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This was sort of an odd little book. Parts of it were interesting and I loved the line where she says she doesn't like dramatizations of novels (if only you knew, Maud!!). Mostly though, it made me want to read her unedited diaries. This was a little too curated, but at the same time it felt scattered. It felt too reserved, I guess? Like we weren't really getting all the information? Not awful though. #kindredspiritsbuddyread

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Alpine Path Discussion

I‘m spoiler-tagging this one on the off chance that someone hasn‘t read Anne of Green Gables yet! I think there was someone in the group who hadn‘t? Just in case: there are Green Gables spoilers in the discussion question below. 😊

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead
I was surprised to see LMM list Story Girl as her favorite & wondered if that changed with later books. It‘s fascinating how context can affect our fondness for certain books—places or people or events we associate with those stories.
Do you have books that are favorites partly because of the context in which you read them?
Are there books where it‘s it hard for you to separate the personal context from the book itself?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Alpine Path Discussion

I found some interesting background on the poem that‘s the source for L.M. Montgomery‘s “Alpine Path” in this post: https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2018/05/31/alpine-path/

It seems the poem that inspired Montgomery is a different one from “To the Fringed Gentian” by William Cullen Bryant (I‘d assumed the poem was by Bryant and had never looked it up!)

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Alpine Path Discussion

The material in “The Alpine Path” was originally published in 6 magazine installments in 1917, and later published as a book in 1974.
Did your version of the book split it up into sections? (Mine didn‘t, so I‘m curious!)
Do you think the material works together as one unit, in book form?
What did you think of the content overall—did it give you any new insights or information about LMM?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Alpine Path discussion

Montgomery begins Alpine Path with a few self-deprecating comments on her career and what might be said about it. Do you think this book accomplishes her modest goal: to encourage other writers on their own “Alpine Path”?

This wasn‘t what I expected from the description/subtitle. The first half is a brief sketch of LMM‘s early years, then the second half throws in lots of excerpts from her journals, with very little commentary to tie them together (or to connect them to the story of her career). I understand this was compiled from a series of autobiographical essays, but it didn‘t feel like a series of essays, either—it was too scattered! #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

“There must have been a time when I learned, as a first step into an enchanted world, that A was A; but for all the recollection I have of the process I might as well have been born with a capacity for reading, as we are for breathing and eating.”

Same, Maud. Same.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

I really enjoyed the first part of this book that described aspects of Montgomery‘s early life and highlighted details that inspired her writing. However, I didn‘t find as much to appreciate in the later section about her European travels. Then it ended very abruptly. My rating improved slightly from a previous read, but this slim autobiographical book is still only a so-so read for me.

#reread #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #memoir #nonfiction

The #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead discussion of The Alpine Path is quickly approaching! Join in next weekend, April 29th, as we discuss L.M. Montgomery‘s autobiography of her career.

I‘ve tagged those who were interested in this month‘s discussion. All are welcome—let me know if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be!

This is my current at school book to read for a few minutes each day with my classes. I‘ve read it once before and didn‘t appreciate it much. I‘m enjoying it much more on a second, more mature, read.

#TeachersOfLitsy #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #reread #nonfiction

Here are the #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead books for April and May!

We‘ll continue reading about LMM‘s life with “The Alpine Path,” her autobiography of her writing career. And in May, we‘ll read an Anne retelling, with “Ana of California.”

I‘m tagging the whole list as a heads up—let me know if you want to be added to the tag list for either or both of these (that is, if you haven‘t already—I do have a tag list going already for Alpine Path).

2022 is wrapping up & I'm thinking about #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead in 2023. We've read through LMM's books other than the short story collections & her autobiography & journals, but it might be fun to explore books about LMM & her work, and other LMM-adjacent fiction together. We could alternate months with fiction & nonfiction, continuing with LMM-themed books through 2023. I‘ve tagged people who‘ve participated/were interested in the past, but ⬇

#Memoir
#MayLovesClassics
#LitsyClassics

I'm so excited to have been approved for this on #Netgalley. It's not in the @Litsy database yet, but look at that gorgeous cover. 😍

We must follow our "airy voices", follow them through bitter suffering and discouragement and darkness, through doubt and disbelief, through valleys of humiliation and over delectable hills where sweet things would lure us from our quest, ever and always must we follow, if we would reach the "far-off divine event" and look out thence to the aerial spires of our City of Fulfilment.

Nothing beats a Saturday morning spent with LM Montgomery