kindredspiritsbuddyread

Rilla of Ingleside (Special Collector's) | Lucy Maud Montgomery

It‘s been a whirlwind week/weekend, but I made time today to finish my #reread of this wonderful book on audio. I had forgotten just how solemn and sad the entire story is. It is truly a novel of WWI on the Canadian home front with all of the stress and grief that includes. Yet, it also has those signature moments of pure beauty and humor that LMM writes so wonderfully. I loved revisiting this story.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #WWI #audiobook

BarbaraJean

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LitsyEvents

Emily of New Moon | Lucy Maud Montgomery

repost for @BarbaraJean:

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

LitsyEvents More info on the original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2863918 3d

36 likes1 comment

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

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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?? 3d

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! 1d

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. 1d

BarbaraJean But then, on the other hand--Dog Monday. 😭 😭 😭 1d

lauraisntwilder Pets had it rough in this one!! Poor Stripey! 😭 1d

18 likes5 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. 3d

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. 3d

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. 1d

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. 23h

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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. 3d

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 ⬇ 1d

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. 1d

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BarbaraJean

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

Posting #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead Qs early—I have a very long day tomorrow!

LMM weaves in a number of female characters who contrast with Rilla—in age, in maturity, in personality—and who together offer a full, rich picture of women on the “home front” in WWI.

What did you think of the way women‘s roles were portrayed in the novel?
Which characters besides Rilla were you most drawn to?
Which attitudes toward the war did you most resonate with?

Daisey, lauraisntwilder, CSeydel, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean I haven't much liked Susan in previous books, and I LOVED her here. She grew on me the way Rachel Lynde did! I love Susan's spirit and her intense interest in the war news. And the way she chases off old Whiskers-on-the-moon after his presumptuous proposal. 😂 Speaking of whom, I was conflicted about the book's portrayal of pacifism. Mr. Pryor was AWFUL, and I hated him being the only voice that didn't seem to toe the party line, so to speak. ⬇ 1d

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) His infamous prayer that their soldiers would repent from iniquity and murder was “abominable,“ as Norman Douglas said! But the various comments that he was a traitor and that he was rooting for the Germans--because he was a pacifist--were equally terrible. Those parts read like wartime propaganda. But then there was some nuance in various other comments, from Miss Oliver, to Gilbert, to Rev. Meredith. Thus my conflict. 1d

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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) 4d

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) 4d

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) 4d

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rubyslippersreads I had that copy of Beautiful Joe as a child. I read it over and over. 🐶 4d

kwmg40 I‘d definitely like to continue with the #LMMReread books (the Emily ones from this list). Thanks! 4d

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 😂 3d

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! 2d

rubyslippersreads Ivanhoe is also a #BetsyTacy adjacent book. 🙂 2d

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 ! 💙 2d

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 1d

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. 11h

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BarbaraJean

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 | James Fenimore Cooper

so-so

Belated review…

Honestly, I didn't enjoy this. I didn't find it engaging, for all its action. The characters held promise, but weren't developed at all. I was initially excited about a strong female protagonist in Cora, but her characterization & role flattened as the book went on. Cooper sacrifices character development for horrific action sequences and scenic descriptions that fell flat. There were problematic racial stereotypes galore, but⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) … I was bracing myself for far worse. There was a lot of “noble savage“ to the descriptions of the “good” Native characters, then basically all the Native characters/tribes allied with the French were portrayed as bad/scheming/backward, while their French allies were largely let off the hook. It was so interesting to see the book‘s combo of “of-the-time” stereotypes with some more nuanced depictions of Native characters & culture than ⤵️ 5d

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …I'd have expected. I was pleasantly surprised by the respect shown for the traditions described near the end of the book. But I hated the ending!

Ultimately, I'm torn about this book's value as a classic. It deserves some credit for how it has shaped other writing, and it has some value as a biased but illuminating portrayal of a specific time and place. But on balance, I don't think I'd recommend it. ⤵️ 5d

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) One more off the TBR, read for the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead, and an adventure novel for Q2 of the #ClassicsChallenge. @Lunakay 5d

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AmyG I read this after the movie came out. What a slow, tedious read. 5d

Lunakay Well done! 5d

BarbaraJean @AmyG SO tedious! @Lunakay Thank you! 4d

nanuska_153 I bought this book a couple of years ago and it's sitting on my shelf cause I couldn't find the will to read it. Seeing your review I am happy that I haven't attempted it 😅 4d

BarbaraJean @nanuska_153 Hahaha—you‘re welcome?! I mean, your mileage may vary, but it was definitely a slog for me! 4d

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TheAromaofBooks

Rilla of Ingleside | L.M. Montgomery

pick

This is one of my all-time favorite books and I have read it probably 25-30 times over my lifetime. The characters, the setting, the fact that a few of the moments in this book still make me choke up even after all these rereads - this book is close to perfect to me.

SO IT WAS A COMPLETE SHOCK to find out that in the 1940s random sentences/paragraphs were edited out!!! The edition I grew up reading, despite clearly saying it was “unabridged“ ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) was, in fact, abridged! As was virtually every edition published from 1942-2010! But in 2010 a restored text was published. Since I didn't know it existed, I didn't seek it out, but I just so happened to purchase this edition a couple of years ago as my old faithful Bantam paperback is wearing out and I love this cover. Turns out, it's the 2010 text. So obviously I didn't read the two editions side by side noting every passage I could ⬇ 5d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) find that had been removed, because that would be ridiculous. But if I did, the note in the picture indicates how heavily each chapter was edited - ✔is unabridged, - is only a couple words or a sentence, + is several sentences, and ++ is multiple paragraphs.

I'm still completely befuddled as to why these passages were removed. It's true, nothing vital was taken out, but there are moments of humor, depth, and character, that were cut. ⬇ 5d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) A lot of the editing were various speeches of Susan's, so maybe they just decided they didn't like her character...???? But other moments, like Rilla clinging to hope so as to not 'break faith' with Walter, Anne recounting the hair-dying episode of her youth, or more details of how Dog Monday settled in at the station, seemed so arbitrary to remove.

So it was kind of fun to do a little treasure hunt and discover that there is even more ⬇ 5d

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) of a favorite book than I thought!!

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead @BarbaraJean
#192025 - 1921 @Librarybelle (I only have 5 years left to find so I think I may actually complete this challenge!!!)
#100YearsofBooks
#ISpyBingo - Cake, Stars, Train, Silhouette, Heart
#BookSpinBingo 5d

swynn Ridiculous? I don't know, reading the two editions side by side noting every passage that had been removed or altered sounds perfectly reasonable to me. How else would you know? Thanks for sharing your research! (edited) 5d

Librarybelle That‘s incredible! 5 years left…way to go!!! 5d

rubyslippersreads My copy is from 1921, so I think I‘m safe. 😊 Have you heard of this book?

Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery's Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside

Kristin_Reads That‘s amazing! I would have never guessed! 5d

CSeydel Wow! 5d

BooksandCoffee4Me I‘ve never heard of it, but I want to read it. Hope I can find a true version. 5d

BarbaraJean And obviously I'm not going to go through your handy notes and check out all the differences between the two versions... and I'm also not reading the original unaltered edition in the ebook with my print versions at hand so I can check anything that doesn't sound familiar... 😆

It absolutely IS like a treasure hunt!! I love your perspective that it's like finding out there's MORE to love. I've been feeling betrayed by my old faithful Bantams!! 5d

TheAromaofBooks @rubyslippersreads - OOoo a first edition, so fun!! I have a few Anne books from the 1930s, but not Rilla. I hadn't heard of that book, but definitely want to check it out!! 4d

TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean - You can let me know if you find anything in the chapters I thought were intact - sometimes it would just be even a word. For instance, one time Rilla is cuddling Jims and says something like “I hope your poor little mother knows you're safe.“ Except in the original it's “poor little white mother“ and they cut the word white - which I feel like in this instance is more a reference to her being frail/sick rather than her actual race?⬇ 4d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) But I have also felt rather betrayed by my old Bantams that I grew up reading!! So crazy!! 4d

Daisey I also love this book, but I didn‘t have time for a close comparison on this reread. I appreciate your notes! 23h

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