“Are we riding far tonight, Gandalf?” asked Merry after a while. “I don‘t know how you feel with small rag-tag dangling behind you; but the rag-tag is tired and will be glad to stop dangling and lie down.”

Gosh, I love the hobbits. Clever, self-deprecating, light humor while plaintively asking, in essence, “Are we there yet?” 😂

#LOTRchapteraday #FellowshipofTolkien

Here‘s my final September #BookSpinBingo board, illustrating an unsuccessful mid-month pivot in bingo strategy. 😆 I did finish my #BookSpin and plan to finish my #DoubleSpin next month. Also completed: one for #AuldLangSpine (yep, still doing that), and one for #192025 (2003). Not completed: anything for #SeriesSeptember.🤷🏻‍♀️

Favorites:
🍞Giant‘s Bread
🐴Horse
💍Fellowship of the Ring (re-read, naturally 😁)

“Some people might have scrupulously removed themselves from earshot of a private conversation. But not Hercule Poirot. He had no scruples of that kind.”

😂

#BookSpin list for October!

@Catsandbooks - thank you so much for this delightful #FallingforFallSwap box!! I‘ve been wanting to read Raybearer for so long & have seen so much buzz about The Witch‘s Heart—I‘m really excited about both!! I look forward to a relaxing bath, some tasty hot chocolate, and maybe a little audiocoloring with the fun little coloring cards. (Also I may have to hide the hot chocolate from my husband, who can‘t resist Peeps!) 😊 Thank you so much! #FFFS

I picked this up from the library yesterday and am really excited to dive in. Heather Cox Richardson‘s daily “Letters from an American” have been providing a much needed dose of sanity, clarity, and hope for me (and so many others!) over the past few years. She takes current news and places it in perspective, using historical context. I‘m really looking forward to reading her take on the present and future state of our nation.

This had been in my Kindle library for a while. I chose it for my #BookSpin “Kindle TBR” category this month, which was where the BookSpin landed. It‘s a “summer camp” book dealing with some difficult themes (grief and mental illness). I thought I wasn‘t really connecting with the characters, but then teared up close to the end, so the narrative changed my mind along the way! The way Crane slowly develops the main characters is really well done⤵️

“Very little time in a priest‘s life is spent on ‘holy‘ things. Most of it is conflict management and resolution.”
Or, as a woman priest said in a sermon on ordination, “There are times when the church is like a swimming pool: all the noise comes from the shallow end.”

😂🤣😭
My church is in the middle of a pastoral transition, and I can‘t tell you how true this is right now. I texted this pic to my former pastor and her response was “Spot on!”

I bought this faded copy of Practicing Resurrection from the outdoor shelves at Bart‘s Books in Ojai either on my honeymoon or a year later on our first anniversary—nearly 10 years ago. It was fascinating to read it now and see connections that have emerged in the intervening years that made it far more meaningful now than it would have been if I‘d read it back when I originally bought it. It‘s a quiet reflective book, focusing on Gallagher‘s ⤵️

This was my book club‘s read for September. The premise is fantastic: group therapy sessions for women who‘ve survived—well—the cover gives you a good idea of where this is going. I was wary going in, since the person who chose it gave a caveat that there was some “body horror," which did not sound like my jam, but it turned out to not be extreme. I could have done without some of the gross descriptions, in the first couple tales especially. ⤵️

If you saw my chapter-a-day posts for the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead, it will be no surprise that for me this was largely disappointing. Each chapter focuses on one book by Montgomery, mostly through a biographical lens, connecting the story or its writing with events in LMM's life. Overall, I really didn't connect with Waterston's analysis. I debated (a little) about giving this a “Pan” because there‘s some great scholarship here. There are some ⤵️

I know it‘s short for “vanguard,” but it makes me laugh every single time. I made this during the first #LOTRchapteraday buddy read and just had to go find it when I came across this sentence tonight! #FellowshipofTolkien

“In one thing you have not changed, dear friend,” said Aragorn: “you still speak in riddles.”
“What? In riddles?” said Gandalf. “No! For I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying.”
He laughed, but the sound now seemed warm and kindly as a gleam of sunshine.

#LOTRchapteraday #FellowshipofTolkien

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Anne of Ingleside & Conclusion

I was going to do the conclusion tomorrow, but I just wanted to be done with this book!

I found Waterston‘s analysis of Anne of Ingleside to be a mixed bag. Her discussion of the symmetrical structure of the novel was fascinating, identifying paired or opposing themes that mirror each other throughout the book. Some of the biographical connections were illuminating, while ⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Jane of Lantern Hill

Sigh. Add fat-shaming to the list of my frustrations with Waterston: “As Montgomery grew older (and fatter), she perhaps dreamed more about food.” What even is happening? Why is that comment even here?!?

W. makes a valid point about Jane‘s second PEI visit being a bit over the top—I agree that the lion episode is kind of the final straw in far-fetched-ness. But then there‘s an ⤵️

“It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.”

#LOTRchapteraday #FellowshipofTolkien

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Anne of Windy Poplars

More of the same old Waterston here. More tenuous claims of parallels, places where she doesn‘t seem to “get” the book she‘s analyzing. And I felt like she contradicts herself in two subsequent paragraphs above: first Katherine Brooke is a picture of Isobel Anderson, and then Katherine Brooke is another LMM self-portrait. I don‘t buy either parallel. Katherine Brooke ends up as a ⤵️

“This collection having run into a much greater length than was wished, it is proper to omit several letters…”

This, on page 122 of volume 9. NOW he decides to omit letters… 🙄 😂 🤣 #Clarissa

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Mistress Pat

I‘m not enamored with Mistress Pat as a novel—and I‘m also not enamored with this chapter. Waterston does more over-interpreting here, and while I agree that the ending of Mistress Pat is “troubling”—I find it very abrupt and bizarrely deus-ex-machina—her characterization of other LMM endings was maddening. Sigh. @TheAromaofBooks This is the one you bailed on before the ending, right?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Pat of Silver Bush

I appreciated the focus on friendship in this chapter—Waterston draws out the connections between LMM‘s deep friendships and Pat‘s friendships with Bets and Jingle (I loved that LMM had a “secret field” with friends!). That focus reminds me that there is more to this book than Pat‘s obsessive fear of change and love for home. And most of the connections W. makes were helpful ones ⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead: Magic Island - A Tangled Web

I don‘t have much to say on this chapter—a bit scattered, but that makes sense for a book that weaves together so many disparate stories! I DO want to know if the above is true or just speculation. If it‘s true, I want to know who might correspond to whom and why—especially which of the CAA members she lampooned! But my guess is that it‘s just Waterston speculating again.

Hey Kindred Spirits! Just a reminder that we‘ll be reading The Grace of Wild Things for the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead in October—and a little preview of the other titles on our list for future months. Please comment if you‘d like to join in for October, and I‘ll add you to the tag list! Our discussion will be Saturday, October 28th. All are welcome.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Magic for Marigold

I found this chapter far less frustrating than the previous few. The discussion of prevailing attitudes about childhood development and psychology was super interesting, and provided a perspective on the text that I hadn‘t considered but found valuable. I hadn‘t thought about how unique it was that LMM chose to begin the story when Marigold is 4 months old and conclude when she‘s ⤵️

I‘m about to start the next leg of the #LOTRchapteraday buddy read, and noticed that in this edition, Two Towers is the slimmest book of the three. So I was curious to know how long this one is. I flipped to the back to find the last chapter ends on page 725! 😲 Then the Table of Contents revealed that the pagination continues on from FOTR. Ah. That makes much more sense. But it doesn‘t make my page calculations very easy! 😆 #FellowshipofTolkien

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Emily‘s Quest

Eh. I just don‘t connect with Waterston‘s reading of Emily. Parts of this chapter feel off-base to me (notably the above assumption that Emily will set aside her writing career, which I don‘t see supported in the text), other parts discuss connections that aren‘t new and don‘t really add anything to the analysis (Jane Eyre and the “psychic call”). I did think the above quote ⤵️

My #FallingforFallSwap box arrived today! 🎉🍁🍂 Thank you, @Catsandbooks !! It arrived just as I was going to the Post Office to mail my own box out. 😊 Of course I forgot to take a picture, but my box is on its way to a lovely Litten in North Carolina, and it should arrive on Wednesday. #FFFS

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - The Blue Castle

I was gearing up to be really annoyed at this chapter, since this is my favorite LMM book. And maybe I just prepared myself really well, but it wasn‘t terrible. It wasn‘t great, but it wasn‘t terrible. It was not nearly as off-base as the cover images in the top row, but definitely not on par with the cover images in the bottom row (I‘ve apparently developed a new method of ranking things) ⤵️

I…. don‘t even know what is happening. The photo on the left popped up in my FB feed as a “suggested” post—it was a facetious post from a library not in my area, saying they‘d be closed for the book cart racing regional qualifiers. I read the comments, because I just had to know. It was completely unserious and hilarious. But then someone dropped a link to this book and I MUST KNOW MORE. Book description ⤵️

This was absolutely fascinating. It's completely different from Christie's mystery novels, and yet there are so many similarities. The same sharp insight into human nature, for one. It's also oddly darker than most of her mysteries, which was surprising to me. I‘d only read Miss Marple and Poirot, etc. thus far, and had heard that the Westmacott novels were Christie's "romance novels." This is not a romance at all, though it certainly deals with⤵️

“You don‘t know anything about God or you couldn‘t have spoken like that, gently patting God on the back for making life comfortable and easy for you. Do you know a text that used to frighten me in the Bible? ‘This night shall thy soul be required of thee.‘ When God requires your soul of you, be sure you‘ve got a soul to give Him!”

#LMWBR #MaryWestmacottBuddyRead

This is the second book I've read by Geraldine Brooks, and it won't be the last! I'm impressed by how she weaves together several storylines, both historical and present day, bringing together common themes and making topics I'm not that interested in completely fascinating. Horse racing in the antebellum South is not a topic that prompts me to pick up a book (which is one reason this languished in my Libby queue for so long)… ⤵️

“We suffered enough on account of slavery already. I don‘t plan on laying my life down to end it. You folk who made this mess, I reckon you owe us to clean it up.”

“The perfect husband! Perhaps that was because he was an American. You always heard that Americans made perfect husbands.”
😂😂

#LMWBR #MaryWestmacottBuddyRead

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Emily Climbs

Absent clear parallels to LMM‘s life, Waterston turns to a meandering speculation on names and their potential associations with people in LMM‘s life, authors, or fictional characters. She identifies some recurring images throughout the book, but I didn‘t get a lot out of her analysis of those patterns. I also don‘t necessarily agree with her conclusion that this book shows ⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily of New Moon

Well, I wouldn‘t have put it that way AT ALL, but Waterston talked me into it. There actually is a lot about power in Emily of New Moon. I would have characterized it very differently—as a book about beauty and passion and fighting for the creative life in the face of misunderstanding—but she‘s not all wrong. (And yes, I picked this photo because of Emily and her father‘s “mushroom house” 😁) ⤵️

“Don‘t you think a woman can be poor and happy?”
“Certainly, given the necessary qualifications.”
“Which are—what? Love and trust?”
“No, you idiotic child. A sense of humor, a tough hide and the valuable quality of being sufficient unto oneself.”

#LMWBR #MaryWestmacottBuddyRead

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Rilla of Ingleside

This chapter opens with two things that really annoyed me: this awful cover of Rilla (which, oddly, looks as if someone has colored in the letters of the name Rilla?!?), and Waterston‘s assertion that the poppies in McCrae‘s “In Flanders Field” suggest “full sensuous natural life.” Just: no. Use of the poppy to symbolize sleep and death goes WAY back. Opium, anyone? This interpretation⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Further Chronicles of Avonlea

Reading about L.C. Page publishing this without authorization and against LMM‘s wishes made me angry about the whole Page affair all over again. But other than that and my frustration over Waterston‘s downplaying the racism throughout “Tannis of the Flats,” I didn‘t find a whole lot remarkable about this chapter. Again, tracing the common themes LMM uses in these stories ⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Rainbow Valley

Belated post—I read this chapter late last night but didn‘t post anything!

This chapter was kind of all over the place. The parallels between LMM as a minister‘s wife, and this book‘s focus on the Meredith family were apt. But I thought it was strange that Waterston claims much of the book concerns “male experience” and that we see the world largely through the eyes of Rev. Meredith. ⤵️

For some time, I‘ve been wantonly recommending this book without having read it, solely because of a couple of friends who spoke very highly of it! One of those friends is my former English professor, who‘s a medievalist & an Arthurian scholar—when she said it‘s one of the best modern Arthurian-influenced fantasies she‘s read in a long time, I took note. And I‘m glad I did (I hope my other recommendees are as well). This was a fascinating take ⤵️

This was really, really good. A thoroughly unique blend of historical fiction and fantasy, immigrant story and Jewish fable. It reminded me a lot of The Golem and the Jinni—another book I have a hard time classifying! I loved the depth of relationships and found family here. A great book club pick (thank you @Tea_and_Starstuff !)

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Anne‘s House of Dreams

I was much more on board with today‘s chapter! I actually found a lot of the biographical context appropriate here, rather than a stretch. The discussion of LMM‘s two “visions” during this time was fascinating and that does seem mirrored in the text. And it was heartbreaking to read quotes from LMM‘s journal that were then echoed in Anne‘s words following the loss of little Joyce.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Anne of the Island

Well. I‘m super not a fan of this chapter. I wholly disagree with Waterston‘s conclusions in the above paragraph. It really bothers me to reduce Anne‘s college years to “finding a mate and a home”—dismissing the self-knowledge that Anne gains, the camaraderie of Patty‘s Place, as well as Anne‘s educational accomplishments. Don‘t get me started on her Freudian take on the harbor scene…⤵️

Thanks for the tag, @CSeydel — it was fun to look at what I‘ve read this summer! Here are my #Top10summer2023reads. An interesting mix!

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: The Golden Road

I didn‘t agree with Waterston‘s take on everything in this chapter (but she also didn‘t do as much stretching here, I thought!). Tracing the theme of marriage was fitting, and this time both textually and contextually based! I agree that this book is more complex (and interesting) than Story Girl, with a more fleshed-out framing narrative… (Continued) ⤵️

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island: Chronicles of Avonlea

This is a bit of a whirlwind, speeding through quick comments on each story in Chronicles of Avonlea. I thought it was interesting to look at the stories in the order they were written, and to consider the thematic groupings LMM used, but overall this felt a bit thin on the analysis/commentary—just lots of “LMM also used this in X.” Did anything in particular stand out to anyone else?

Final book haul of this little vacation! My husband and I try to stop here whenever we‘re in the area. It‘s a gorgeous place to browse for books and discover hidden gems.

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

#LOTRchapteraday #FellowshipofTolkien

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Magic Island Chapter 4: The Story Girl

Thoughts on this chapter? For me, it‘s fascinating that LMM felt so much fondness & affinity for the characters in The Story Girl when I feel that so much more for the Anne books. But this chapter really illuminates LMM‘s feelings for me, describing how much of her own family, family stories, and nostalgia for her beloved PEI (that she may well soon have to leave behind) ⤵️

Mini-vacation book haul - day two!

Today we stopped in at Chaucer‘s Books, where my husband bought these gorgeous journals and I picked up two books of poetry by Wendell Berry. I always get on my husband for buying journals & abandoning them after 5-10 pages. But I admitted I don‘t have much room to criticize when I keep buying books & adding them to my TBR shelves, which seem to remain at a count of 400 books no matter how I chip away at them!