Litsy

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

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kwmg40

Rilla of Ingleside | L.M. Montgomery

pick

The story of Anne's daughter, this novel describes in realistic detail the lives of Canadians during WWI. Despite the heavy themes, this story still has plenty of charm and humour. I especially liked reading about the 1917 federal election as we were going through the 2025 federal election.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread @BarbaraJean
#52bookclub25 (Has a moon on the cover)
#gottacatchemall (Emolga: cute character) @PuddleJumper

PuddleJumper I didn't know there were that many books in that series 2w

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BarbaraJean

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

Dog Monday. Every single time. 😭😭😭

#SundayFunday
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

BookmarkTavern

BookmarkTavern Love this series! Thanks for sharing! 2w

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LitsyEvents

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

repost for @BarbaraJean

Hello, Kindred Spirits!

Here‘s the schedule for the next few months of the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead—including a couple of #LMMAdjacent books, Vol. 5 of the #LMMJournals, and for #LMMReread, the beginning of the Emily books.

I‘ll include the tag list for each book in the comments below. All are welcome—let me know if you want to be added to (or removed from!) any of the tag lists.

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BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

Hello, Kindred Spirits!

Here‘s the schedule for the next few months of the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead—including a couple of #LMMAdjacent books, Vol. 5 of the #LMMJournals, and for #LMMReread, the beginning of the Emily books.

I‘ll include the tag list for each book in the comments below. All are welcome—let me know if you want to be added to (or removed from!) any of the tag lists.

LitsyEvents

BarbaraJean Beautiful Joe: @TheAromaofBooks, @rubyslippersreads, @julieclair, @lauraisntwilder, @JenLovesJT47

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography

BarbaraJean Journals: @TheAromaofBooks, @lauraisntwilder, @JenLovesJT47 3w

BarbaraJean Emily of New Moon: @kwmg40, @TheAromaofBooks, @rubyslippersreads, @JenLovesJT47

Emily of New Moon

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BarbaraJean Story of an African Farm: @TheAromaofBooks, @julieclair, @lauraisntwilder

The story of an African farm: a novel

TheAromaofBooks I bought this volume of journals before we moved and now I can't find it!! Three weeks to do some serious crate rummaging 😂 3w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Oh nooooo! Hope you unearth it quickly! 3w

lauraisntwilder I don't think I'm going to end up reading Beautiful Joe. I'll be traveling right then and I already have my books for the trip picked out! 😄 Yes to all the others though, including Emily of New Moon, if you could add me to that one? I love Emily. Thank you!! 3w

julieclair I‘m going to bow out of Beautiful Joe. I didn‘t realize part of the story was about animal abuse, and don‘t think I‘m up for that right now. 💙 2w

BarbaraJean @julieclair Oof—I understand! I‘ll tag you back in when we get to Story of an African Farm. 2w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Got it! I‘ll tag you for everything except Beautiful Joe. 2w

julieclair @BarbaraJean Thanks! 😘 2w

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BarbaraJean

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

“Miss Oliver dear, you are all tired out and unstrung—just you go upstairs and lie down and I will bring you up a cup of hot tea and a bite of toast and very soon you will not want to slam doors or swear.“
“Susan, you're a good soul—a very pearl of Susans! But, Susan, it would be such a relief—to say just one soft, low, little tiny d—“

😂 😂 I‘m with Miss Oliver on this one…
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

kwmg40 Me too! 😂 3w

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BarbaraJean

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

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

Is there anything else you‘d like to discuss from Rilla of Ingleside?
Was there anything that bothered or frustrated you about the book?
Do you have any favorite passages or scenes you‘d like to share?

Daisey, lauraisntwilder, CSeydel, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder This is Rilla's book, I know that, but it still makes me sad how little of Anne and Avonlea we get. At one point, Anne mentions not being able to do anything and almost said, "Go write something!" out loud. There's one, very brief, mention of Diana, and Marilla has died between books with no fanfare. Is Rachel Lynde also dead? And did Davy Keith end up in the war? What happened to all our friends?? 1mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder I felt that, too. The little comment about Marilla made me SO sad! As you said, it's Rilla's book--and I think it also reflects how relationships changed for LMM as she grew up, got married, and moved away. But no mention of Davy is so puzzling. There is a brief mention of other boys going off to war--children of Anne's childhood and college friends. But no Davy. It's odd. I know LMM was tired of Anne by this point, but still! 4w

BarbaraJean One scene I'd forgotten that REALLY bothered me this time was little Bruce Meredith and the “sacrifice“ he makes about Stripey. I was HORRIFIED. LMM often uses children's mistaken ideas as a way to critique established religion, but I couldn't fathom what narrative purpose there could have been with that scene. I loved Bruce's earlier spot-on take about making the Kaiser into a good man, but the Stripey scene just canceled it all out for me. 4w

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BarbaraJean But then, on the other hand--Dog Monday. 😭 😭 😭 4w

lauraisntwilder Pets had it rough in this one!! Poor Stripey! 😭 4w

kwmg40 I loved the whole Dog Monday storyline. Yes, it was predictable and a real tear-jerker but I totally fell for it.
I also enjoyed the passages about the 1917 election and the conscription issue, partly because we in Canada were going through our own latest federal election while I reading these pages. 3w

BarbaraJean @kwmg40 Dog Monday makes me weep every single time!! 3w

20 likes7 comments

BarbaraJean

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

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

On this umpteenth re-read for me, what struck me as new (more than just the “new” passages that I discovered had been excised from my old faithful Bantam paperback!!), was seeing so much of LMM‘s WWI experience on the page.

If you‘ve been reading LMM‘s journals, what did you notice in Rilla of Ingleside that echoed LMM‘s thoughts and experiences during WWI?

Daisey, lauraisntwilder, CSeydel, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder The journals added so much! I've only read this one other time, in 2023, but I enjoyed it more this time. LMM's terror over the war news makes so much sense in a household with so many young men of "fighting age." It must have been therapeutic for her, to give meaning to those awful years. 1mo

lauraisntwilder Specifically, I saw Susan as a sort of stand-in for LMM. She puts her faith in Kitchener and studies maps and waits for news. LMM doesn't quite let us see Susan's moments of weakness though, which is one of the main reasons her journals were so important to her. Her own moments were written out, so she made Susan cook and knit. 1mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder I saw SO many echoes of LMM's WWI entries! There were references to people, places, and battles that I remembered reading & finding tedious in LMM's journals. 😂 I hadn't thought about Susan as an LMM stand-in, but I think you're right! The way the anticipation/dread of the news arriving overshadowed the whole household felt like it was lifted directly from LMM's journals, and Susan really embodied that. 4w

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Daisey I haven‘t been reading the journals, but I definitely got more of the daily WWI experience aspect this time just having more knowledge myself of events mentioned. I had forgotten just how much that was the entire focus of the story. 4w

kwmg40 I really liked how LMM incorporated so many of the details of everyday life during WWI. It seemed more authentic to me than many historical novels I'd read, since this wasn't really historical fiction but a novel written very soon after the actual events. I also learned some things. I hadn't realized that DST began in Canada as a result of WWI! 3w

BarbaraJean @Daisey @kwmg40 Yes, I think one of the big strengths of this novel is how it focuses on the daily experience of WWI on the home front in Canada, and how that daily life was affected by events abroad. I hadn't realized that about DST either! (And I have to admit, I agree with Susan about DST and admire her commitment to continue living on “God's Time“ in every way she could 😆) 3w

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BarbaraJean

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

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

“No, I don‘t like you and I never will but for all that I‘m going to make a decent, upstanding infant of you. …If I can‘t love you I mean to be proud of you at least.”

Rilla ambitiously takes on the care of an infant—a “war-baby”—in spite of the fact she does NOT like babies.

What did you think of this storyline?
How does Jims contribute to Rilla‘s own growth?

Daisey, lauraisntwilder, CSeydel, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder I think it's a nice part of the book even if it does remind me of those dolls high schoolers have to take care of to scare them out of teen pregnancy, except Jims is a real baby! It does make Rilla grow up, but so does everything else going on. It also says a lot about Gilbert, who clearly thinks young Rilla is too flighty. 1mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder 😂 I love the high school parallel! I found this storyline kind of random before--there are enough other things going on that grow Rilla up that throwing a baby in there seemed unnecessary (other than making her “motherly“ 🙄). But I was impressed this time around how LMM gave Rilla such an aversion to babies and didn't have her quickly fall in love with Jims! That felt like a nice counterbalance, and keeps Rilla from being ⬇ 4w

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...a stereotype: the girl who aspires to being wife and mother. We're told Rilla has no ambitions, and it's refreshing that the narrative doesn't flatten her into wifehood by default. Yes, she longs for Ken to return from the war and marry her, but LMM deepens Rilla beyond the default female roles of the time even as Rilla grows into those roles, if that makes sense. Somehow the way LMM handles the Jims narrative is part of that. 4w

kwmg40 I did like this storyline, as it gave the impetus for much of the development of Rilla's character. I liked seeing how some of her attitudes change as she grows but also how, in some ways, she still retains her youthful ways. 3w

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BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

Hello #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead-ers! I‘m looking at a tentative schedule for the next few months:

Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders (2 weeks)
Journals Vol. 5 (2 weeks)
Emily of New Moon (3 weeks)
Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner (3 weeks)
Journals Vol. 5 (3 weeks)
Emily Climbs (3 weeks)
“The Lay of the Brown Rosary” & Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (4 weeks)

THAT takes us to mid-October & finishes Vol. 5 of the journals.⤵️

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

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) Take a look and let me know where you‘d like to join in. I added Beautiful Joe right after Pollyanna, so we‘ll be reading two of LMM‘s fellow L.C. Page & Co. authors back to back.

Note: I added two books I forgot to put into our voting a couple months ago. LMM mentions Story of an African Farm multiple times in her journals (it‘s considered a feminist classic) and there‘s another reference to it in Vol. 5, so I added it here. ⬇

The story of an African farm: a novel

(edited) 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) Aurora Leigh is referenced in Vol. 2 of the journals and in Emily Climbs. It‘s also really long (350-400 pages) AND it‘s a novel in verse, which may not be everyone‘s cup of tea. If nobody‘s interested in either of those, I can pull them out and reconfigure things.

FINALLY: a preview of other potential adjacent books:
Ivanhoe—Sir Walter Scott
Life of Charlotte Bronte—Elizabeth Gaskell
More Tramps Abroad—Mark Twain ⬇

Aurora Leigh

(edited) 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) People voted for the above three books in our poll but they‘re each 400-600 pages, so I‘m going to parcel them out more sparingly. I might add Gaskell‘s Charlotte Bronte bio after we finish the Emily books, since there are a lot of parallel vibes between Emily & Jane Eyre.

After all of THAT… 😂 Let me know what you‘d like to be tagged for, and I‘ll post a finalized schedule soon!

The Life of Charlotte Bronte

(edited) 1mo

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rubyslippersreads I had that copy of Beautiful Joe as a child. I read it over and over. 🐶 1mo

kwmg40 I‘d definitely like to continue with the #LMMReread books (the Emily ones from this list). Thanks! 1mo

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! I'm down for any/all of these. Like @rubyslippersreads I had a copy of Beautiful Joe that I read so many time growing up. It has very Black Beauty vibes. I'm a little scared of Aurora Leigh but am willing to give it a try if everyone else wants to read it 😂 4w

BarbaraJean @rubyslippersreads It's such a sweet cover! @kwmg40 I'll make sure to tag you for the Emily books! @TheAromaofBooks Knowing your feelings about poetry, I was definitely thinking of you when I said Aurora might not be everyone's cup of tea 😂 I'll give it a few more days to see who else weighs in, but I think I'll start with a schedule for the summer and we can revisit interest in Aurora when we get to August and Emily Climbs! 4w

rubyslippersreads Ivanhoe is also a #BetsyTacy adjacent book. 🙂 4w

julieclair I‘d like to read all of these except the journals. I‘m a bit hesitant about Aurora Leigh, but I‘d like to give it a try! Thanks so much for organizing all of this for us, @BarbaraJean ! 💙 4w

BarbaraJean @rubyslippersreads I have never read Betsy-Tacy! 😱 Maybe I need to read it when we get to Ivanhoe 😄 @julieclair I'll put you on all the lists except the journals! I'm thinking I might pre-read some of Aurora Leigh, see what it's like, and report back. I love the “Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God“ quote, but that's really the extent of my familiarity. @TheAromaofBooks 4w

TheAromaofBooks Ohhh you would probably really like Betsy-Tacy!! It's a series that starts out for and about younger readers, and the books get more advanced as the characters get older - Betsy is married by the end of the series!! They're super cute. 4w

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