Victoria Era from Romantic Reads

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History of the Medieval World - Chapter 7 (51 - 55) and Chapter 8 (56 - 60)

Refounding the Kingdom (371-412 AD)

The Catholic Church (378-382 AD

Which brings us to the end of Part One of Unity

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BW5: Flufferton February

Jane Austen

Bronte Sisters

 Flufferton 

February 

Welcome to Flufferton February and our author flavors of the month: The Bronte siblings --- Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell ---  as well as Jane Austen.   Flufferton is a term coined by one of our Well Trained Mind mom's in relation to all things regency, both classic and modern.  Regency stories revolve around romance, mysteries, and the Napoleonic war. Modern fiction is set in the regency era and can run the gamut from historical romance fiction to horror to paranormal.  

The Regency era from 1811 to 1820 fell within the period of Romanticism which latest approximately from 1790's to 1850's.  Romanticism in English Literature began with the poetry of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coolridge in 1790.  By the 1820's Romanticism encompassed almost all of Europe and was influenced not only by the Bronte Sisters, but  French authors Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas and as well as American, Italian, Russian and Polish writers. 


Jane Austen wrote six novels, which have been some of the most popular and widely read stories over the years.  Her novels:  Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion are all available on line for your reading pleasure.

There have also been many spin off's, inspired by Austen, revolving around Mr. Darcy and other characters.   Be sure to check out Laurel Natress's website dedicated to all things Austen at AustenProse.   It will keep you busy for quite a while, so might want to save it for when you have more time. 

The Bronte sisters books have been equally popular. Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre, Villette, Shirley, The Professor, High Life in Verdopolis and Juvenilia. Emily wrote Wuthering Heights and Anne produced Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Their brother, Branwell, was a painter and a poet as well and his works may be found here.

Courtesy of dennis barlogo

Come join me in the manor garden for afternoon tea (or a glass of wine if you prefer), and munch on tea cakes or scones, while we laze about for the day. Take a stroll among the flowers or trail your toes in the lake while diving into the stories of Jane Austen and/or the Bronte sisters.   Or wind your way down the various rabbit trails and see where it takes you.

To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment ~ Jane Austen

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History of the Medieval World - Chapter 6 (pp 41 - 50)
Earthquake and Invasion (364 - 376 AD)



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Link to your most current read. Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you have multiple reviews, then type in (multi) after your name and link to your general blog url.