Litsy

A Truce That Is Not Peace | Miriam Toews

In my latest video: special cakes + excellent books #CanLit #KidLit #Indigenous literature #booktube

https://youtu.be/eboq9t1cm1M

sarahbarnes I love Toews. I didn‘t realize she had a memoir out. Stacking. 10h

Lindy @sarahbarnes I‘m happy to hear from another Toews fan. The American cover evokes the idea of wind, while the Canadian cover does the opposite. (The Canadian cover illustrates a particular moment Toews remembers from her childhood.) 36m

15 likes2 stack adds2 comments

fredthemoose

The Stone Diaries | Carol Shields

Can‘t wait to dig into my #AuldLangSpine list from @Amiable ! I read and liked 9, 10, 12, and 15 and can tell I‘m in good hands! 2, 3, and 13 were at least in the precontemplation phase of the TBR, so they‘re getting bumped up. 1 is totally new to me but looks great, and 6 is one I encountered awhile back but had forgotten about. Several others look like winners as well! Thanks @monalyisha for a great match!

Soubhiville The Correspondent is showing up on so many lists! 1d

Amiable Have you read “Stoner” by John Williams? I read it a few years ago and LOVED it. “The Stone Diaries” had similar vibes, only from a female point of view. (Also? Read “Stoner” if you haven‘t yet!) 1d

fredthemoose @Amiable I don‘t think I‘ve ever heard of Stoner, but I‘ll add that to the list as well! Thanks! 1d

Deblovestoread Had to screen shot Amy‘s list. They are always varied and fantastic. @Amiable (edited) 22h

34 likes4 comments

lauraisntwilder

Emily's Quest | L.M. Montgomery

pick

I finished this reread over the weekend, the weakest of the series. But I still like it. Teddy Kent reminds me of my own childhood crush (reader, I married him), so it's easy for me to overlook some of the book's faults.

24 likes

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. 5d

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?? 5d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Oh, I hadn't thought about that pride connection with LMM! But YES, that rings true in so many ways. And I agree about Emily and Ilse's friendship. Ilse is so clueless as to what's going on with Emily, I think partly because she's kind of oblivious to emotional nuances... but also, Emily withholds SO much out of pride. Plot-wise, the withholding is necessary since the resulting misunderstanding is central to the conflict here ⬇ 2d

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...but it's so sad to me that their friendship becomes just this surface shell of what it was when they were younger. All four were such chums growing up... I really liked their little group. They seemed so well-matched. And the way they all withhold their true feelings breaks that up on all sides. Except for Perry. Good old Perry. 2d

kwmg40 Emily's pride is definitely a hinderance, and as @TheAromaofBooks said in a comment to another post, it's the real reason her writing career had been interrupted. 1h

26 likes5 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. 6d

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 ⬇ 5d

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. 5d

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BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Yeah, Emily's writing is so central to who she is, while writing never seems central to Anne. Emily can't NOT write! That still comes across even though there's so much romance drama in this book. @TheAromaofBooks I think you're right that the story in this book specifically shifts its focus to the romance. This book overall is super uneven, and I agree--it feels like a compromise between who LMM envisioned Emily to be ⬇ 2d

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...and what her publisher/readers wanted the book to be. In her journals, when she was discussing the first or second Emily book, she mentioned something about how she couldn't write the romance the way she wanted to, either. I'm SO curious what these three books would have been like if LMM had been able to free herself from the “what would people think“ inhibitions! 2d

kwmg40 Everyone else has summarized quite well what I thought of the writing vs romance themes, so I don't have anything more to add. @BarbaraJean, I too would be curious to find out how LMM would have written this book had she the full freedom to do so. 1h

22 likes6 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! 6d

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? 6d

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. 5d

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks Right?! It had to be frustrating to write a book she didn't want to write. In her journals she talks about hating having to write “to order,“ and she doesn't mean these books specifically, but I think that feeling shows in some of her sequels (especially the later add-on Anne books, like Anne of Ingleside). I agree, I don't think it's “no good,“ but I can understand why she felt that way. And it's not AS good! 2d

kwmg40 My assessment of the book is not as harsh as LMM's own, but there were definitely weaknesses. The ending wrapped up too tidily to be believable. I wonder if LMM was thinking, “OK, I've reached the required word count. Let's finish this off quickly!“ 1h

21 likes5 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. 6d

lauraisntwilder The section of Emily reading reviews reminded me of LMM's similar reactions in her journals. 6d

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 ⬇ 5d

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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 ⬇ 5d

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. 5d

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks It's definitely my least favorite of the Emily books, even though I was completely on board with Teddy as the love interest! I think the Emily/Teddy/Ilse/Perry love quadrangle is one of the worst parts of the book. The Ilse & Teddy pairing seems so contrived and I hate the way LMM distances Emily & Ilse in order for it to happen. And Sarah, I felt the same way about the timing at the end. The pacing is WAY off. ⬇ 2d

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) Also, I'd forgotten that Andrew was going to inherit New Moon, and I DEFINITELY saw parallels with LMM and her awful uncle!! As well as parallels between Emily staying at New Moon and the way LMM stays in Cavendish and feels left behind...her childhood friends have all left or changed dramatically. Emily's decision to stay makes sense at the end of Emily Climbs, but LMM kind of drops that reasoning here, in favor of the Dean subplot. 2d

kwmg40 This is my least favourite of the LMM books I've read, but I still enjoyed it. The romantic quadrangle took up so much of the book, in contrast to other LMM books that featured more fascinating side characters and interesting subplots. 2h

20 likes8 comments

merelybookish

Charlotte and Claudia Keeping in Touch | Joan Barfoot

so-so

In my small town, the restaurants are predictably mediocre. Occasionally there's a delicious surprise, but for the most part, the food here, while not bad ain't great either.
This book was like dining at a local restaurant. The story of two friends at near-70 reflecting on their life choices was pretty mediocre. Some wise insights were shared but most of the narrative reminded me of dining out on a serviceable steak served with too many fries.

sarahbarnes Great review. 😆 2w

LeahBergen 😆😆 I always hold out hope that at least the fries will be good. 1w

RamsFan1963 Ugh! You know the steak isn't going to be good when they load you up on fries 1w

See All 8 Comments

youneverarrived 😂😂 brilliant review 1w

MaureenMc This review 🤩🤩 6d

merelybookish @LeahBergen Things are pretty dire when the fries are bad! 😅 5d

merelybookish @RamsFan1963 like a salad that is mostly lettuce! 5d

merelybookish @sarahbarnes @youneverarrived @MaureenMc Thank you! It was fun to try and write. 😊 5d

55 likes8 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

Kristy_K

Anne of Ingleside | L.M. Montgomery

pick

Soft pick. I really wish there was more of Anne.

BookishMarginalia I‘ve been rewatching the Anne adaptation with Megan Follows as Anne — I‘ve seen it probably 20 times since I was a teen and love it so much still. 2w

Kristy_K @BookishMarginalia Those adaptations were so such a huge part of my childhood! I‘m overdue for a rewatch. 2w

50 likes2 comments

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