KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

“Perhaps a hundred years from now my descendants may read over this diary and regard it as an interesting heir-loom. …I would like it to be published in full without omission, save for this very paragraph I have just written. Cut it out, descendants!”

Speaking of complete journals vs. selected journals… 😂 I wonder if this paragraph was omitted in the selected journals?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I honestly was confused about why she would want that specific paragraph cut out anyway 😂 24h

25 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

We‘ll be starting Volume 5 of LMM‘s journals this week! Schedule is above. As usual, I‘ll post a check-in on Saturdays.

(And, Emily of New Moon is coming up next for our re-reads! We‘ll start reading Emily on June 22.)

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 Are you still interested in joining in for the journal reading? I don‘t want to bother you with tags if not—just let me know. As always, no pressure 😁 6d

TheAromaofBooks Is it weird that I'm kind of excited about starting the journals again?? 😂 5d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Not weird!! Or if it's weird, I'm weird, too! 4d

TheAromaofBooks She's just so daggone readable, even in her journals! 4d

18 likes4 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

What did you enjoy (or not enjoy!) about the book?

If you read this as a child, does it still hold up for you as an adult?

Is there anything else you‘d like to discuss about Beautiful Joe?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Like I said earlier, this definitely worked better for me as a child than it did as an adult, although I still found it to be an interesting read. However, it was a lot sadder than I remember! There were a few times that I was a bit startled by violence stated so casually. Did I just not notice it as such growing up? I definitely focused more on the positive parts of the story, and those were the memories I brought forward. 5d

BarbaraJean The early chapters when Joe is a puppy were SUPER hard to read—I was a little shocked at how violent that part was. The performing animals at the hotel & the “bad“ dog at the farm were a bit of a surprise/shock as well. I wonder how those landed with kids at the time. I definitely had the feeling I'd have enjoyed this more as a kid. I loved animal stories, especially from the animal's perspective. Did you read anything by Dick King-Smith as a kid? 4d

TheAromaofBooks Oh my gosh YES - the first Dick King-Smith book I came across as the library was The Fox Busters, which is honestly kind of a dark book for the children's section, but I am so here for chicken heroes 😂 Later, I found out that he was the author of Babe, also good, but my actual favorites by him are The Queen's Nose and Harry's Mad. He was sooo prolific so some of his stories are definitely weaker than others, but some of them are just delightful. 4d

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Aw, yay!! I don't remember The Fox Busters and now I may have to track it down! I LOVED his books—Babe (which I knew as “The Sheep-Pig“—I have long resented the movie 😂), Harry's Mad, and The Queen's Nose were ones I read over and over. Also Saddlebottom! I remember Saddlebottom and Babe both being from the animals' perspective, which really drew me in. I think Saunders was onto something in using Joe as a first-person narrator. 3d

TheAromaofBooks I don't think I've read Saddlebottom! I'll have to find that one. The Fox Busters is kind of intense (the chickens decide to fight back against marauding foxes), but it was so wildly different from anything else I had ever read when I first found it that I was totally hooked. I also read The Water Horse (which I think may be a movie now also) and had NO idea where it was headed so the twist at the end totally got me. 3d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Ohhh, The Water Horse!! I read that entire book standing in the aisle of an airport bookstore on a long layover 😂 I loved the fact that they called the grandfather “Grump” 😆 It is a movie now (I think the edition I read in that airport was a movie tie-in one), but I haven‘t seen it—the description of the movie sounded WAY different from the book! 3d

17 likes6 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

Do you think Saunders‘ choice of Joe as a first person narrator is effective? What does this add to (or take away from) the story?

Joe meets several other animal friends during the story: the other pets at the Morris home, the performing animals he sees in Riverdale, and Dandy “the Tramp.” What did you think of these other animals and their stories?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

JenlovesJT47 I am terribly behind on everything, I‘m so sorry! Going to download this now. 💚💚💚 thank you for all of the hard work you do for this group! 🤗 6d

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 I understand—I have overloaded my reading this summer and there‘s too much to keep up with! Jump in when you can, but no pressure! 6d

TheAromaofBooks I did think using Joe as the narrator made the story more personal, and also worked with Saunders's goal of (to some extent) humanizing animals. Adding in the stories of other animals sometimes felt like a bit much - for instance, the chapter on Mr. Wood's hunting memories seemed kind of pointless. But other times it illustrated a concept otherwise outside of Joe's purview. 5d

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I really liked Joe as the narrator, although it felt contrived/inconsistent at times (sometimes he'd skip over stuff saying he wasn't listening because it wasn't interesting to a dog, and at other times he'd narrate a bunch of stuff that wouldn't have been interesting to a dog 😂). As you said, it humanizes the animal characters--it made the cruelty to animals episodes more difficult to read (and more meaningful/effective). 4d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I liked some of the additional animal stories (like the canaries and Bella the parrot, and the poor performing animals!!), but lots of others felt like padding to make the story longer (like the ENTIRE Band of Mercy meeting). And the lengthy telling of Dandy the Tramp's story just annoyed me 😂 4d

TheAromaofBooks The other thing Joe-as-narrator did was make the animals the main characters instead of the people. If this story had just been about Miss Laura being nice to animals, it would have had a really different flavor than having Joe talk about her. As an adult reader, I wanted more story about Laura and her little romance and whatnot, but as a younger reader, I was definitely more interested in the dogs haha 4d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Hahaha, yeah, I think that would have been my response as a kid, too: more interested in the animals and their stories than Laura's romance 😂 And yes, definitely, having the animals as the main characters/focus rather than Laura really makes the message more impactful, helping kids envision what it's like for the animal to experience neglect and mistreatment vs. kindness and care. 3d

15 likes7 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

Beautiful Joe is based on a true story & was written for a contest sponsored by the American Humane Education Society (Joe‘s real-life home of Meaford, Ontario was changed to Fairport, Maine). Its goal was to teach children to be kind to animals.

Do you think Beautiful Joe is effective in teaching this message? Why or why not?
What do you think in general about stories whose main goal is to teach a message?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I enjoyed this more growing up than I did as an adult, but I think part of that is that as a kid, some of the lessons felt fresh. Not that I was ever mean to animals (forever memory is my dad threatening to make me drink gross water from the chicken's waterer that I hadn't washed out properly - “if you don't want to drink it, they shouldn't have to“ - which in retrospect isn't true since they cheerfully drink gross puddle water BUT the lesson ⬇ 5d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) worked 😂) but a lot of the lessons here are just about not being careless, and also about being willing to stand up for those who aren't able to speak for themselves. BUT the story definitely comes across as kind of preachy, more like a collection of little sermonettes on animal welfare. So I do think it works, but perhaps worked better when it was written and the idea of an animal narrator was still rather novel, and when many ⬇ 5d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) animals were still used for work rather than pets. I realize there are still lots of farm animals today - some of which are in bad conditions - but I feel like the majority of us interact with pets, not livestock, which wasn't true when this book was written. 5d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I love that memory of your dad! I mean, you both have a point 😂 For me, the book was too preachy & I think your description is why: it's more a collection of little lessons than a story. I think it was/is probably effective in teaching its message, but I wanted more story/character development. The animal narrator angle wasn't enough to enrapture me as an adult reader in 2025, but then I'm not the target audience! 4d

TheAromaofBooks I think a lot of kids are cruel/neglectful towards animals from a combination of laziness and ignorance. So a book like this really can speak to them and help them recognize not just that animals are living beings who can suffer, but that they are completely dependent on US to take care of them. As an adult reader, I've already learned these lessons so I think a lot of this wasn't as impactful to me. 4d

15 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1930-1933 | L M Montgomery

Every so often I‘ll look for info on the publication of the final volume of L.M. Montgomery‘s Complete Journals. We‘re moving along with #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals, and I have this nagging worry they won‘t publish the last volume—in time for our buddy read, or at all! I found an “Ask Us” option on the publisher‘s website, so I asked! It took a couple weeks, but I got this reply today. So—probably not in buddy-read time, but someday!

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that the journals didn't go all the way! 😳 So sad!! 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks When we started, I assumed the last volume would be forthcoming soon, since volume 6 was published in 2017 and volume 7 in 2019. I was naively optimistic! 😬 I'm not sure what to do when we get to the end of vol. 7. I guess we could switch over to the selected journals, which are all published, but I really prefer reading the complete ones (the selected ones don't have her pictures included!). 1w

TheAromaofBooks Yes, and as we've seen, sometimes the selections seem to want to... well, follow an agenda sounds strong because I don't think anyone has a secret plan to rewrite LMM's life lol But I definitely feel like I have gotten different vibes from LMM's complete journals than I did from her biographies that quoted her journals, if that makes sense. 1w

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Oh, I absolutely agree! You‘re right, agenda is too strong a word, but it IS interpretation for sure. Just the process of selecting what stays and what goes imposes someone else‘s filter and interpretation on LMM‘s words (even if it‘s just the boring WWI parts!). I want to be able to read all of it and decide for myself what‘s important—rather than have somebody else cutting out what they think isn‘t important! 1w

lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean I'm looking forward to getting back into the journals, but I'd never paid attention to the dates to realize they weren't all available! I agree, the selected journals wouldn't be the same, but could be better than nothing? That's the worst one to not have the whole story though... 4d

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks If we switch to the selected after the complete run out, date-wise we'd land partway through the 2nd to last selected volume, which is kind of annoying. But I looked at future Kindred Spirits books (re-reads, journals, adjacents) and honestly think it'll be the end of 2026 before we get to the last (as-yet-unpublished) volume of the complete journals! So I'm not worrying about it just yet. Or at least not much 😂 3d

TheAromaofBooks We do seem to have plenty to keep us busy 😂 3d

26 likes7 comments

BarbaraJean

The Library at Night | Alberto Manguel

🤖 Finished System Collapse yesterday, completing my Murderbot re-read
⚔️ Started Guards! Guards! for #OokBOokClub
🐶 Beautiful Joe is ongoing for #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent
📚 I‘ve been parceling out an essay per day of The Library at Night, which is my May #BookSpin and also a pick for my #50x50 challenge

rachelsbrittain

rachelsbrittain Love Murderbot! 2w

29 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

Rilla of Ingleside: A Virago Modern Classic | L. M. Montgomery

I have this blog where I don't post as often as I'd like. But here are some reflections on a scene from Rilla of Ingleside, with a little Pollyanna thrown in. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead-ers may be interested. Also: it‘s Christian-y. 🙂

https://commonplacehope.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/burning-coals/

#LMMReread #LMMAdjacent

31 likes

AmyG

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead @BarbaraJean
I just saw you are reading this. A friend of mine gave this to me…she lived to be 108. When I saw your post I remembered I had this!

BarbaraJean Oh, what a lovely old edition! 💜 2w

MemoirsForMe 😍😍😍 2w

TheBookHippie ♥️♥️♥️♥️ 2w

BooksandCoffee4Me Oh! I remember reading this as a child!!! My book looked something like this — my mom had shared it with me. Beautiful memory. 💛💛💛 2w

AnnCrystal 💝💝💝. 2w

62 likes1 stack add5 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

Just a little check-in halfway through reading Beautiful Joe!

🐶 How's your reading going?
🐶 What are your thoughts so far?
🐶 What stands out to you from the first half of the book?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean I read an extra chapter this week when I discovered I broke up the reading kind of in the middle of something. 😆 I'm enjoying this, but finding it a leeeetle too preachy. Well, maybe not so much preachy as light on both plot and character development. It feels like little vignettes strung together in order to fill in the gaps between its “don't be cruel to animals“ message. Which is a fine message. I just want more of a story! 2w

TheAromaofBooks I just started this one again today. I had forgotten how sad the first couple of chapters are!! 😭 I believe I read somewhere once that this story was originally written by Saunders as an entry for a competition by the Humane Society or some such organization, so I suppose the preachiness is inevitable 😂 2w

22 likes2 comments

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