Litsy

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

“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.

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals 41m

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

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

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks This is EXACTLY how I feel when I read this type of poetry! 😂 Especially when the lines are super short. 2d

lil1inblue 😍 😍 😍 1d

27 likes2 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

“…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

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

#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?

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

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! ⬇ 4d

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 😆 4d

lauraisntwilder I'm so behind! I do plan to get caught up this week though and finish with the rest of you. 4d

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! 4d

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. 4d

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Ugggh, I‘m SO far behind on my Litsy reviews!! I have a list going back to early March 🤦🏻‍♀️ 3d

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

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

😂😂

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

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

Texreader So cute!! 7d

Ruthiella Adorable! 😂 7d

TheAromaofBooks I also need divine assistance to eat celery 😂 7d

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lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks Me too! 6d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder But have you ever worried about exciting ridicule by bringing turkeys home from the shore? 😁😂 6d

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 😂 6d

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

BarbaraJean

Rilla of Ingleside | Lucy Maud Montgomery

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!

rubyslippersreads, Daisey, LeahBergen, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Roary47, LitsyEvents, julieclair

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!! 1w

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

BarbaraJean

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 | James Fenimore Cooper

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 @rubyslippersreads, @Daisey, @DieAReader, @JenlovesJT47, @lauraisntwilder, @TheAromaofBooks, @julieclair 2w

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? 1w

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. 1w

22 likes3 comments

BarbaraJean

Rainbow Valley | L. M. Montgomery

“There are days when he growls at everybody because he thinks he is fore-ordained to eternal punishment… My own opinion is that he is not sound in his intellect, for none of that branch of the Millers were. His grandfather went out of his mind.”

Well, THAT lands differently after reading last week‘s section of LMM‘s journals. 😳😬😢

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals #LMMReread

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheBookHippie 😵‍💫 2mo

TheAromaofBooks For real!! 😥 2mo

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

“I am almost worn out and feel as if the only thing that would do me any good would be to get away out in some lonely waste place and shriek at the top of my voice for half an hour.”
—July 22, 1919 (p. 173)

Same, Maud. Same.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

dabbe 🎯🎯🎯 2mo

BarbaraJean Just saw that my tags didn't show up! @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder @JenlovesJT47 2mo

43 likes2 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

This week‘s section was ROUGH and heartbreaking to read, and I‘m glad we‘re alternating between the journals and other books! A couple questions to get us started:

What stands out to you in LMM‘s description of her grief?
What stands out in her descriptions of Ewan‘s illness and her own response to it?
Are there other sections that you found interesting or meaningful?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean This quote (and the preceding passage about their friendship) really struck me:
“I think what hurt me so keenly in these was the fact that there was no one left on earth to understand or note these things. In one letter... written one winter when I was not feeling well she said, ‘I tremble to think of what the world would be to me without you.‘
Oh, Frede, you never had to learn it. It is I who must find that out.”
(p. 131 - Mar. 23, 1919) 😭😭 2mo

BarbaraJean Several times, I was struck (again!) by how judgmental LMM is. I also noticed her own fear of judgment, specifically about Ewan & what others would think if they knew his illness was other than only a physical ailment. It was interesting to see those two things side by side and feel there was likely a parallel there: she assumes judgment in part because of her own judgmental side.

“For Ewan's own sake and the childrens' the impression must not ⬇ (edited) 2mo

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...get abroad that his mind was unbalanced. It would ruin his prospects. I talked to the people of his headaches and insomnia but I fenced the world from him as much as I could lest the other deadly thing should be suspected.” (Sept. 1, 1919: p. 149) vs. a comment like: “Flora is a stupid, uncultured, uninteresting woman but she has a heart of gold and she was kindness itself to us this summer.” (Aug. 3, 1919: p. 174) 2mo

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BarbaraJean Also, I CRACKED UP over these two parts:

“I have a long way to go before I can believe that the spirits of the dead can spell out messages on the Ouija board or that they live in an eternal pink twilight on synthetic beef tea.” (March 29, 1919: p. 134)

“The McCombs are nice enough people but their cat is nicer.” (Aug. 3, 1919: p. 173) 2mo

TheAromaofBooks Soooo many feelings in this week's section!! Wow! Can you imagine a worse year!? I think I had either not realized or maybe just forgotten that Frede died of the Spanish flu. So scary and fast. You can feel the shock and devastation on every page - to have just heard from someone and they were fine, and then 24hrs later to be told to come quickly because they're dying...!! It was hard to read. And I felt Maud's lament that she's too old to ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) make another friend like that - the kind of person you've built a lifetime of memories with, and shared so much. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks The sections about Ewan were in some ways harder to read, because it felt like so much of that grief LMM put on herself. Her obsession with appearances, combined with the lack of knowledge/empathy concerning mental health issues boxed her into a situation that was way worse than I feel like it would have been if it had happened today. I thought it was strange that they went to Massachusetts for the entire summer - was it just to keep Ewan away ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) from the neighborhood?? It was also so hard to read the beginnings of the usage of various drugs to help with sleeping and getting through the day, knowing how destructive those will be over time. And I also felt bad for Ewan, who honestly seems like a perfectly nice guy (despite all the slagging he got in basically every biography). I think until this point he and LMM have been companionable and work partners, even if they haven't ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) been passionate lovers. To go into this time of deep, deep depression and basically be told that it's your fault and you're a disgrace and have to be hidden away - ugh, so awful.

When you mentioned about LMM being really judgmental, it made me remember a footnote from the earlier section (pg47), which quoted a later journal entry of LMM's saying that her cousin James had no children and so “the old homestead of Hugh Montgomery will ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) pass into other hands with this generation.“ The footnote points out that James actually had adopted three children. I was immediately struck by how LMM definitely seems like the type of person who would not have remotely considered adopted children inheriting the same as the farm “staying in the family.“ Her high view of the Montgomerys comes through frequently, and she definitely has a lot of feelings about “class“ and who belongs ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) where.

It's interesting to me how deeply the idea of someone being “insane“ haunted LMM. She says on pg149 “Was my husband going out of his mind? He had every symptom given in the encyclopedia on that type of insanity. It was one of the things I had always had the most deeply rooted horror of.“

I wonder why it horrified her so much?? 2mo

lauraisntwilder The week got away from me and I'm behind on my reading, but I'll come back and discuss when I get caught up! 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Ugh, yes—I felt that lament, too. It‘s hard NOW to form new, deep friendships as an adult, and our circles & connections are so much broader. It wasn‘t just the impossibility of ever finding another kindred spirit like Frede (that‘s there, too), but losing a longtime friend in mid-life—the memories, shared jokes, and depth of knowledge that are GONE, and all the life ahead of her that she had to face without her beloved friend! 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks The sections about Ewan were harder for me, too—especially because of my own “what ifs” and because so much has changed over the years with attitudes about and available treatment for mental illness. It‘s especially painful to see LMM‘s feelings of shame and helplessness, knowing both would be FAR different today. Then I wonder about how her own mental health might have been different if she hadn‘t married at all, or had married ⬇ 2mo

BarbaraJean (cont‘d) someone different (just NOT Edwin Simpson 😏). That quote I highlighted last week about emotional heights and depths—I think she needed someone stable and grounded to help balance out that part of her emotional life. And I think you‘re right, her feelings about/responses to Ewan‘s depression had to affect his mental health as well! It seems like his depression triggered a vicious cycle that was very unhealthy for both of them. 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks My guess about her horror of mental illness is that she saw it as deeply shameful, AND she worried it would be passed on to their children. Take her judgmental opinions and high views of her own heritage—not wanting to bring “that“ into the family—add in her deep fear over “what others would think,” plus the stigma at that time about mental health: and her deep horror about it makes a lot of sense to me. 2mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder I get it! I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you're caught up! 2mo

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