Litsy

Repost for @BarbaraJean
For those following along with the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReRead or #LMMJounals, in November we‘re starting Vol 3 of the Complete Journals and also reading The Golden Road.
Then in December we‘ll read LMM‘s Christmas stories. @BarbaraJean will assemble a #KindredSpiritsChristmas story-a-day schedule for reading these cosy holidays stories together. All are welcome. If you‘d like to join in for December let her know.

BarbaraJean Thanks for the re-post! 4d

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BarbaraJean

The Golden Road | L. M. Montgomery

For those following along with #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread or #LMMJournals, in November we‘re starting Vol. 3 of the Complete Journals and also reading The Golden Road.

Then in December we‘ll read LMM‘s Christmas stories! I‘ll assemble a #KindredSpiritsChristmas story-a-day schedule for us to read these cozy holiday stories together. All are welcome—if you‘d like to join in just for December, let me know and I‘ll add you to the tag list!

rubyslippersreads, Daisey, LeahBergen, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Roary47, LitsyEvents, julieclair, Seabreeze_Reader

Seabreeze_Reader Enjoy your reading. 🙂Unfortunately I won't have time in my schedule to join in. 4d

BarbaraJean @Seabreeze_Reader Thank you! Maybe we‘ll catch you another time 😊 4d

TheAromaofBooks I actually read the “Haunted“ short story this week! Still plowing my way through Seven Gables 😅 My copy of the journals should be here this weekend. I'm looking forward/also somewhat apprehensive to read about LMM's early marriage years and leaving PEI. Are the Christmas stories going to a specific book of collected stories, or just random ones from here and there? 4d

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Seven Gables turned out to be quite a slog! 😬 I‘ll see how this volume of the journals feels—I‘m a bit apprehensive as well! There are more of LMM‘s books to break things up with at this point, though, and I‘m going to go through the notes and jot down adjacent titles to work into the schedule also. The Christmas stories are random—I have a list compiled from a few different Christmas collections (minus that weird Red Room one!) 4d

Roary47 The golden road looks enchanting. I‘m going to read the first book really quick to be on track. 🥰 4d

TheAromaofBooks Yeah, The Red Room, randomly depressing and not remotely Christmasy haha That story was a disappointment! 😂 4d

julieclair @TheAromaofBooks I actually read the haunted story too! I‘m so proud of us! 😀 4d

julieclair I will skip the journals, but join in for The Golden Road. And December sounds delightful! 4d

BarbaraJean @Roary47 Yay! Glad to have you join in, and I hope you enjoy both books! 😊 3d

BarbaraJean @julieclair Looking forward to reading Golden Road and Christmas stories with you! And good job reading the ghost story—LMM loved ghost stories, but it sounds like it‘s not in any of our wheelhouses, so good job to all of us! 3d

Daisey I‘d like to try to join in for the Christmas stories. Please add me to that list. 3d

BarbaraJean @Daisey Will do! Glad to have you along for the Christmas stories! 2d

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LitsyEvents

Elizabeth and Her German Garden | Elizabeth Von Arnim

Here's the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead schedule for October & November! We've got three #LMMAdjacent reads in October, then in November, we'll start Volume 3 of the complete #LMMJournals, with an #LMMReread of The Golden Road in the middle. I have separate tag lists for each, so (if you haven't already) let me know if you'd like to be tagged for any of the above! Discussions are on Saturdays, and all are welcome.

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BarbaraJean

Elizabeth and Her German Garden | Elizabeth Von Arnim

Here‘s the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead schedule for October & November! We‘ve got three #LMMAdjacent reads in October, then in November, we‘ll start Volume 3 of the complete #LMMJournals, with an #LMMReread of The Golden Road in the middle. I have separate tag lists for each, so (if you haven‘t already) let me know if you‘d like to be tagged for any of the above! Discussions are on Saturdays, and all are welcome.

rubyslippersreads, Daisey, LeahBergen, JenlovesJT47, CogsOfEncouragement, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Roary47, LitsyEvents, julieclair

TheAromaofBooks I\'m looking forward to starting Elizabeth and Her German Garden today. I was surprised to find it as a Penguin English Library Edition - maybe more popular in Britain than here? I heartily disliked the only other Hawthorne I\'ve read (The Scarlet Letter) so I\'m interested to see if I like Seven Gables any better 😂 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks My county library system has exactly ONE print copy of Elizabeth, which I\'ve put on hold because I\'m SUPER interested to get hold of it: the library catalog says it was published in 1913! I\'ve also only read Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne—I thought it was interesting, but not amazing—so I\'m also interested to see what I think of Seven Gables. The main criticism I\'ve seen is that it\'s not scary enough (which is a plus in my book!) 1mo

TheAromaofBooks The pretty Penguin edition was only $11 on Blackwell\'s website, so I splurged 😂 https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Elizabeth-and-Her-German-Garden-by-Eli... 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks The Penguin one is such a pretty edition! All the ebook covers on Hoopla are either generic or just terrible. 😂 1mo

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BarbaraJean

The Story Girl | L. M. Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread Belated discussion questions for Story Girl! I found this in my photos—somehow I missed posting it last week!

Do you agree with LMM‘s own assessment of The Story Girl, that from a literary standpoint it is “far ahead” of Anne? Why/why not?

If you‘re reading the journals, how have the additional details LMM included there impacted your reading? (Story Girl is mentioned in Vol. 2 p. 316 & pp. 404-408)

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I don\'t agree, but I can\'t tell if it\'s because I just simply like Anne so much better than SG. To me, the character development and story progression in Anne is stronger. SG does have a sense of place and nostalgia, but it feels like you are sitting on the porch with an elderly Bev listening to him reminisce vs more of an \“in the story\“ feeling with Anne. So maybe some of it is what kind of storytelling you prefer? 1mo

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BarbaraJean

The Story Girl | L. M. Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread - Story Girl discussion (3/3)

What were your favorite happenings and stories in the second half of the book? Which stories stand out to you the most from across the book?

Is there anything else you‘d like to talk about from The Story Girl?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Seabreeze_Reader

TheAromaofBooks Peter almost dying is a very realistic chapter to me. When I was growing up, a kid I knew from 4-H died from cancer. I didn\'t know him or his family very well, but I remember really for the first time thinking about how death could actually happen to people I know, and not just old people. 1mo

TheAromaofBooks I have to say that I can\'t stand Uncle Roger, and his bullying, teasing ways really got to me in this read through. Times when the children were genuinely scared or confused about something, he just tormented them instead of helping them. He\'s so cruel. The other adults felt like they were just not cognizant of various concerns the children had, but Roger would go out of his way to make things worse for them. What a jerk. 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Uncle Roger was infuriating. He\'s an adult who either doesn\'t remember what it was like to be a kid, or doesn\'t care to treat them with respect. His interactions with them are about his own amusement at their expense. I hated those kinds of adults, and I think LMM did, too—like her story about the man who called her Johnny (which shows up here, but not from Uncle Roger!). It surprises me he\'s not painted less sympathetically! 1mo

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BarbaraJean

The Story Girl | L. M. Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread - Story Girl discussion (2/3)

What did you think of the writing itself: the decision to use a first-person narrator reflecting back on childhood, including letters to show each character‘s voice, including family stories along with folk tales & legends?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Seabreeze_Reader

lauraisntwilder I can understand why Maud loved this book. It feels so personal, almost intimate. It feels like she packed in all her memories from Park Corner of being with her cousins. Knowing her frame of mind at the time she wrote it, the nostalgic tone makes sense. 1mo

lauraisntwilder (Cont'd) I mentioned before that I grew up watching the Road to Avonlea TV show. It was a big surprise to me that the narrator was a character they cut for the show. There were lots of changes, of course, but that seems like an especially big one! I liked the narration. I thought it worked well. 1mo

TheAromaofBooks I\'ve never been a huge fan of Bev\'s \“ah those were the days\“ attitude, which feels a little cloying at times, but it does make sense and give the book some framework. Although it felt suspicious that he copied everyone\'s letters to Peter except his own 😂 @lauraisntwilder 1mo

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BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder It does feel personal! I kept thinking about her journal, where she talks about the games & adventures she got up to with the Nelson boys, as well as her cousins. Writing it probably felt like spending time in those idyllic childhood days for her. I feel like Bev is kind of a stand-in for LMM, in a way—it makes sense she\'d use a narrator who\'s looking back on childhood days, because that\'s what she\'s doing! @TheAromaofBooks 1mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder I\'d read Story Girl & Chronicles of Avonlea before seeing Road to Avonlea, so my surprise was how Anne-adjacent it was, with Marilla & Mrs. Lynde as characters! Leaving out Bev & reframing the story with Sara as the outsider gives it such a different flavor—lifts the nostalgia right out. @TheAromaofBooks Yes, the omission of his letter to Peter was a lil sus 😂 Doesn\'t he still have his dream book? But also doesn\'t quote from it! 1mo

kwmg40 I liked the narrative choices in this novel. I might not have appreciated the sense of nostalgia if I\'d read this book when I was much younger, but it resonates with me now. 1mo

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BarbaraJean

The Story Girl | L. M. Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread - StoryGirl discussion (1/3)

The Story Girl is a very episodic book, but there are some common themes running throughout the book: faith and religion, family, and the nostalgia of looking back on childhood.

What did you think of the depiction of religion?

What did you think of how LMM described childhood?

What other themes stood out to you?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Seabreeze_Reader

Seabreeze_Reader This is just a personal opinion but overall the theme of religion started to feel too dominant and heavy handed. I was relieved there were a couple of chapters that didn\'t focus too much on religion, such as when they were picking apples. 1mo

lauraisntwilder I think it's realistic depiction of children growing up in a religious home, at least at that time. They seem to know so much -- all the things they've learned for Sunday School -- but they often don't understand the implications of anything. The Methodist vs. Presbyterian conversations were funny. 1mo

TheAromaofBooks I think church was a major social/cultural aspect of life at that time, so it seemed natural that they would talk about it and try to understand as they went along. This never felt like a preachy book in the sense that LMM was trying to \“convert\“ her readers - it felt more like a realistic part of the King children\'s lives. I thought things like Dan\'s skepticism regarding prayer vs Cecily\'s implicit faith helped give their characters depth. 1mo

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BarbaraJean @Seabreeze_Reader It really is everywhere, isn\'t it?! I agree with @lauraisntwilder & @The AromaofBooks—church was so central to the life of a family/community like this at that time, so it felt realistic to me. The kid-discussions of prayer and Methodist vs. Presbyterian also felt so realistic, and I found the partial understanding of those topics really funny. And the different perspectives, like Dan\'s skepticism, kept it from feeling preachy—⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont\'d) instead, it was just a part of life that kids wondered a lot about. What struck me about all the church/God elements is how those might have been viewed at the time. There are a lot of unflattering anecdotes about ministers, and conversations that might have been seen as irreverent at that time—and LMM was engaged to a minister! I kind of love reading it with that in mind, knowing that LMM wasn\'t afraid to poke fun at the institution! 1mo

Seabreeze_Reader I was partially viewing it in comparison to Anne of Green Gables which ended up being a more popular book. In Anne religious beliefs were also integral to the story but it just seemed more balanced. Yes, it\'s probably not fair to compare books but one cannot help it sometimes. 🙂 1mo

BarbaraJean @Seabreeze_Reader Haha, as I was typing my comment that it was realistic for the time, I actually thought to myself: \“but it\'s not all over the place in Anne like it is in Story Girl...\“ 😂 I love the way Anne talks about faith, too--her comments on wanting to \“just FEEL a prayer\“ out among the trees, and her very on-point critiques about people whose prayers sound like they don\'t actually mean it. With Anne those comments flow more naturally. 1mo

kwmg40 As I non-religious person, I did not find the depiction of religion heavy handed. In fact, I thought LMM was good at showing different interpretations of and reactions to religious beliefs, including skepticism of traditional teachings. Also, as others had mentioned, this novel seemed very much a product of its time and I felt I should read it in that context. 1mo

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BarbaraJean

The Story Girl | L. M. Montgomery

The Story Girl Discussion, Chapters 1-16
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

This is a very episodic book, with an ensemble cast rather than a central character (despite the title!)—which episodes, stories, or characters have you particularly enjoyed so far?

What connections do you see between this and LMM‘s other work (or connections to her life)?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Seabreeze_Reader

rubyslippersreads I reread this a couple of years ago, and what I liked were the family stories, because they reminded me of Emily of New Moon, with all the legends about the Murrays. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks Once again, LMM's passion for places/home comes through in this story. While it's definitely about the children and their adventures, in some ways the “old King homestead“ is the center of story. The descriptions of the orchard, the barn, the house, and the way the Story Girl's stories weave around it are what make this book work for me. 2mo

lauraisntwilder LMM got a lot of mileage out of that blue trunk! 2mo

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BarbaraJean @rubyslippersreads Yes, the family lore is such a strong connection here & in Emily of New Moon. It's fascinating to me how many family stories from LMM's own family were used in her fiction. And what great stories they are! @lauraisntwilder She repurposes so many stories/objects from her life! @TheAromaofBooks Yes, definitely. Reading this after reading how she modeled Carlisle after Cavendish really emphasized to me how much she loved her home. 2mo

kwmg40 While the Story Girl is quite different from Anne in many ways, I felt that they both recognized the power of imagination. The Story Girl used it to mesmerize her friends while Anne used it to reshape her own life. 2mo

BarbaraJean @kwmg40 I love that idea of Anne using imagination to reshape her own life! And the Story Girl really does bring so much joy and comfort to the group of friends and family through the way she tells her stories. 1mo

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BarbaraJean

The Story Girl | L. M. Montgomery

The Story Girl Discussion, Chapters 1-16
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

Have you read The Story Girl before, or is this your first read?

What are your initial impressions of the book? What do you like or not like?

rubyslippersreads, JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks, Seabreeze_Reader

Seabreeze_Reader In years past I read part of The Story Girl but I don't recall why I didn't complete the book.
As with Anne of Green Gables, I found some of the descriptive passages about nature and the seasons to be absolutely enchanting.
One of the aspects of the story that started to get on my nerves was all the bickering and competiveness between the children, especially Dan eating more of those potentially poisonous berries out of spite for a 2nd time. (edited) 2mo

BarbaraJean @Seabreeze_Reader Haha! All that bickering felt so true to life as far as sibling dynamics! And I seriously could have slapped Dan over that second time eating the berries out of spite. I totally understood the emotion behind it, though--Felicity was infuriatingly condescending to him. (I had to laugh at Uncle Roger's comment that if she wasn't careful she'd grow up to be a woman who drove her husband to drink 😂) 2mo

TheAromaofBooks I've always felt rather ambivalent towards The Story Girl. I read it every few years, but it's not one of my favorites. There's a sort of bittersweet/nostalgic undertone, I think because Bev is theoretically now an old man narrating about his past. However, the characters always feel realistic to me. I always feel bad for Sara Ray, but honestly I've also known people just like her 😂 2mo

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lauraisntwilder This is my first time reading it. My first impression, I hate to admit, has a lot to do with how different it is from "The Road to Avonlea" TV show. I grew up on that show and hoped this would feel like revisiting those characters. It took me a while to adjust! 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I feel the same--so many of the children's antics are funny and endearing, but I can kind of take it or leave it. I think this one falls into that pattern we identified of being vs. doing. Story Girl is so episodic, like Anne of Avonlea or Rainbow Valley, and the characters are realistic but pretty static. Poor Sara Ray!! 😂 2mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Hahaha! I didn't know about the Road to Avonlea show until people mentioned it on our first Kindred Spirits read a couple years ago, so I experienced them in the opposite order. I checked out some of the Road to Avonlea DVDs from the library and was distracted by how many of the stories were re-contextualized to include Marilla and Mrs. Lynde! I should go back and watch the rest one of these days. 2mo

lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean Yes! Imagine my surprise when I finally read all the Anne books and Marilla and Rachel stop being mentioned less than halfway through the series. 2mo

kwmg40 I'd not read this one before and it felt quite different from the Anne stories. At first, I found the characters not as likeable as the Avonlea characters but later appreciated that they seemed much more realistic. The nostalgic voice of the narrator also gave the novel a melancholy but sweet tone. 2mo

BarbaraJean @kwmg40 I feel the same way about these characters--Anne and the other Avonlea characters are much more likable! The first time I read this, I was much more annoyed with the sibling squabbles and Sara Ray\'s tears... but this time, like you, I appreciated the realism there. The Dan/Felicity fights were so relatable, honestly!! 1mo

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