Litsy

Confession: I‘m only just now starting Magic for Marigold 🙃 How‘s everyone else‘s reading coming along?! #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

rubyslippersreads, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

charl08 Beautiful rose! 2d

kwmg40 I haven't managed to start this one yet, but I hope to do so soon! 2d

AnnCrystal 🤩📚🌹📚💝. 2d

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TheAromaofBooks I am planning to read it this week. I'm still trying to get into the 2026 groove 😂 2d

rubyslippersreads I feel better now; I haven‘t started either. 😁 1d

BarbaraJean @charl08 💛 🌹There were no marigolds handy for a picture with Magic for Marigold, so an orange rose seemed appropriate! 1d

BarbaraJean @kwmg40 @TheAromaofBooks @rubyslippersreads I'm so glad we're all the same amount of behind!! 😆 1d

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LitsyEvents

Magic for Marigold | L.M. Montgomery

repost for @BarbaraJean

With the holiday chaos, I've neglected to post a #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead schedule for January and beyond...but here it is now!

We'll start with an #LMMReread of Magic for Marigold, then it's on to #LMMAdjacent reads: Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte, and Tish Plays the Game. Then we can decide if we want to read/re-read Jane Eyre together. We'll jump back into the #LMMJournals sometime in March or April!

dabbe The new #LELH (#LitsyEventsLittleHelper) spreadsheet has been updated! 🤩

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xB17c0YZ6-IcngwWteNPyWiwoLn3bvcb7kjtqOLu...

@LitsyEvents 1w

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BarbaraJean

Magic for Marigold | L.M. Montgomery

With the holiday chaos, I've neglected to post a #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead schedule for January and beyond...but here it is now!

We'll start with an #LMMReread of Magic for Marigold, then it's on to #LMMAdjacent reads: Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte, and Tish Plays the Game. Somewhere in there we can decide whether we want to read/re-read Jane Eyre together. We'll jump back into the #LMMJournals sometime in March or April!

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

BarbaraJean Please let me know if you'd like to be tagged for any or all of the above. All are welcome! 2w

kwmg40 I‘ll be reading Magic for Marigold. 2w

rubyslippersreads Please tag me on everything. 😀 2w

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BarbaraJean @kwmg40 I‘ve put you on the tag list for Marigold! @rubyslippersreads I‘ve put you on allll the lists! @TheAromaofBooks Just FYI I‘ve also put you on all the tag lists 😁 1w

TheAromaofBooks You know it haha I got distracted ordering a copy of The Life of Charlotte Bronte and forgot to comment earlier 😂 1w

julieclair Hooray! Please add me to all tag lists except the journals. 🥰 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks “I got distracted ordering a copy of The Life of Charlotte Brontë” may be my favorite sentence this week ?? @julieclair Yay! Done! 1w

TheAromaofBooks Well if I'm going to order a book I at least want it to be pretty 😂 Although it can backfire, as I'm still waiting for my copy of Shirley to arrive and am not sure I am ever going to catch up with the Hashtag Brigade!! 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks 😂 Oh no about Shirley! And chapter a day seems totally doable but then it adds up so quickly. I always feel like I'm behind with the Hashtag Brigade because I usually read my chapter in the evening. I need to start reading one chapter in advance! 1w

TheAromaofBooks I usually do my chapters with breakfast, but there have been some books we've read where I am like... this is actually NOT how I want to start my day 😂 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Hahaha… yeah, I wouldn‘t have wanted to start the day with Grapes of Wrath! That was one I didn‘t want to end my day with, either 😆 6d

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BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest discussion - 4/4

“‘The Murray pride,‘ whispered Mrs. Kent, staring at her.
‘After all, Emily Starr, I believe pride is a stronger passion with you than love.‘
‘Perhaps,‘ said Emily, smiling.”

What role do you see Emily‘s pride playing in her relationships with Teddy and Ilse?
Do you agree with Mrs. Kent, that pride is a stronger passion for Emily than love?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I completely think pride is Emily's primary characteristic. But I actually think it may have been LMM's as well, so it checks out. Emily does and says so many things based on “what people will think.“ I can somewhat understand her interactions with Teddy - fearing that her feelings are more serious than his - but she still allows pride to override her desire to be with him. 1mo

TheAromaofBooks As a side note, I was also disappointed in the way that Ilse and Emily's friendship just sort of disappeared here. I understand that it's part of growing up, but it felt like Emily purposefully refused to say anything of her true feelings to Ilse - again, because of pride - and it felt strange that they could be the best friends in the world!!! and neither of them even knew that the other liked either of the boys that they also were close to?? 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Oh, I hadn't thought about that pride connection with LMM! But YES, that rings true in so many ways. And I agree about Emily and Ilse's friendship. Ilse is so clueless as to what's going on with Emily, I think partly because she's kind of oblivious to emotional nuances... but also, Emily withholds SO much out of pride. Plot-wise, the withholding is necessary since the resulting misunderstanding is central to the conflict here ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...but it's so sad to me that their friendship becomes just this surface shell of what it was when they were younger. All four were such chums growing up... I really liked their little group. They seemed so well-matched. And the way they all withhold their true feelings breaks that up on all sides. Except for Perry. Good old Perry. 1mo

kwmg40 Emily's pride is definitely a hinderance, and as @TheAromaofBooks said in a comment to another post, it's the real reason her writing career had been interrupted. 1mo

26 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest discussion 3/4:

Emily‘s writing is a key theme (if not THE key theme) in the Emily books. What did you think of how LMM chose to flesh out Emily‘s writing career in this final book of the trilogy?

Do you think Emily‘s writing was overshadowed by the themes of romance and the back-and-forth with Teddy and Dean in this book?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder I think I might think the writing part was overshadowed by the romance, if Anne had ever gotten anywhere with her writing. Just in comparison to Anne, Emily's writing seems so important. 1mo

TheAromaofBooks If anything, I think Emily's writing is held back by her own pride and ambitions. She doesn't sacrifice her writing for Dean - she does so because she thinks it's not good enough. And I actually don't get the impression that she is going to stop writing after she marries Teddy, because he understands how important it is to her. (Unlike Dean, ironically.) However, I think the STORY somewhat gets overshadowed by focusing on Emily's romance instead ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) of her writing - I feel like the main plot of Emily would be summarized by her choose between two men rather than her spending her time writing. And maybe part of the problem is that LMM wanted to write about a woman who wants to write, but her publishers/readers want to read about a woman finding love? And consequently this book feels a little compromise-y. 1mo

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BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Yeah, Emily's writing is so central to who she is, while writing never seems central to Anne. Emily can't NOT write! That still comes across even though there's so much romance drama in this book. @TheAromaofBooks I think you're right that the story in this book specifically shifts its focus to the romance. This book overall is super uneven, and I agree--it feels like a compromise between who LMM envisioned Emily to be ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...and what her publisher/readers wanted the book to be. In her journals, when she was discussing the first or second Emily book, she mentioned something about how she couldn't write the romance the way she wanted to, either. I'm SO curious what these three books would have been like if LMM had been able to free herself from the “what would people think“ inhibitions! 1mo

kwmg40 Everyone else has summarized quite well what I thought of the writing vs romance themes, so I don't have anything more to add. @BarbaraJean, I too would be curious to find out how LMM would have written this book had she the full freedom to do so. 1mo

22 likes6 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest discussion 2/4:

LMM‘s comments in her journals about Emily‘s Quest indicate she found it difficult to write, and thought it was “no good.”

Do you think her writing difficulties show in the novel? If so, in what ways?
Do you agree with her assessment that it‘s “no good”? What do you see as the book‘s weaknesses?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean I'll drop a little reminder here for @TheAromaofBooks and @lauraisntwilder that we'll be finishing up Vol. 6 of the journals this week! 1mo

lauraisntwilder I don't think it's "no good," but I can see why she saw it as a decline in quality. But also, she didn't want to write it, so how could she love it? 1mo

TheAromaofBooks I'm obviously not a fan of this book, so I tried to think about it a little more objectively, as a piece of writing and not just a story. I wouldn't say that it's “no good“ but I can see why LMM felt frustrated by it. Like @lauraisntwilder pointed out, she didn't particularly want to write this book, and I wonder if, perhaps subconsciously, some of her resentment comes through, by giving Emily a hard time and a somewhat ambiguous ending. 1mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks Right?! It had to be frustrating to write a book she didn't want to write. In her journals she talks about hating having to write “to order,“ and she doesn't mean these books specifically, but I think that feeling shows in some of her sequels (especially the later add-on Anne books, like Anne of Ingleside). I agree, I don't think it's “no good,“ but I can understand why she felt that way. And it's not AS good! 1mo

kwmg40 My assessment of the book is not as harsh as LMM's own, but there were definitely weaknesses. The ending wrapped up too tidily to be believable. I wonder if LMM was thinking, “OK, I've reached the required word count. Let's finish this off quickly!“ 1mo

21 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest Discussion 1/4

What is your impression of the book overall? How does it compare to the other Emily books—in tone, theme, quality? How does it compare to LMM‘s novels overall, so far?

If you‘re reading the journals, what do you see in Emily‘s Quest that mirrors LMM‘s own life? Do you see qualities in Emily that reflect LMM?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder I think this one is the weakest of the Emily books, but it's still better than Kilmeny, I think, and so of her others that we haven't gotten to yet in this round of rereads. 1mo

lauraisntwilder The section of Emily reading reviews reminded me of LMM's similar reactions in her journals. 1mo

TheAromaofBooks I agree with @lauraisntwilder - this definitely felt like the weakest of the three books to me, but not her overall weakest book. There just isn't much “drive“ to this book - I never really got behind Teddy or Dean as love interests. The side story with Ilse and Teddy/Perry also feels kind of awkward. It's an okay story, but I think it lacks some of the “sparkle“ that her other books have - maybe because there isn't as strong of cast of ⬇ 1mo

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) background/secondary characters? Everyone abandons Emily and heads off to start new lives. Hearing that eventually Emily's cousin is going to inherit (and basically destroy) New Moon made me wonder anew why Emily chose to stay there instead of pursuing opportunities elsewhere. When Anne postponed dreams to stay at GG, it was because doing so saved her home. I still feel like Emily stayed because she was scared to take a jump. The other ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) weird thing about this book is how much time it covers, especially at the very end, where apparently YEARS go by before Teddy comes back!? It just doesn't jive for me. 1mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks It's definitely my least favorite of the Emily books, even though I was completely on board with Teddy as the love interest! I think the Emily/Teddy/Ilse/Perry love quadrangle is one of the worst parts of the book. The Ilse & Teddy pairing seems so contrived and I hate the way LMM distances Emily & Ilse in order for it to happen. And Sarah, I felt the same way about the timing at the end. The pacing is WAY off. ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) Also, I'd forgotten that Andrew was going to inherit New Moon, and I DEFINITELY saw parallels with LMM and her awful uncle!! As well as parallels between Emily staying at New Moon and the way LMM stays in Cavendish and feels left behind...her childhood friends have all left or changed dramatically. Emily's decision to stay makes sense at the end of Emily Climbs, but LMM kind of drops that reasoning here, in favor of the Dean subplot. 1mo

kwmg40 This is my least favourite of the LMM books I've read, but I still enjoyed it. The romantic quadrangle took up so much of the book, in contrast to other LMM books that featured more fascinating side characters and interesting subplots. 1mo

20 likes8 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

My reactions as I re-read the first half of Emily‘s Quest this week:
Tearing up over Mr. Carpenter
Pleading with Emily to NOT show her book to Dean
LOATHING DEAN
Pleading with Emily to send her book to Miss Royal in NYC for another opinion
LOATHING DEAN
Thinking that buying the Disappointed House may be the only thing Dean has done that I approve of
And some agonizing about Teddy

How is your reading going? 😆
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

Ruthiella But how do you feel about Dean? 😂😂😂 2mo

kwmg40 I'm only a quarter of the way through, but I'm already loathing Dean! 2mo

BarbaraJean @Ruthiella I probably should have been clearer about my emotions. 😂 😂 😂 @kwmg40 Right?!? Chapter 6 is the absolute WORST. 2mo

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lauraisntwilder My library card expired, so I couldn't check out the audio book as planned. I fixed it today, so I'll catch up this week! (I already hate Dean though. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks I just started this one yesterday, and am NOT looking forward to Creepy Dean!! 2mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Oh no! Glad you got it sorted out… and sorry about Dean 😆 @TheAromaofBooks Every time I read this, I hate him more. 2mo

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LitsyEvents

The Ladies of Missalonghi | Colleen McCullough

Reposting for @BarbaraJean
Here‘s the next month for #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead! We‘re just starting the tagged book for #LMMAdjacent, then after one more week back in the #LMMJournals, we‘ll return to the Emily books with Emily Climbs for an #LMMReread. Tag lists are in the comments… but all are welcome! Let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be!

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BarbaraJean

The Ladies of Missalonghi | Colleen McCullough

Here‘s the next month for #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead! We‘re just starting the tagged book for #LMMAdjacent, then after one more week back in the #LMMJournals, we‘ll return to the Emily books with Emily Climbs for an #LMMReread. Tag lists are in the comments… but all are welcome! Let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be!

LitsyEvents

BarbaraJean Tag list for Missalonghi: @TheAromaofBooks, @julieclair, @lauraisntwilder, @rubyslippersreads, @DrSabrinaMoldenReads

The Ladies of Missalonghi

3mo

BarbaraJean Tag list for journals and Emily‘s Quest: @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder

Emily's Quest

3mo

BarbaraJean Okay, Missalonghi readers, I have no idea what‘s going on with chapters in this book. I have found no chapter divisions in the print copy. The Hoopla audio has 9 chapters. Searches online say: 1. There are chapters, 2. There are no chapters, 3. There are 19 chapters. All followed by the caveat: “AI answers may contain mistakes.” 🙄 I don‘t know where I got 22 chapters from. 🤷🏻‍♀️ So: read roughly half this week & we‘ll check in on Saturday! 😆 (edited) 3mo

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TheAromaofBooks I just picked this up this morning and realized that it has no chapters 😂 Who does that!?!? 3mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Terry Pratchett does that and as much as I love Pratchett it drives me crazy! I started reading last night thinking I‘d read a couple chapters and see how far that took me. At page 30 of a 200-ish page book, I thought the first chapter was getting kind of long, and I started flipping ahead. By page 100 I realized I had yet again made a huge mistake in trusting a chapter count I found online 😂 3mo

TheAromaofBooks That has actually been my biggest problem with reading the Discworld books! For some reason, the lack of chapters really turns me off of a book, and I can't even explain why 😂 3mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I feel the same—the lack of chapters turns me off! I think my brain prefers defined units of content so I know how many bits there are to parcel out. I've seen quotes from Pratchett saying he thought chapters broke up the natural flow of a story. But NOT having them kind of breaks my brain a little. I mean, you have to stop somewhere and I'd rather know where the author would stop! I guess he does use scene breaks, but still. ⬇ 3mo

BarbaraJean The last Pratchett I read was an ebook version on Hoopla and it didn't even have any designation of where the scene breaks were. It gave me narrative whiplash to start a new paragraph and find I was suddenly in a completely different place with a different group of characters. That pulled me out of the narrative flow more than chapters would have! 3mo

TheAromaofBooks Oh wow, that would be SO confusing! He definitely jumps around, so I can't imagine not even having the warning of an extra space! 😂 2mo

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