Litsy

Christmas with Anne: And Other Holiday Stories | L. M. Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsChristmas will begin in ONE week! Join us to read a daily cozy holiday story from L.M. Montgomery.
The schedule is above. Most (but not all) of the stories are available in the tagged book, and as we go, I'll post links to where you can read stories online. All are welcome!
Comment if you're not tagged and you'd like to be on @BarbaraJean post just follow the hashtag.

Born.A.Reader Ooh I'd like to join! This book is in my annual Christmas books 📚 any way. 😍 15h

BarbaraJean @Born.A.Reader Yay! I‘ll add you to the tag list! 15h

24 likes1 stack add2 comments

BarbaraJean

Christmas with Anne: And Other Holiday Stories | L. M. Montgomery

A #KindredSpiritsChristmas will begin in ONE week! Join us to read a daily cozy holiday story from L.M. Montgomery. The schedule is above. Most (but not all) of the stories are available in the tagged book, and as we go, I‘ll post links to where you can read stories online. All are welcome! Comment if you‘re not tagged and you‘d like to be.

Jerdencon, JenlovesJT47, AnneCecilie, lauraisntwilder, monalyisha, sblbooks, TheAromaofBooks, LitsyEvents, julieclair

JenlovesJT47 Yay! ♥️💚♥️ 21h

Jerdencon Just downloaded the book! 18h

julieclair Looking forward to the coziness! 13h

26 likes3 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest discussion - 4/4

“‘The Murray pride,‘ whispered Mrs. Kent, staring at her.
‘After all, Emily Starr, I believe pride is a stronger passion with you than love.‘
‘Perhaps,‘ said Emily, smiling.”

What role do you see Emily‘s pride playing in her relationships with Teddy and Ilse?
Do you agree with Mrs. Kent, that pride is a stronger passion for Emily than love?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I completely think pride is Emily's primary characteristic. But I actually think it may have been LMM's as well, so it checks out. Emily does and says so many things based on “what people will think.“ I can somewhat understand her interactions with Teddy - fearing that her feelings are more serious than his - but she still allows pride to override her desire to be with him. 6h

TheAromaofBooks As a side note, I was also disappointed in the way that Ilse and Emily's friendship just sort of disappeared here. I understand that it's part of growing up, but it felt like Emily purposefully refused to say anything of her true feelings to Ilse - again, because of pride - and it felt strange that they could be the best friends in the world!!! and neither of them even knew that the other liked either of the boys that they also were close to?? 6h

22 likes2 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest discussion 3/4:

Emily‘s writing is a key theme (if not THE key theme) in the Emily books. What did you think of how LMM chose to flesh out Emily‘s writing career in this final book of the trilogy?

Do you think Emily‘s writing was overshadowed by the themes of romance and the back-and-forth with Teddy and Dean in this book?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder I think I might think the writing part was overshadowed by the romance, if Anne had ever gotten anywhere with her writing. Just in comparison to Anne, Emily's writing seems so important. 19h

TheAromaofBooks If anything, I think Emily's writing is held back by her own pride and ambitions. She doesn't sacrifice her writing for Dean - she does so because she thinks it's not good enough. And I actually don't get the impression that she is going to stop writing after she marries Teddy, because he understands how important it is to her. (Unlike Dean, ironically.) However, I think the STORY somewhat gets overshadowed by focusing on Emily's romance instead ⬇ 6h

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) of her writing - I feel like the main plot of Emily would be summarized by her choose between two men rather than her spending her time writing. And maybe part of the problem is that LMM wanted to write about a woman who wants to write, but her publishers/readers want to read about a woman finding love? And consequently this book feels a little compromise-y. 6h

18 likes3 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest discussion 2/4:

LMM‘s comments in her journals about Emily‘s Quest indicate she found it difficult to write, and thought it was “no good.”

Do you think her writing difficulties show in the novel? If so, in what ways?
Do you agree with her assessment that it‘s “no good”? What do you see as the book‘s weaknesses?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean I'll drop a little reminder here for @TheAromaofBooks and @lauraisntwilder that we'll be finishing up Vol. 6 of the journals this week! 22h

lauraisntwilder I don't think it's "no good," but I can see why she saw it as a decline in quality. But also, she didn't want to write it, so how could she love it? 19h

TheAromaofBooks I'm obviously not a fan of this book, so I tried to think about it a little more objectively, as a piece of writing and not just a story. I wouldn't say that it's “no good“ but I can see why LMM felt frustrated by it. Like @lauraisntwilder pointed out, she didn't particularly want to write this book, and I wonder if, perhaps subconsciously, some of her resentment comes through, by giving Emily a hard time and a somewhat ambiguous ending. 6h

17 likes3 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead - Emily‘s Quest Discussion 1/4

What is your impression of the book overall? How does it compare to the other Emily books—in tone, theme, quality? How does it compare to LMM‘s novels overall, so far?

If you‘re reading the journals, what do you see in Emily‘s Quest that mirrors LMM‘s own life? Do you see qualities in Emily that reflect LMM?

#LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder I think this one is the weakest of the Emily books, but it's still better than Kilmeny, I think, and so of her others that we haven't gotten to yet in this round of rereads. 19h

lauraisntwilder The section of Emily reading reviews reminded me of LMM's similar reactions in her journals. 19h

TheAromaofBooks I agree with @lauraisntwilder - this definitely felt like the weakest of the three books to me, but not her overall weakest book. There just isn't much “drive“ to this book - I never really got behind Teddy or Dean as love interests. The side story with Ilse and Teddy/Perry also feels kind of awkward. It's an okay story, but I think it lacks some of the “sparkle“ that her other books have - maybe because there isn't as strong of cast of ⬇ 6h

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) background/secondary characters? Everyone abandons Emily and heads off to start new lives. Hearing that eventually Emily's cousin is going to inherit (and basically destroy) New Moon made me wonder anew why Emily chose to stay there instead of pursuing opportunities elsewhere. When Anne postponed dreams to stay at GG, it was because doing so saved her home. I still feel like Emily stayed because she was scared to take a jump. The other ⬇ 6h

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) weird thing about this book is how much time it covers, especially at the very end, where apparently YEARS go by before Teddy comes back!? It just doesn't jive for me. 6h

16 likes5 comments

LisaBam

Obasan | Joy Kogawa

so-so

This book tells the story of the persecuted Japanese in Canada during World War II. I feel it‘s an important story that many Europeans (me!) are not aware of (i.e.
I had no idea that Canada had ghettos and labor camps) yet, except for some deeply moving chapters, there is not much happening in the book. Unfortunately, that‘s why it was a rather boring read.

2 likes

thebacklistbook

Deck the Halls: A Canadian Christmas Carol | Helaine Becker

Tree is up and fluffed!

Avanders Whoa 🤩 1w

dabbe 🎄🎄🎄 1w

21 likes2 comments

BarbaraJean

Emily's Quest | Lucy Maud Montgomery

My reactions as I re-read the first half of Emily‘s Quest this week:
Tearing up over Mr. Carpenter
Pleading with Emily to NOT show her book to Dean
LOATHING DEAN
Pleading with Emily to send her book to Miss Royal in NYC for another opinion
LOATHING DEAN
Thinking that buying the Disappointed House may be the only thing Dean has done that I approve of
And some agonizing about Teddy

How is your reading going? 😆
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread

lauraisntwilder, kwmg40, TheAromaofBooks

Ruthiella But how do you feel about Dean? 😂😂😂 1w

kwmg40 I'm only a quarter of the way through, but I'm already loathing Dean! 1w

BarbaraJean @Ruthiella I probably should have been clearer about my emotions. 😂 😂 😂 @kwmg40 Right?!? Chapter 6 is the absolute WORST. 1w

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lauraisntwilder My library card expired, so I couldn't check out the audio book as planned. I fixed it today, so I'll catch up this week! (I already hate Dean though. 1w

TheAromaofBooks I just started this one yesterday, and am NOT looking forward to Creepy Dean!! 1w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Oh no! Glad you got it sorted out… and sorry about Dean 😆 @TheAromaofBooks Every time I read this, I hate him more. 1w

32 likes6 comments