kindredspiritsbuddyread

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

so-so

This is one of those weird books that I like less every time I read it. When I first read it ~age 11, I loved it: Black Beauty except a dog! But subsequent rereads as an adult have made me look at this book a little more critically. My main complaint is that there isn't actually a story. In BB, we have a clear linear story, from birth to final home. But Joe is just a collection of random sermonettes against animal cruelty. I think that as a child⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) I had more to learn about the concept of cruelty through carelessness - you don't have to hit your dog with a stick to mistreat him. But as an adult, I found this book much preachier than I remembered, and I definitely wanted more story. The book was choppy and abrupt, with some chapters feeling very unnecessary or shoehorned in just to get another specific lesson checked off the list. I can see why it was popular when it was published, ⬇ 7h

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) and Joe is a likable narrator, but as a more critical reader than I was as a child, I find this book to be lacking, well, soul. There just isn't a real connection between the reader and any of the characters, including Joe, who ends up just feeling like a mouthpiece for Saunders's lessons. Despite being a well-loved book when I was growing up, I actually don't see myself rereading this one again. 6h

TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean - a rather late #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead review 😂

#ISpyBingo #BookSpinBingo 6h

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TheAromaofBooks PS Beautiful Joe did not specifically address whether forcing your pet to pose with a book is animal cruelty, but I think Waylon may have thoughts 😂 6h

PuddleJumper 🐕🐕 6h

rubyslippersreads I ❤️ everything about this photo. 🐶 6h

TheBookHippie 🤣 6h

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 3h

AnnCrystal 😍💕🐕🐾💝. 1h

50 likes9 comments

LitsyEvents

Emily of New Moon | L M Montgomery

Repost for @BarbaraJean

Tomorrow begins the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead of Emily of New Moon! @BarbaraJean will post weekly check-ins and will discuss the book in full on Saturday, July 1. Schedule is above. All are welcome - please comment and tag @BarbaraJean if you were not tagged in her original post and would like to be tagged in future.
#LMMReread

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BarbaraJean

Emily of New Moon | Lucy Maud Montgomery

Tomorrow begins the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead of Emily of New Moon! I‘ll post weekly check-ins, and we‘ll discuss the book in full on Saturday, July 12. Schedule is above. All are welcome—please comment if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be!

#LMMReread #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, LitsyEvents

rubyslippersreads I‘m not sure if I‘ll reread (I bet I‘ve read it at least 50 times 😁), but I‘ll definitely chime in with comments. 2d

TheBookHippie I adore this read! Enjoy!!! 2d

JenlovesJT47 I read this a couple of years ago and loved it, sounds like a great time for a reread! P.S. Has anyone ever watched the show Emily of New Moon? It‘s pretty good. Got the whole series for $10 awhile back. 🩷 2d

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willaful Oh, I haven't read this in so long. I think I'd like to join in! 2d

BarbaraJean @willaful Yay! I‘ll tag you! 2d

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 I have an Emily of New Moon series saved in my Hoopla favorites but haven‘t watched it yet—maybe I need to do that this summer! 2d

TheAromaofBooks When I read Emily the first time I found the series depressing and said I wasn't going to read them again - but I honestly can't resist rereading them within the context of everything we've been learning about LMM, so I guess I'm in again! 😂 1d

rubyslippersreads @willaful I‘m jealous of you getting to read it for the first time. 22h

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Hahaha! The Emily books really are much darker than Anne… but I do love them. I‘m glad you‘re in for a re-read—I‘m enjoying this chronological buddy read so much!! 21h

TheAromaofBooks I am, too! I was not expecting rereading these within LMM's life-context to make such a difference but it really is! 9h

30 likes10 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

“I don't know whether I shall *ever* become sensible enough *not* to go to see screen versions of my favorite books. I am afraid I won't because I have been disappointed often enough to cure me of the foolishness if I were curable… I would resolve never to go to see another book-film if I thought I could keep it but I know I cannot. I will always go to them when occasion offers and always be sorry I did.”

#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead ⤵️

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean One of the things I enjoy most about reading LMM‘s journals is how thoroughly relatable she is as a reader—I love reading her thoughts on what she‘s reading, and this quote on film adaptations of favorite books is SO true! 2d

TheAromaofBooks This made me laugh, too! Apparently this has been true since the invention of movies! 😂 1d

lauraisntwilder Yes! This had to have been even worse then than it is now, since film has progressed by leaps and bounds since then. She had such an active imagination (I'm thinking, specifically, of her day alone at the lake envisioning a vacation with all her favorite people) that I think her perceptions of how a character looks and sounds must have felt completely real. 1d

Daisey This is a great and relatable quote! 1d

26 likes4 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals
Volume 5: Preface—Aug. 29, 1923

✍🏻What stood out to you from our past two weeks of reading Volume 5 in LMM‘s journals?
✍🏻What themes in LMM‘s thought do you see that recall previous journals? Do you see any themes newly emerging in this volume?
✍🏻What are you most enjoying about LMM‘s journals?

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean The Pickering lawsuit naturally recalls earlier (and ongoing!) lawsuits with the Pages. It‘s so interesting to me that this prolonged legal wrangling was such a part of LMM‘s life! Pickering was a scoundrel and I really enjoyed reading how although he unfairly won his suit, he very much lost in the court of public opinion and never got his hands on LMM‘s cash. There‘s also so much foreshadowing that stood out to me here. ⤵️ (edited) 2d

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) @TheAromaofBooks mentioned LMM‘s comments about Chester last week, and I noticed so many more similar comments this week as well. The number of times she wonders about how her boys will be when they grow up, whether one of them will break her heart 🥺 Also foreshadowing: I was perhaps disproportionately interested in the couple of places she comments on suicide (May 10, 1922–p. 32 and Jan. 2, 1923–p. 107) 2d

TheAromaofBooks Yes on the suicide - I had marked those passages as well! I know we can never know for sure, but I do genuinely believe that she did commit suicide in the end, so her saying things like, “I just have to be here for as long as my children need me“ etc felt ominous and very sad. There were several mentions of things like, “I may also have a child who breaks my heart someday“ that really make me wonder how much trouble she was already having with ⬇ 1d

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Chester. The Pickering lawsuit was fascinating and frustrating! He didn't get the money, but the amount of emotional and mental stress LMM went through - !!! Although I do think that ties back in part to her being SO sensitive about public opinion. There were several times through these passages where her innate snobbery came through as well, things like “he was marrying someone far below him“ despite not having anything specifically ⬇ 1d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) wrong with the bride - just the “wrong“ family. Her bittersweet visit to the Island was both happy and yet also hard to read. The main takeaway from these two weeks for me was just how lonely, lonely, lonely she was. She didn't have anyone she felt like she could truly trust or even truly laugh with, and it's SO sad. 1d

lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks The Pickering lawsuit stands out, of course, and I also noted those passages about suicide, but to your point about her snobbery -- I couldn't believe it when she maligned one of Pickering's witnesses for being a "home child." 1d

17 likes6 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

Quick #LMMJournals check-in! How‘s your journal-reading going this week? What are your thoughts on this section?

I‘m a bit behind (2 simultaneous Chunkster buddy reads, plus other reads😆), but I‘m enjoying being back into LMM‘s life. I was looking forward to the Muskoka section since it inspired the setting of Blue Castle, but I was a little disappointed! And like LMM, I‘m on edge about the Pickering lawsuit. #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks The Pickering lawsuit is STRESSING ME OUT! What a sleaze! One really random thing that struck me was on pg 10 where she is talking about being worried about Chester possibly leaving home for school. “He will need home surroundings and restraints for several years more.“ This makes me wonder if she is already having issues with his behavior, even at this still relatively young age. 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Oof, yes—I noticed that, and a few other passing references to Chester that seem to indicate her growing awareness of his behavioral issues. When she talks about how little Ewan does to “train” the boys, and how Lily just nags them both all the time—no wonder she felt things with Chester so strongly when she felt unsupported in raising her boys. It makes me so sad, knowing where things go with Chester! 1w

lauraisntwilder I'm behind, big surprise! ? Loving being back "with" Maud though. Ewan certainly doesn't come across well so far and I agree about Chester. Every time she mentions him, I cringe. @TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean 1w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder That section where she talked about the times Ewan got so annoyed about her being recognized as an author?! 🤬 1w

TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean - that was SO heartbreaking! 1w

28 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

“Perhaps a hundred years from now my descendants may read over this diary and regard it as an interesting heir-loom. …I would like it to be published in full without omission, save for this very paragraph I have just written. Cut it out, descendants!”

Speaking of complete journals vs. selected journals… 😂 I wonder if this paragraph was omitted in the selected journals?
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I honestly was confused about why she would want that specific paragraph cut out anyway 😂 2w

27 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

We‘ll be starting Volume 5 of LMM‘s journals this week! Schedule is above. As usual, I‘ll post a check-in on Saturdays.

(And, Emily of New Moon is coming up next for our re-reads! We‘ll start reading Emily on June 22.)

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 Are you still interested in joining in for the journal reading? I don‘t want to bother you with tags if not—just let me know. As always, no pressure 😁 2w

TheAromaofBooks Is it weird that I'm kind of excited about starting the journals again?? 😂 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Not weird!! Or if it's weird, I'm weird, too! 2w

TheAromaofBooks She's just so daggone readable, even in her journals! 2w

19 likes4 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

What did you enjoy (or not enjoy!) about the book?

If you read this as a child, does it still hold up for you as an adult?

Is there anything else you‘d like to discuss about Beautiful Joe?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Like I said earlier, this definitely worked better for me as a child than it did as an adult, although I still found it to be an interesting read. However, it was a lot sadder than I remember! There were a few times that I was a bit startled by violence stated so casually. Did I just not notice it as such growing up? I definitely focused more on the positive parts of the story, and those were the memories I brought forward. 2w

BarbaraJean The early chapters when Joe is a puppy were SUPER hard to read—I was a little shocked at how violent that part was. The performing animals at the hotel & the “bad“ dog at the farm were a bit of a surprise/shock as well. I wonder how those landed with kids at the time. I definitely had the feeling I'd have enjoyed this more as a kid. I loved animal stories, especially from the animal's perspective. Did you read anything by Dick King-Smith as a kid? 2w

TheAromaofBooks Oh my gosh YES - the first Dick King-Smith book I came across as the library was The Fox Busters, which is honestly kind of a dark book for the children's section, but I am so here for chicken heroes 😂 Later, I found out that he was the author of Babe, also good, but my actual favorites by him are The Queen's Nose and Harry's Mad. He was sooo prolific so some of his stories are definitely weaker than others, but some of them are just delightful. 2w

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Aw, yay!! I don't remember The Fox Busters and now I may have to track it down! I LOVED his books—Babe (which I knew as “The Sheep-Pig“—I have long resented the movie 😂), Harry's Mad, and The Queen's Nose were ones I read over and over. Also Saddlebottom! I remember Saddlebottom and Babe both being from the animals' perspective, which really drew me in. I think Saunders was onto something in using Joe as a first-person narrator. 2w

TheAromaofBooks I don't think I've read Saddlebottom! I'll have to find that one. The Fox Busters is kind of intense (the chickens decide to fight back against marauding foxes), but it was so wildly different from anything else I had ever read when I first found it that I was totally hooked. I also read The Water Horse (which I think may be a movie now also) and had NO idea where it was headed so the twist at the end totally got me. 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Ohhh, The Water Horse!! I read that entire book standing in the aisle of an airport bookstore on a long layover 😂 I loved the fact that they called the grandfather “Grump” 😆 It is a movie now (I think the edition I read in that airport was a movie tie-in one), but I haven‘t seen it—the description of the movie sounded WAY different from the book! 2w

18 likes6 comments

BarbaraJean

Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography | Marshall Saunders

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMAdjacent

Do you think Saunders‘ choice of Joe as a first person narrator is effective? What does this add to (or take away from) the story?

Joe meets several other animal friends during the story: the other pets at the Morris home, the performing animals he sees in Riverdale, and Dandy “the Tramp.” What did you think of these other animals and their stories?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, TheAromaofBooks

JenlovesJT47 I am terribly behind on everything, I‘m so sorry! Going to download this now. 💚💚💚 thank you for all of the hard work you do for this group! 🤗 2w

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 I understand—I have overloaded my reading this summer and there‘s too much to keep up with! Jump in when you can, but no pressure! 2w

TheAromaofBooks I did think using Joe as the narrator made the story more personal, and also worked with Saunders's goal of (to some extent) humanizing animals. Adding in the stories of other animals sometimes felt like a bit much - for instance, the chapter on Mr. Wood's hunting memories seemed kind of pointless. But other times it illustrated a concept otherwise outside of Joe's purview. 2w

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I really liked Joe as the narrator, although it felt contrived/inconsistent at times (sometimes he'd skip over stuff saying he wasn't listening because it wasn't interesting to a dog, and at other times he'd narrate a bunch of stuff that wouldn't have been interesting to a dog 😂). As you said, it humanizes the animal characters--it made the cruelty to animals episodes more difficult to read (and more meaningful/effective). 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I liked some of the additional animal stories (like the canaries and Bella the parrot, and the poor performing animals!!), but lots of others felt like padding to make the story longer (like the ENTIRE Band of Mercy meeting). And the lengthy telling of Dandy the Tramp's story just annoyed me 😂 2w

TheAromaofBooks The other thing Joe-as-narrator did was make the animals the main characters instead of the people. If this story had just been about Miss Laura being nice to animals, it would have had a really different flavor than having Joe talk about her. As an adult reader, I wanted more story about Laura and her little romance and whatnot, but as a younger reader, I was definitely more interested in the dogs haha 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Hahaha, yeah, I think that would have been my response as a kid, too: more interested in the animals and their stories than Laura's romance 😂 And yes, definitely, having the animals as the main characters/focus rather than Laura really makes the message more impactful, helping kids envision what it's like for the animal to experience neglect and mistreatment vs. kindness and care. 2w

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