kindredspiritsbuddyread

Tales of the Alhambra | Washington Irving

Repost for @BarbaraJean

Hello, Kindred Spirits! We‘ll begin reading Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving this week. I‘m looking forward to experiencing this book that LMM loved and that she references both in her journals and in the Emily books. Here‘s the schedule—all are welcome! Let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacents

Original post - https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2900766

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lauraisntwilder

Emily Climbs | L M Montgomery

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I finished this reread a little late for #kindredspiritsbuddyread. I still enjoyed it though!

24 likes

kwmg40

Emily Climbs | Montgomery Lucy Maud

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I enjoyed this second book in the Emily series, in which Emily has a number of difficult decisions to make while various member of her friends and family try to exert their influence. I'm noticing the many ways in which Emily is different from LMM's more famous character, Anne Shirley!

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread @BarbaraJean

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BarbaraJean

Tales of the Alhambra | Washington Irving

Hello, Kindred Spirits! We‘ll begin reading Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving this week. I‘m looking forward to experiencing this book that LMM loved and that she references both in her journals and in the Emily books. Here‘s the schedule—all are welcome! Let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacents

TheAromaofBooks, LitsyEvents, julieclair

TheAromaofBooks I just started this morning, and am feeling very smug about having reading Don Quixote last year and understanding some of the references 😂 5d

30 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1930-1933 | L M Montgomery

“Of course Emily II isn‘t half as good as New Moon. The second volume of a series, especially if it deals with a very young girl, is the hardest for me to write—because the public and the publisher won‘t allow me to write of a young girl as she really is. One can write of children as they are; so my books of children are always good; but when you come to write of the ‘miss‘ you have to depict a sweet, insipid young thing— ⤵️

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, GingerAntics, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …really a child grown older—to whom the basic realities of life and reactions to them are quite unknown. Love must scarcely be hinted at—yet young girls in their early teens often have some very vivid love affairs. A girl of Emily‘s type certainly would. But ‘the public‘… I can‘t afford to damn the public. I must cater to them for awhile yet.” ⤵️ 6d

BarbaraJean Do you agree that Emily Climbs isn‘t “half as good” as New Moon? Do you agree with LMM‘s reasons re: writing constraints for why it may be inferior? How do you think Emily Climbs might have been different if LMM had been able to “damn the public”?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread 6d

TheAromaofBooks I actually like Emily Climbs better, but maybe that is just because it doesn't feel as sad somehow haha But I do think LMM does a good job of providing us with a character who feels passionate, vibrant, and ambitious, and who is likable without “always being good.“ 5d

lauraisntwilder I don't think it's any better or worse, but a continuation, very different from the Anne books. AoGG is very self-contained. Emily Climbs feels much more like Emily of New Moon than any of the subsequent Anne books feel like the first. Not that I don't love them! And Emily has love affairs! She's clearly in love with Teddy the entire time and eventually realizes it herself. Not to mention Dean and her two denied proposals. 3d

24 likes4 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily Climbs | L M Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

How do you see Emily‘s writing ambitions manifest & grow throughout Emily Climbs?

Where do you see similarities between Emily & LMM?

What do you think of the choice Emily makes at the end? Do you agree with her decision or were you disappointed? What does the decision say about her sense of self? About her writing ambitions?

Are there any other scenes, themes, quotes, or characters you‘d like to discuss?

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, GingerAntics, TheAromaofBooks

kwmg40 Though this book was published 100 years ago, Emily's decision seems uncannily appropriate for the current times. Without getting into politics, I'll just say that there is a wave of patriotism in Canada right now at a level I've not seen before and many young people are reconsidering their decisions to leave the country for work or study. LMM herself achieved great success staying in Canada and writing about regular small-town people! 5d

TheAromaofBooks I have such mixed feelings about the ending! On a personal level, I completely agree with Emily, that she doesn't have to leave her home to be a success, and that someone from a small town can still write about life just as well as someone out there experiencing the rest of the world or what have you. But as far as whether it is true to the character LMM has created - I'm not as confident. Emily turning down this offer just doesn't seem to 100% ⬇ 5d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) match the ambitious, Alpine-path-driven Emily we've gotten to know over these two books. I feel like she would have said yes for a season - not forever, but for a year or something, just to gain the experience and hone her craft. 5d

lauraisntwilder @kwmg40 @TheAromaofBooks I feel like it's that slight patronizing or condescending tone that made all the difference. So far, we've seen Emily thrive in the face of opposition and I think staying at home and being successful anyway would feel like a greater victory for her. 3d

17 likes4 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily Climbs | L M Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread
Emily‘s relationships with her family naturally change here, and the New Moon family members fade a bit into the background. Still, her family continues to (or tries to!) influence her choices.

Where do you see that family influence most strongly in this book?

How are Emily‘s choices shaped by her family—and where do you see her pushing back on that influence as she matures?

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, GingerAntics, TheAromaofBooks

kwmg40 Emily has a very strong sense of obligation to her family, and of course, some of those members don't hesitate in reminding her of her debt to them. I'd like to think that the most influential family member is cousin Jimmy, the one that most others consider “simple“ but whose wisdom Emily recognizes and whose quiet support she appreciates. 5d

14 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

Emily Climbs | L M Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread My least-favorite characters here are Dean and Aunt Ruth—for very different reasons.

What do you make of Emily‘s relationship with Dean here? Do you see any redeeming qualities in Dean‘s friendship and influence in Emily‘s life—or is it all just creepy groomer vibes for you?

What (if any) redeeming qualities do you see in Aunt Ruth? For you, does this mitigate the way she treats Emily for most of the novel?

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, GingerAntics, TheAromaofBooks

kwmg40 Had I read this book a couple of decades ago, I probably would have felt differently about Dean, seeing how he challenged Emily intellectually. Now, with changing attitudes in society, and also after having raised two daughters, I'm afraid he just seems creepy to me.

It's the same with respect to Aunt Ruth. All the bullying early on made it difficult for me to see her as any kind of ally to Emily, even with her later kinder actions. 5d

TheAromaofBooks I've really tried to be more attentive to Dean in this read-through, because it doesn't seem like LMM would have written him purposefully as a creepy groomer, so surely she was trying to make him a likable character/genuine romantic possibility? But it's so hard to get past the way that he is starting to manipulate Emily by being dismissive of her writing and using her trust in his opinions to undermine her ambitions for his own benefit. I think ⬇ 5d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) that originally he does have good influences on Emily in the sense of broadening her mind and helping her to see the world beyond PEI, but like @kwmg40 said, at some point the creepiness outweighs any positives. His possessive attitude towards her since she was literally a small child is just so ick. 5d

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TheAromaofBooks Aunt Ruth is completely obnoxious, but much like Aunt Elizabeth, so much of it stems from her having literally no idea of how to deal with a young person. I think she's very narrow-minded, but I honestly don't think she's purposefully mean-spirited, so I have a little more forgiveness for her than some of the other characters. Her pride in the family name is what motivates her both when she is coming down on Emily and when she is defending her. ⬇ 5d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) So I feel like in the end, I still don't like her because she doesn't actually love or even like Emily, but I never felt like her motivations in the rules and even accusations of “slyness“ stemmed from a personal dislike of Emily as much as they did from her worry that Emily was going to bring some kind of disgrace on the family name. Secondary thought - we get a hint of Aunt Ruth's teenage scandal - does that make her super sensitive?? 5d

lauraisntwilder @kwmg40 @TheAromaofBooks Dean is gross. There's no getting around it. There's no way to redeem someone who fell in love with a literal child, as he seems to have done in the last book, and then sticks around being weird. Aunt Ruth, however, changed for me on this reading. She's obnoxious, of course, but seems so much like the court of public opinion LMM fought as a child and during the writing of this book, with the Pickering court case. 3d

14 likes6 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily Climbs | L M Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMRereads - Discussion Qs for Emily Climbs coming in very late in the day!

How do Emily‘s friendships with Ilse, Teddy, and Perry change during their years in Shrewsbury? Thinking about LMM‘s other work, do you see parallels or contrasts between Emily & Anne in their changing friendships from childhood?

What do you see as the significance of Emily‘s “second sight”? Do you see connections with her imagination? ⤵️

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, GingerAntics, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …With her writing? With her almost spiritual sense of beauty? 6d

kwmg40 Anne seems to be more loyal and tries to always see the best in her friends. Emily's relationships are more complicated, but consequently, they seem much more realistic to me. 5d

kwmg40 I'm not sure about the significance of the second sight, but I've enjoyed several of LMM's short stories that involve the supernatural, and I love this aspect which brings a little bit of a gothic touch to the story. 5d

TheAromaofBooks Emily and Ilse are such very different characters from Anne and Diana. Ilse drives me a little crazy - WHY does she tell people about things she and Emily have done and then get surprised when everyone gossips about it?? She's definitely a wilder character than Anne or Diana, so that changes the dynamic between her and Emily a lot. 5d

TheAromaofBooks I think Emily's second sight is such an interesting thing to add to the story, because it doesn't get used much. But from LMM's journals, I definitely think this is something she believed was real/something that could really happen. I like the way that she doesn't have it as something that Emily wants/likes/encourages. That makes it seem more realistic to me. 5d

12 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily Climbs | L M Montgomery

“Emily did not sleep—did not want to sleep. It was too dear a night to go to sleep, she felt. She wanted to lie awake for the pleasure of it and think over a thousand things.
Emily always looked back to that night spent under the stars as a sort of milestone. Everything in it and of it ministered to her. It filled her with its beauty, which she must later give to the world…”

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread ⤵️

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, GingerAntics, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean Emily‘s night of beauty under the stars is one of my absolute favorite scenes in this trilogy. That whole section where she and Ilse canvass for newspaper subscriptions still staggers my mind—two fourteen-year-olds, just turning up on a random doorstep and asking to stay the night! How‘s everyone‘s reading going this week? Which scenes have you particularly enjoyed? 2w

TheAromaofBooks Right?? I couldn't believe how they just would stay with random strangers, and went multiple days without contacting anyone from their families! So crazy.

Two passages I had noted this week. The first was about Dean. I was thinking about him and what beyond the age gap makes him so creepy. I think that if he just wanted to marry Emily it wouldn't be as bad - it's the fact that he uses her trust in him to manipulate her into being what he wants ⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) her to be, and to convince her that she is less than she is. In the chapter Driftwood, we see the first instance of him really being so condescending about her writing because he KNOWS that Emily will only be a writer if she can be a great writer. Seeing him belittle her for his own ends just infuriates me.

The other passage I marked was later in the same chapter. Emily says that she read a story that ended unhappily and she says ⬇ 2w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) “I shall always end MY stories happily. I don't care whether it's 'true to life' or not. It's true to life as it SHOULD BE and that's a better truth than the other.“ This sounded so LMM to me! As we've been reading her journals I've been amazed at how she could write such warm, happy stories during times of turmoil and intense stress in her own life. I so admire the way that she CHOSE to reflect good parts of life more than the bad. 2w

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