lmmontgomery

pick

#Read2025

I finished this one last night for #ChildrensClassicRead2025 & it‘s a soft pick for nostalgia for the author. I found it too long & disjointed with it being separate stories really rather than cohesive chapters. It could be because I waited for the end of the month & was hurrying a bit but I had a hard time keeping track of all of the family & other characters. It did have some charming moments though.

TheBookHippie, DieAReader

DieAReader 💖💖💖 1d

TheBookHippie It is not my favorite of hers but like you some of the passages I really enjoyed! 1d

LeahBergen It‘s not a favourite of mine either but … you‘re right. Any LMM is usually good for a hit of nostalgia, isn‘t it? 😊 20h

42 likes3 comments

emilycoc

Rainbow Valley | L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

pick

Another charming read! I enjoyed getting to know more of the world of Ingleside and Anne's presence was still felt throughout. What surprised me was how late in time this was set - I always imagined the Anne of Green Gables series to be set in the 1800s, but there were a lot of references to historical events from the early 1900s. It makes sense, but still surprised me! Just one book left and I'm done this series. (Pictured with my next read)

9 likes

DebinHawaii

Magic for Marigold | L.M. Montgomery

#Naturalitsy #HyggeHourReadathon

Tonight‘s #HyggeHour is being spent with Marigold. Trying to finish this one for #ChildrensClassicRead2025 March. My drink is coconut tea & my snack is a haupia (coconut) cupcake. (Which is yum!) 😋

My mood is a little tired & wishing the weekend was longer as it will be another busy work week ahead.

TheBookHippie, Chrissyreadit, AllDebooks

AnnCrystal 😋💝. 2d

AllDebooks 🥥 tea sounds delicious 😋 2d

kspenmoll Coconut cupcake -yum! 2d

Lesliereadsalot Coconut tea and a coconut cupcake would be my ideal meal! 2d

TheBookHippie ♥️ 2d

52 likes5 comments

kwmg40

Rainbow Valley | L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

pick

Another charming installment in the Anne of Green Gables series. This one featured a few of Anne's children but was mostly about a family they befriend.

#gottacatchemall(Cottonee:friends stick together)
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread @BarbaraJean

51 likes

emilycoc

Rainbow Valley | L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

Next read is going to be something a bit more wholesome. Book seven of the series and #BookEightOf2025

12 likes

BarbaraJean

Rainbow Valley | L. M. Montgomery

LMM dedicates Rainbow Valley to three young men who were killed in WWI, and the ending of the novel, with its references to the Piper, foreshadows the war to come. Did you notice anything else in the book that echoes or explores these bookend references to the war?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

lauraisntwilder Ellen West seems pretty convinced there's something rotten in the state of Germany. 2w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder And she wasn't wrong! I loved seeing LMM's interest in politics come out in that way. I felt like the Piper stuff was a little heavy-handed, but I liked that little foreshadowing with Ellen. 2w

kwmg40 There were definitely instances of foreshadowing -- references to the politics but also suggestions that the world will change and the current times will be gone forever. 1w

BarbaraJean @kwmg40 Yes! I think that‘s what I had a hard time putting my finger on. There‘s a whole mood of “all this is about to change.” It makes the childhood games and antics that much more nostalgic. 1w

27 likes4 comments

BarbaraJean

Rainbow Valley | L. M. Montgomery

It was heartbreaking to read the above in LMM‘s journals and to see LMM‘s loss of her cousin and dear friend overshadowing the publication of Rainbow Valley. But I loved hearing the source for both of these Rainbow Valley moments.

What are some of your favorite parts of Rainbow Valley? Favorite episodes or quotes?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

JenlovesJT47 I can‘t wait to actually sit down and read her journals. Hoping to get to it this week. 💚 She was such an interesting person. 2w

CogsOfEncouragement Throughout the book, it was interesting to me how gossip in the small community played such a role in nearly everything. Sometimes the gossip caused great harm, and sometimes it was the gossip of others that prompted someone to act to everyone's betterment. 2w

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 I hope you end up being able to get to them—I‘ve really loved reading the journals! 2w

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BarbaraJean @CogsOfEncouragement I got so mad at the gossips! Yes, there were times the Meredith kids (AND the Blythes, if we‘re being fair—which the gossips were not) really got up to mischief—like the pig-riding 😂 But it seemed like the things that set off the worst gossip were often innocent mistakes (like cleaning the house on Sunday!) or situations the kids should/would never have been in—if a responsible adult had provided some guidance and care. 2w

BarbaraJean In spite of how much John Meredith (as a father) frustrated me, I really enjoyed the Rosemary + John love story. I was rooting for the kids to have her in their life. I loved her friendship with Faith, and how Una finally brought everything together so sweetly & selflessly. I also loved basically all of the scenes that centered on Faith. Her explanation in front of the church, her letter to the Journal, and the pig-riding!! ⤵️ 2w

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) And I loved Faith‘s response to seeing that condescending minister catch his coat-tails on fire, vindicating poor Adam just a little bit! 2w

kwmg40 I enjoyed the antics of the Meredith kids, and seeing how their “bad behaviour“ usually stemmed from childish impulsiveness, kindheartedness or good intentions. 1w

BarbaraJean @kwmg40 I really loved those kids! It bothered me that the gossips labeled them as such “bad” kids, because they all had such good intentions. 1w

25 likes8 comments

BarbaraJean

Rainbow Valley | L. M. Montgomery

For those who are re-reading the series: How was it reading Rainbow Valley right after House of Dreams instead of after Anne of Ingleside?

Does this book feel like an “Anne” book to you? What do you think of the glimpses we do get of Anne and Gilbert?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

lauraisntwilder I think it makes more sense coming right after House of Dreams. Well, actually, I think it's that Anne of Ingleside makes more sense if you read this one first. LMM introduces all the children in this one, but on my first read through, I read Ingleside first and was a little lost. I think I'll enjoy that one more this time through. 2w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Oh, I hadn‘t even thought about that with Ingleside! Even though we get very little development of the Blythe kids here, at least we do get the general introductions. I‘ll definitely be paying attention to how that affects my reading of Ingleside this time. 2w

BarbaraJean Although this doesn‘t feel like an Anne book to me, doing kind of a fast-forward to the next generation made sense to me. And I loved getting to see glimpses of Anne and Gilbert at this stage of their lives. The few moments we get of Anne as a parent (both to her own kids and to the Meredith kids at times) were just lovely. 2w

18 likes3 comments

BarbaraJean

Rainbow Valley | L. M. Montgomery

What worked or didn‘t work for you in this book? What did you most enjoy? What did you dislike or find problematic?

We get a bunch of new characters: Anne‘s children and the Meredith family, and various members of the community including the West sisters. Which were your favorites or least favorites? Who would you have liked to read more (or less!) about?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, julieclair

CogsOfEncouragement I of course like Rosemary. I was very much frustrated by Ellen not allowing Rosemary out of a promise no one should make, and then again when Ellen was keeping herself and three other people from easy happiness. I enjoyed Norman's character and any scene he was mentioned.

Faith was a favorite, I chuckled as she tried to fix messes she made, only to make things worse in some ways. Her letter to The Journal was a hoot! 2w

lauraisntwilder I was a little confused about when Mrs. Meredith died. I haven't taken the time to look back, but I swear Mr. Meredith has a memory of his wife holding little Una and it sounded like Una was a baby, or a very young toddler, at least. But later Una remembers a speech her father gives them shortly after her mother's death. I wouldn't have thought she be old enough to remember. 2w

lauraisntwilder *she'd be old enough 2w

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TheAromaofBooks We'll see if Litsy lets me comment😑 RV has always been my least favorite of the Anne books, and I think it's because I don't like John Meredith. Can anyone really be this self-absorbed and neglectful? How can you still consider him a “good“ person? I have no patience with his whole “guilt-stricken“ moments that are immediately followed by him pursuing his own interests again. While I love the children, I find John impossible to root for. 2w

BarbaraJean I really like the characters in Rainbow Valley—I love the Meredith kids. But it frustrates me that the Blythe kids are just side characters. And it‘s way too darn hard to remember which Blythe is which, because they‘re not at all fleshed out, and then Nan and Di are named after Anne and Diana, which confuses me! 2w

BarbaraJean @CogsOfEncouragement Faith was my favorite! I loved her boldness to stand up to the gossips, both with her church announcement and her letter to the Journal. My jaw literally dropped with some of her comments in her letter—but most of what came across so harshly was said truthfully and without malice. Like her comment about the yarn!! I love Rosemary, too—and Ellen‘s stubbornness and hypocrisy infuriate me. 2w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder I found that memory of Cecilia and Una—it‘s halfway through Ch. 14: “the child whom the dying mother had clasped to her heart… Cecilia had clung to her baby until the gates of death had shut between them.” I was confused, too—“her baby” sounds like Una was either an infant or the youngest, but we know Carl is younger than Una. The AoGG fandom wiki says Jerry was 8 when his mother died, which would make Una 6 at that point. 2w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks YES about John Meredith. I liked Rainbow Valley more on this reading than before, partly because it reminded me so much of the little gang of friends in Story Girl/Golden Road. But John Meredith bothered me SO much more. No matter how much he supposedly cares for his children emotionally, he‘s a crappy father. But I was equally infuriated by the community, who gossip & judge those poor good-hearted, well-meaning kids who have ⬇ 2w

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …absolutely no support or guidance at home. I wanted to cheer at Anne‘s speech about what she‘d say about the Meredith kids, and the way Miss Cornelia took it to heart. But those kids needed more than adults defending them and their father‘s love for them. I think I was rooting for Rosemary & John in part because those kids needed her so badly!! But it also made me really angry that John finding a wife was presented as the best solution ⬇ 2w

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …for his failures as a father. Because guess what? If he can‘t remember that he has kids that need caring for, odds are he‘s going to neglect his wife, too. And that‘s going to be a crap marriage if her primary role as a wife is getting him to pull his nose out of tomes of German theology in order to remember he has a wife and kids. (Also UGH to commenting on Litsy via the web right now...) 2w

kwmg40 I enjoyed this book, though not as much as the earlier ones. I agree with others that John Meredith was an infuriating character but I liked all the other characters, even Ellen. One complaint I had about the subplots is that I felt I had seen them all before in earlier books -- the rescued child, the long-separated lovers, etc. 1w

BarbaraJean @kwmg40 Yes, LMM does have certain tropes she uses a LOT! 1w

18 likes12 comments

CogsOfEncouragement

Rainbow Valley | L. M. Montgomery

pick

This is a reread for me of Anne of Green Gable # 7. I read it the first time over ten years ago and I didn‘t remember much. A nice happy escape with some laugh out loud moments. I look forward to the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead discussion on Saturday.

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