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#Kindredspiritsbuddyread
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TheAromaofBooks
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I had to find out what the deal was with these magical yeast cakes (and can I still get them, because I totally would love to have my 20-year-old energy back 😂) Found this fun article - https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-healing-power-of-compressed-...

So is the renewed energy and vigor LMM experienced entirely a placebo effect? Or were the B vitamins really that helpful? Either way it's fun to see how humans always look ⬇

TheSpineView 20 year old... I would settle for 40! 😂 5h
Suet624 Great article! 5h
See All 6 Comments
Cuilin Fabulous article, thanks for sharing. 4h
BarbaraJean What a fantastic article!! This part: “…when I mentioned the cakes to my husband‘s 91-year-old grandmother, her face lit up. ‘Ooh, I love yeast cakes!‘ she said, before taking a nibble. ‘The texture is so nice.‘ Encouraged, I then spent the weekend trying to press yeast cakes on her. Eventually she turned to me. ‘You know, Catherine,‘ she said, ‘sometimes people say things they don‘t entirely mean.‘” 😂😂 2h
BarbaraJean I love knowing that LMM was just as susceptible to advertising and getting caught up in a health craze as the rest of us!! All her talk of “vitamines” was so interesting. I wonder if she got Ewan to try yeast cakes?! (edited) 2h
19 likes6 comments
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BarbaraJean
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“There isn't a single interesting person in this village—not one who makes you feel better just because of a chat. I really never saw such a collection of stupid, uninteresting people. …When I am feeling normal I suffer them gladly and find some amusement in their very stupidity but when I'm below par I'd like to blow them all up with gunpowder.”

😂 As I find so often, Maud‘s “below par” reaction to certain other people is thoroughly relatable.

22 likes2 comments
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BarbaraJean
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I feel
Very much
Like taking
Its unholy perpetrators
By the hair
Of their heads
(If they have any hair)
And dragging them around
The yard
A few times,
And then cutting them
Into small, irregular pieces
And burying them
In the depths of the blue sea
They are without form
And void,
Or at least
The stuff they produce
Is.
They are too lazy
To hunt up rhymes,
And that
Is all
That is the matter with them.

😂😂
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

TheAromaofBooks This is EXACTLY how I feel when I read this type of poetry! 😂 Especially when the lines are super short. 2d
lil1inblue 😍 😍 😍 2d
28 likes2 comments
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BarbaraJean
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“…may not a person such as myself… whose love of beauty amounts to passionate worship, who finds comfort and help and rapture and courage and satisfaction in a wonderful sunset, or starry waters, or a wood-blossom, or the sleek, ineffable curves of a drowsy cat, or the dance & glow of an open fire—may not such a person be as truly religious as one who finds God in some other manifestation of His personality.”
#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

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BarbaraJean
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#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

I‘ve enjoyed being back into LMM‘s journals this week, even though it can be difficult to read about her struggles with Ewan‘s illness and the lawsuit with Page.

How‘s your reading going? What stood out to you from this week‘s section?

BarbaraJean I thought her comments on religion were SO interesting—both her description of what she believes (p. 244), as well as her response to this Oliver Wendell Holmes quote: “There is a genius for religion just as there is for painting and sculpture”—and her comments about being too narrow in how we define being “religious.” (p. 238) That whole Jan. 31, 1920 entry was fascinating, as she responded to various quotations she‘d copied down! ⬇ 5d
BarbaraJean (Cont'd) I especially loved her “what I like” section, responding to Ruskin's quote of “Tell me what you *like* and I'll tell you what you *are.*“ That whole entry had me jotting down potential #LMMAdjacent books 😆 5d
lauraisntwilder I'm so behind! I do plan to get caught up this week though and finish with the rest of you. 5d
See All 14 Comments
BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder In retrospect, I think I should have built in a catch-up week after The Last of the Mohicans! 5d
lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean I just finished it on Thursday! I haven't gone back to look at your questions yet. I'm hoping I'll have a quiet moment tomorrow to do that and catch up on posting reviews. 5d
BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Ugggh, I‘m SO far behind on my Litsy reviews!! I have a list going back to early March 🤦🏻‍♀️ 4d
TheAromaofBooks I am not done with this week's section yet (and still somehow have two chapters left of Mohicans haha) but it has been good to get back into the journals again. Somehow, they've become almost like reading a letter from a friend. LMM is such a good writer - I generally find even fictional journals to be a bit tedious, but I find hers so genuinely engaging. A couple of things that have struck me so far - that she has started copying out her old ⬇ 3d
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) journals, which seems like kind of a random thing to do. She states that she is going to “be faithful“to copy it as written - do you think she did? I feel like I would be so tempted to maybe gently edit a smidge!! But I have also wondered all along how there were so many photos in even her earlier journals, and here is the answer! That she added the pictures during the copying, which I found interesting. In a TIL moment, I also didn't ⬇ 3d
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) know that “bloody“ was a corruption of “by our Lady“ and have also always wondered why it was considered such a bad word! And finally, I thought it was kind of hilarious when she wrote, over a hundred years ago, “I never yet have liked any film I have seen that was reproduced from a book I had read.“ Apparently some things never change 😂

It's sooo hard to read about everything going on with Ewan and how she is still struggling with ⬇
3d
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Frede's death - when she said she was so relieved to pass the one-year anniversary, I felt that. But it's so sad how lonely and isolated she is. Why do you think she is SO terrified of other people finding out about Ewan's mental health? Is it just pride/worrying about “what people will say“? She really has a phobia of mental illness. 3d
BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Yes!! She‘s witty, and such a good storyteller—I feel like I‘m enjoying her company as I read the journals. With her copying out her journals, I think she initially *intended* to copy it as written, but I suspect she began making some excisions and edits as she got further along. I wouldn‘t be able to refrain from “gentle editing” myself!! That info about “bloody” was completely new to me, too! I‘d always assumed it was ⤵️ 2d
BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …something to do with Christ‘s blood and that‘s why it was considered so bad (honestly that seems more blasphemous to me than “by our Lady”?!?). I love her opinion on book to film adaptations!!! I wonder what she‘d have thought of the Megan Follows version of Anne. I do love those versions so, with the exception of that travesty “The Continuing Story” where Gilbert goes off to war right after they get married. 🙄 ⤵️ (edited) 2d
BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) I feel confident she‘d have HATED it as much as I did!

My heart goes out to her over Frede. It‘s heartbreaking how she longs for a real confidant & friend and seems to have no kindred spirits close enough for the depth of friendship she needs. It makes House of Dreams even more poignant to me with all the kindred spirits Anne finds at Four Winds. I wonder if that lack of a close friend contributes to LMM‘s fear of people “finding out”⤵️
2d
BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …about Ewan. Fears of what others will think seem MUCH bigger when there‘s no balancing perspective from an understanding friend. I wonder also if part of it is her fears over his career? If people found out their minister suffered from mental illness—especially “religious melancholia”—he‘d probably have been finished as a minister. The opinions she‘s worried about are the ones paying his salary 😬 I agree that it seems like a phobia! 2d
34 likes14 comments
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BarbaraJean
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😂😂

I also loved this story from LMM‘s childhood:
“One day when I was very small an aunt asked me if I would go and bring home her turkeys from the shore field. I responded gravely, ‘I am afraid it would excite ridicule.‘”

🦃🤣

#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

Texreader So cute!! 1w
Ruthiella Adorable! 😂 1w
TheAromaofBooks I also need divine assistance to eat celery 😂 1w
See All 9 Comments
BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder But have you ever worried about exciting ridicule by bringing turkeys home from the shore? 😁😂 7d
TheAromaofBooks Once at the county fair my friend and I took a cow for a stroll around the midway and even let her play the game where you pick a floating duck and get a prize, so public livestock wrangling isn't an issue for me 😂 7d
BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks 😂😂😂 Best answer ever. The cow played the floating duck game?!? I‘m gone. 😂🤣😂 6d
TheAromaofBooks We may or may not be the reason that the next year there were signs saying “no livestock past this point“ between the dairy barn and the midway 😂 😂 😂 To be strictly accurate, she didn't pick UP the duck, but she did nose one and won I believe one of those plastic unicorns like this one https://www.etsy.com/listing/1753806350/vintage-blue-white-rearing-unicorn-5 6d
BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Oh my gosh, it just gets better 😂🤣😂 I love this so much! 5d
26 likes9 comments
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LitsyEvents
Rilla of Ingleside | L.M. Montgomery
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Reposting for @barbarajean #kindredspiritsbuddyread
Upcoming schedule. for more information and to join in see original post : https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2856056

BarbaraJean Thanks for the re-post! 2w
30 likes1 comment
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BarbaraJean
Rilla of Ingleside | Lucy Maud Montgomery
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Here's the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead schedule for the next six weeks, with #LMMJournals, #LMMReread and #LMMAdjacent choices. We'll read the last section of Volume 4 of LMM's Complete Journals over the next two weeks, then Rilla of Ingleside, then Pollyanna.

I've tagged the schedule/announcements list for the group, but all are welcome. If you'd like to be tagged for any/all of the above, please comment!

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! I'm still plowing through The Last of the Mohicans!! I'm really looking forward to rereading Rilla, and Pollyanna with the group!! 2w
BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I‘m interested to hear what you think once the plowing is done! I don‘t regret reading it, but it was disappointing. I‘m glad to be back into the journals this week and looking forward to the next several picks! 1w
28 likes2 comments
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BarbaraJean
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For our #LMMJournals readers (and those interested in the L.M. Montgomery connection!):

LMM mentions having read the book “in schooldays” and discussing it with Nate Lockhart. What did you notice in the book that might have attracted LMM as a schoolgirl? What characters and incidents do you imagine she might have discussed with Nate so enthusiastically?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Last of the Mohicans discussion (5/5)

BarbaraJean I have to admit that I'm puzzled that LMM was enthusiastic about this book! I thought maybe she would have resonated with the nature descriptions, but honestly, I didn't find them that compelling. I guess it was just the action and adventure she was so excited to discuss with Nate?! And perhaps Cora would have been a compelling figure to her? 2w
Daisey I‘m not sure what to think of this connection to LMM either. It does have some interesting scenes to discuss, but it doesn‘t resonate with me in any way that her writing does. 2w
22 likes3 comments
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BarbaraJean
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#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent - Last of the Mohicans Discussion (4/5)

In general, did you like or dislike the book? What did you enjoy or not enjoy?
Do you feel this is a classic that‘s worth reading?

BarbaraJean Honestly, I didn't enjoy this. I didn't find it engaging, for all its action. The characters initially held promise, but weren't developed at all. Cooper sacrifices character development for horrific action sequences and scenic descriptions that fell flat for me. I'm torn about whether it's worth reading for how it's shaped other writing over the years. I think it has some value as a biased but illuminating portrayal of a specific time and place ⬇ 2w
BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...in history, but I don't think I'd recommend it unless someone was specifically studying this time period and they were also seeking out supplementary sources to contextualize and balance the perspective here. 2w
Daisey I didn‘t particularly enjoy this. There were short sections at a time that were really interesting, but there were long sections between where I struggled to stay focused. 2w
21 likes3 comments