LucyMaudMontgomery

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

Repost for @BarbaraJean

May 1 begins the next #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead iteration! We‘ll read the Complete Journals interspersed with LMM-adjacent books & LMM rereads. The pace is ~100 pages per week, with Saturday check-ins to chat about the week's reading.

#LMMJournals #LMMAdjacent #LMMRereads

See original post at https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2725037

BarbaraJean Thank you for sharing!! 2d

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BarbaraJean

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

Just a reminder: May 1 begins the next #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead iteration! We‘ll read the Complete Journals interspersed with LMM-adjacent books & LMM rereads. The pace is ~100 pages per week, with Saturday check-ins to chat about the week's reading.

I‘ve tagged those who were interested, but all are welcome! Comment if you'd like to join—for some or all! Re-reads will pop up in Vol. 2 of the journals. #LMMJournals #LMMAdjacent #LMMRereads

rubyslippersreads, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks, LitsyEvents

BarbaraJean @sblbooks I have you down for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm once we get to it in June! 3d

TheAromaofBooks Yay!!! I'm really stoked about this!!! 3d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Meeeee toooo!!! 2d

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julieclair Yay! I would like to be tagged for the Adjacents and Rereads, please. If it‘s easier, feel free to tag me for the journals as well. 1d

BarbaraJean @julieclair I can definitely tag you just for the adjacents and rereads! Looking forward to having you join in! 1d

julieclair Thanks! Looking forward to it! 5h

23 likes6 comments

BarbaraJean

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

Here's a weekly schedule for the next #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead iteration! This includes the Complete Journals with LMM-adjacent books & LMM rereads slotted in roughly chronologically. The pace is ~100 pages per week, and I'll post Saturday check-ins to chat about the week's reading. Those who were interested are tagged, but anyone is welcome! Comment if you'd like to join—for some or all! (Cont'd) ⬇
#LMMJournals #LMMAdjacent #LMMReread

rubyslippersreads, quietjenn, LeahBergen, Prairiegirl_reading, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, sblbooks, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair, willaful

BarbaraJean This May/June schedule goes to the end of the Complete Journals Vol. 1, and includes adjacent books that LMM mentions or that may have been influential for her during this time (no rereads yet—AoGG pops up in Vol. 2). LMM mentions a TON of books she was reading, from poetry to novels and more, so if something stands out to you that‘s not on the schedule, please bring it up! It would be fun to add in more adjacent reads if people are interested. ⬇ (edited) 3w

BarbaraJean Also, I came across this and thought it was interesting—the L.M. Montgomery Bookshelf: https://kindredspaces.ca/bookshelf. It collects “some of Montgomery's most-loved or most interesting reads.“ It includes scans of relevant pages or the full text of various books that were important to LMM, along with notes on each. There are only 20 titles there, but it's fascinating to look through! 3w

TheAromaofBooks Wow!!! This is fantastic!!!! Thank you so much for pulling it together. I am definitely in for this!! 3w

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rubyslippersreads I‘m excited about this! 3w

sblbooks I'm in for Rebecca of Sunnybrook. 3w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @rubyslippersreads 🎉 🎉 I'm so looking forward to reading along with you both! @sblbooks Yaaaay! I'll be sure to tag you for those weeks. 3w

TheAromaofBooks My library has Volume 1, so I am going to check it out and that will let me see if I want to make the financial investment of slowly purchasing all these journals as we read them 😂 3w

rubyslippersreads @sblbooks I have the Shirley Temple edition. 😄 (Although the movie has very little to do with the book, since book Rebecca doesn‘t go on the radio.) 3w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Totally understand!! There are no copies of any of the journals in either of the library systems I have cards for! 😩 I could get a card at yet another library that‘s not terribly far, but that would mean driving 30-40 minutes there to get the card and the book and then driving back to return it… so I broke down and bought the first two volumes online. But, for what it‘s worth, I also discovered that Vol. 1 is on Internet Archive! (edited) 3w

sblbooks @rubyslippersreads I didn't even know there was a Shirley Temple movie for this book. I'll have to see if I can find it 3w

lauraisntwilder I haven't been online much lately, so I missed this. I'm definitely in though! Thank you! 3w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder No worries--knowing that this schedule is more complicated and the journals aren't as readily available, I wanted to give plenty of advance notice! Glad to have you along for the ride again!! 3w

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BarbaraJean

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Fragrance of Sweet-Grass discussion (4/4)

Were there new insights or perspectives that you gained through this reading?
Did this reading cause you to notice anything about LMM‘s work that you hadn‘t noticed before?

rubyslippersreads, TheAromaofBooks, willaful

willaful I'll have to answer this one later. I'm at my mom's (she just had surgery -- is doing fine!) and couldn't bring the book with me to check my bookmarks. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks I appreciated that Epperly seemed more into fitting LMM's writing into a larger, world-events kind of context more than the nitty-gritty of LMM's personal life. It was interesting to think about which books were written before, during, and after WWI, and how those feelings impacted LMM's writing and themes. For instance, it made a lot of the weirdo-obsessions of Pat make more sense in the larger theme of “the war has changed everything.“ 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Yes, I appreciated that aspect of her writing as well. She didn't try to shoehorn every book into a specific biographical context or match up every plot point to events in LMM's life. The current events context made much more sense--and really enriched my understanding of House of Dreams and Rainbow Valley especially. And YES about Pat. Like you, I thought the comparison of Pat and Jane was really well done. 2mo

BarbaraJean @willaful Glad your mom is doing well!! Upon @TheAromaofBooks suggestion, I may post some more placeholders for further thoughts on different sections! I have quite a few notes and underlines that I could share and I know Sarah has plenty of notes, too 😁 2mo

willaful I just finished -- handily, got three space on the March #ISpyBingo with this 😂 --and I agree with @TheAromaOfBooks that getting the wider context for the books was really interesting. I was also intrigued by learning about all the references and allusions. 2mo

17 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Fragrance of Sweet-Grass discussion (3/4)

What significant points do you think Epperly really got right?
Were there any significant points you disagreed with?

rubyslippersreads, TheAromaofBooks, willaful

willaful I agreed with most of her personal reactions--about the way Anne loses her personality over time, & the richness of the Emily books.

My main disagreement was re Teddy & Dean. I haven't reread the Emily books in a long time & I came to them later than Anne, when there was a revival of interest in Montgomery and many more books of hers were available than were at my childhood libraries. But I'm positive I was not on Dean's side of the triangle. 2mo

willaful I think it's kind of funny that the author, while clearly seeing how far superior Teddy is for Emily as a life partner, is still captivated by Dean's broody Rochester-ness and assumes everyone else is too. 😂 2mo

TheAromaofBooks I did agree with most of what she had to say (except about Anne of Avonlea; I felt like she was way too harsh on that book). There were also times that she made very sweeping statements about heroines only struggling because of their female status, without remotely exploring other possibilities (i.e. would Emily's family have been excited to have a BOY who was into writing poetry instead of farming...?? Maybe, maybe not). Like @willaful I felt ⬇ 2mo

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) that she was WAY to easy on Dean. He's literally a groomer, but she doesn't really touch on the super creepy aspect of their age difference within the context of him “claiming“ her when she is a CHILD and then purposefully “molding her mind“ over the next decade. Instead, Epperly acts like they are intellectual equals, thus making Dean's “friendship“ a positive aspect of Emily's life. Very debatable. ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Things I liked - I thought her analysis of Rilla was really well done, and I actually loved her analysis of House of Dreams, especially within its context of being written/published during the war. Aside from Dean, I thought the views on the Emily trilogy were quite good. Overall, while I quibbled with some details in each chapter, I found myself mostly agreeing with overall themes. ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) If you feel like posting a specific discussion spot for each section and/or chapter, I could probably share many more feelings 😂 I made a LOT of marginal notes! 2mo

willaful @TheAromaofBooks Yes, she was overly harsh on AoA Anne. I don't think Montgomery ever meant Anne to be perfect. 2mo

willaful @TheAromaofBooks Oh, good point about Dean grooming! (edited) 2mo

TheAromaofBooks @willaful - I think she kind of ignores Anne being 16/17 in that book. It's an age where Anne is becoming an adult & learning the difference between imagination & reality, and learning that “magic“ doesn't have to be dramatic; romance CAN be found in the every day. Epperly caught some of that, but didn't give Anne a lot of grace. It's not a perfect book, but to say it's a book that “only children“ can really enjoy felt unduly harsh on both book ⬇ (edited) 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) and readers!! 2mo

BarbaraJean @willaful “captivated by Dean's broody Rochester-ness“😂 I can't stand Rochester (I think he's an ass) & I don't find Jane Eyre romantic AT ALL. But I did find the Rochester comparison very apt--they're both older men manipulating a young woman. Epperly does such a great job of pointing out all the little clues about Dean's possessiveness & manipulation, but never acknowledges the creepy groomer factor which NEEDS acknowledgement. @TheAromaofBooks 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @willaful I thought the AoA chapter was the weakest & disagreed with a lot of it, but her emphasis on the difference between narrators in the various Anne books was fascinating. I'd never thought about it, but it makes sense—and I think she's right, it's one of the reasons Anne of Avonlea feels flat in so many places. Overall, I agreed with most of the points she makes and appreciated her close analysis of so many textual details. 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Maybe we should have done this as a chapter-a-day style read!! I'm super interested to hear more of your notes - maybe I will go ahead and write several posts for discussion of each section!! I'll go back through my notes as well. 2mo

willaful @BarbaraJean Yes, I kind of wish we had! It's hard to remember everything. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks Some of the chapters were long, so it would have been a little more difficult to set up a reading schedule, but I did find myself scribbling a lot of marginal notes, both positive and negative. We all know I love expressing my opinions on books, and especially on books about books I love 😂 2mo

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BarbaraJean

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Fragrance of Sweet-Grass discussion (2/4)

What would you say is Epperly‘s overall thesis about LMM‘s heroines and their quest for romance?
Is it clear throughout the book?
Do you agree with her conclusions?

rubyslippersreads, TheAromaofBooks, willaful

willaful Unfortunately I'm not quite done, so I'm not sure I can answer this. I think she does demonstrate some progression on Montgomery's expression of the ideas, but I'm not sure all her conclusions were supported. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks I appreciated that Epperly seemed to recognize that LMM's different heroines were seeking different types of romance beyond just girl+boy=marriage. I especially enjoyed her chapter on Pat/Jane and their romance of the home. Where she fell down a little for me were times that she said that LMM only had her characters find love/marriage because it was “expected“ - in a negative way. I don't think LMM loved writing romance, but I don't think it's ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) because she didn't like romance or didn't want her characters to be married. I just think it wasn't her favorite thing to write. When Epperly quoted someone who said Dean was “the nearest L.M. Montgomery ever got to creating a plausible lover“ I kind of threw up in my mouth. 😖 I'm not sure why the analysis we've read all are down on Gilbert/Gilbert and Anne together/seem to think LMM was reluctant to have them together. @willaful 2mo

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willaful @TheAromaofBooks LOL! Yes, I also found the negativity around Gilbert odd. Perhaps she blames Gilbert for the diminishing of Anne in some of the later books? Not really fair to him. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks @willaful - I think I've never been bothered by the “diminishing“ of Anne, because I just feel like the focus was on other characters. Being an established, married, humdrum adult in your 30s/40s just isn't as interesting or engaging reading as a focus on the younger generation. I never felt like Anne herself became less of herself, she's just not as prominently featured. I thought Epperly's constant complaint about it was a little strange. ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Especially when she was griping about it in Rilla... literally the name of the book is RILLA of Ingleside, so I don't find it strange that Anne isn't the main character?? 2mo

BarbaraJean @willaful @TheAromaofBooks I also liked Epperly's expansion of “romance“ to include beauty & home, not just love+marriage. BUT I got annoyed at how many times she criticized LMM for including a traditionally romantic happy ending. Yes, LMM was writing in a time when that was expected, but as Epperly points out, she subverts so many conventions on the way there. That's where I disagree with Epperly--the love/marriage ending doesn't cancel out the ⬇ 2mo

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) rest of what LMM was doing in challenging conventions. Just because Valancy and Barney end up married doesn't negate the way Valancy flaunts conventions in nursing Cissy and staying with her and Roaring Abel. I wished there had been a better/longer analysis of Blue Castle, because I think there's a lot more there to explore re: Epperly's theme of the pursuit of romance. 2mo

BarbaraJean @willaful @TheAromaofBooks I also don't get the negativity about Gilbert + Anne. I think LMM does SO much by showing how Anne's pursuit of romance gradually changes & grows as she matures. The shift from a schoolgirl fascination with melancholy, inscrutable heroes to realizing that love is found in someone who fits you as a companion and friend, as well as a lover. THAT to me is the common thread in (and what I love about) an LMM romance! 2mo

willaful @BarbaraJean Yes, I think that progression is valuable. And there's nothing wrong with it ending in a happy ending with the right person!

2mo

TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean - I completely agree. You did a great job voicing what was nagging me about Epperly's sort of anti-traditional-ending attitude - I never feel like LMM's heroines are compromising themselves/the lessons they learned/their personal growth to achieve that HEA. Anne marrying Roy would have been a tragedy because doing so would mean Anne wasn't true *to herself* - same with other alternates (Emily/Teddy vs Emily/Dean). Epperly somewhat ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) glosses over the idea that LMM's insistence that her heroines end up marrying someone who is an equal partner to them, who respects them, who listens to their opinions and thoughts, who is unafraid of their intelligence and independence - that that in and of itself subverts the “traditional“ HEA of the time, and I think is a huge part of the reason that her stories have remained so popular and feel, in a way, timeless. I would say that ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Kilmeny is a much better example of romance from the time. And while it's a perfectly pleasant tale, it completely lacks the emotional depth of her other books, in part because I've never felt confident in Kilmeny's long-term happiness, because I've never been confident that Eric genuinely loves/respects Kilmeny as a person instead of just Kilmeny as an object. Contrasted to other HEAs throughout LMM's work - even less in-depth ⬇ 2mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) ones like Peter/Donna in A Tangled Web - there is such a difference in the way LMM presents women and their right to their own autonomy within a relationship. @willaful 2mo

willaful @TheAromaOfBooks Having finished now, I get a sense -- possibly based on my own strong bias towards romance -- that the author felt conflicted as an academic/feminist and as a romance reader. It probably didn't help that romance in the 90s was pretty dire in many ways. Note how she says that Valancy and Barney being so similar is unconventional in romance, which is no longer at all true. cont.
(edited) 2mo

willaful And I don't think was entirely true then; the only type of romance she specifically mentions is Harlequins, which leaves an entire world unexplored. She seems to personally favor the “Rochester“ sort of romantic hero: “Could the boy next door inspire worship? And passion coupled with friendship seems to work against the most powerful patterns of conventional romance, where mystery discourages friendship.“ cont. (edited) 2mo

willaful She may be genuinely noting what she saw in the literature here, but I also got a sense that it reflected her own tastes -- very much prefering Dean to Teddy, for example.

She does give Montgomery credit at the end for the “liberating contribution to the conventional romance story--having the friend become the lover“ but without seeming to truly appreciate the value of that.

I'd love to see her update this book using current romances! 2mo

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BarbaraJean

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

I am behind and haven‘t finished the last two chapters yet! But I thought I‘d go ahead and put some questions out there and then go finish my reading 😆

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Fragrance of Sweet-Grass discussion (1/4)

Have you read much literary analysis/literary criticism before?
What was it like reading this type of analysis of beloved, well-known favorites like the Anne and Emily books?

rubyslippersreads, TheAromaofBooks, willaful

rubyslippersreads I‘m behind (although I‘m pretty sure I read the Emily chapters years ago). Will try to catch up soon and answer. 2mo

willaful This is honestly just the sort of literary criticism I enjoy. It's not too academic for me to understand and has an emotional component to it. It probably helped that I mostly agreed with her. 😁 2mo

TheAromaofBooks I'm with @willaful - I felt like this was approachable but still felt “legit“ in its tone and structure. I haven't read a lot of literary analysis because I get really emotionally attached to books and don't always want to hear what others think 😂 2mo

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BarbaraJean @willaful Me too! It's accessible, and pretty much based in the text rather than pulling from esoteric literary theories. And I enjoy a closer reading of books I love. @TheAromaofBooks Yes, exactly--it was scholarly without being exclusive. 😂 😂 on the emotional attachment--I think this was one of the issues we both had with Magic Island!! 2mo

willaful @BarbaraJean “pretty much based in the text rather than pulling from esoteric literary theories.“ Yes! And I don't mind reading critique I don't agree with when it's coming from a place of love. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks It felt like Magic Island was bending over backwards to connect every single thing that happened in every single LMM story connect to LMM's personal life, so it devolved into what felt more like conspiracy theories than actual literary critique haha Epperly had a much more balanced approach so that for the most part I appreciated her thoughts even when I didn't agree with them. 2mo

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TheAromaofBooks

Across the Miles | Lucy Maud Montgomery

Well, the time has come - #LMPBC is going to be retired! 😢 I'll miss this, but everything has its season. I've created a group for mystery/thrillers, there are other options also open, and plenty of slots if you want to create your own group as well, so check out the sign-up sheet and come read along!!

bit.ly/3wioA8a

Thank you so much for hosting @suvata !!

Clare-Dragonfly Oh, no! Now I‘ll never live my dream of having True Crime (on the) Group W (bench) 😔😂 2mo

Bookwormjillk @Clare-Dragonfly lol 2mo

TheAromaofBooks @bookandbedandtea @robinb @Jerdencon - Yay!!! I'm so excited to be reading with you all again!! I'll have to rummage about for some choices for the next round. I enjoyed all our picks this past round - I'm halfway through Celine and LOVING it!! 2mo

bookandbedandtea @TheAromaofBooks @robinb @Jerdencon I'm so glad we're going to be reading together again! I'm going to come up with some ideas this weekend. 2mo

43 likes4 comments

LitsyEvents

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

via @BarbaraJean So apparently the 24th is next Saturday—who knew? 😆 I‘m not as far into this as I‘d like, but am hoping to catch up and get some questions posted next weekend! All are welcome to join in—let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

LitsyEvents original post https://www.litsy.com/web/book/2545/The-Fragrance-of-Sweet-Grass-L-M-Montgomerys... 2mo

37 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass: L.M. Montgomery's Heroines and the Pursuit of Romance | Elizabeth Rollins Epperly

So apparently the 24th is next Saturday—who knew? 😆 I‘m not as far into this as I‘d like, but am hoping to catch up and get some questions posted next weekend! All are welcome to join in—let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

rubyslippersreads, TheAromaofBooks, LitsyEvents, willaful

TheAromaofBooks I just finished the Rilla chapter yesterday, so I am plugging away haha I am actually enjoying this more than I thought I would. While I don't agree with everything, she makes a lot of good points/parallels/connections that don't feel nearly as much of a stretch as some of the others we've read! Still feel like she was unduly harsh on poor Avonlea! 😂 2mo

TheAromaofBooks I can't seem to remember.... do we have a March book to read?? 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks We do not… I‘ve been thinking about taking a break for a few months, but seeing if there‘s interest in continuing with reading the journals together. Or some related books that have come up—I‘m fascinated with all the connections Epperly is making with Jane Eyre/Aurora Leigh/Story of an African Farm. And I‘ve been told that the Ladies of Missalonghi is a complete ripoff of The Blue Castle, and would be interested in comparing!

The Ladies of Missalonghi

2mo

TheAromaofBooks Keep me in the loop!! I'd be interested in reading some other things (although probably not Jane Eyre again... I just can't seem to get my head around the Brontes haha) I honestly have a strange desire to reread LMM's works in the order that she published them (except Mistress Pat...) I'm excited about our discussion of this book; I've enjoyed it way more than I thought I would and feel like Epperly makes a lot of great points (and some not 😂) 2mo

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