Litsy

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

“I am almost worn out and feel as if the only thing that would do me any good would be to get away out in some lonely waste place and shriek at the top of my voice for half an hour.”
—July 22, 1919 (p. 173)

Same, Maud. Same.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

dabbe 🎯🎯🎯 18h

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

This week‘s section was ROUGH and heartbreaking to read, and I‘m glad we‘re alternating between the journals and other books! A couple questions to get us started:

What stands out to you in LMM‘s description of her grief?
What stands out in her descriptions of Ewan‘s illness and her own response to it?
Are there other sections that you found interesting or meaningful?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean This quote (and the preceding passage about their friendship) really struck me:
“I think what hurt me so keenly in these was the fact that there was no one left on earth to understand or note these things. In one letter... written one winter when I was not feeling well she said, ‘I tremble to think of what the world would be to me without you.‘
Oh, Frede, you never had to learn it. It is I who must find that out.”
(p. 131 - Mar. 23, 1919) 😭😭 2d

BarbaraJean Several times, I was struck (again!) by how judgmental LMM is. I also noticed her own fear of judgment, specifically about Ewan & what others would think if they knew his illness was other than only a physical ailment. It was interesting to see those two things side by side and feel there was likely a parallel there: she assumes judgment in part because of her own judgmental side.

“For Ewan's own sake and the childrens' the impression must not ⬇ (edited) 2d

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...get abroad that his mind was unbalanced. It would ruin his prospects. I talked to the people of his headaches and insomnia but I fenced the world from him as much as I could lest the other deadly thing should be suspected.” (Sept. 1, 1919: p. 149) vs. a comment like: “Flora is a stupid, uncultured, uninteresting woman but she has a heart of gold and she was kindness itself to us this summer.” (Aug. 3, 1919: p. 174) 2d

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BarbaraJean Also, I CRACKED UP over these two parts:

“I have a long way to go before I can believe that the spirits of the dead can spell out messages on the Ouija board or that they live in an eternal pink twilight on synthetic beef tea.” (March 29, 1919: p. 134)

“The McCombs are nice enough people but their cat is nicer.” (Aug. 3, 1919: p. 173) 2d

TheAromaofBooks Soooo many feelings in this week's section!! Wow! Can you imagine a worse year!? I think I had either not realized or maybe just forgotten that Frede died of the Spanish flu. So scary and fast. You can feel the shock and devastation on every page - to have just heard from someone and they were fine, and then 24hrs later to be told to come quickly because they're dying...!! It was hard to read. And I felt Maud's lament that she's too old to ⬇ 1d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) make another friend like that - the kind of person you've built a lifetime of memories with, and shared so much. 1d

TheAromaofBooks The sections about Ewan were in some ways harder to read, because it felt like so much of that grief LMM put on herself. Her obsession with appearances, combined with the lack of knowledge/empathy concerning mental health issues boxed her into a situation that was way worse than I feel like it would have been if it had happened today. I thought it was strange that they went to Massachusetts for the entire summer - was it just to keep Ewan away ⬇ 1d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) from the neighborhood?? It was also so hard to read the beginnings of the usage of various drugs to help with sleeping and getting through the day, knowing how destructive those will be over time. And I also felt bad for Ewan, who honestly seems like a perfectly nice guy (despite all the slagging he got in basically every biography). I think until this point he and LMM have been companionable and work partners, even if they haven't ⬇ 1d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) been passionate lovers. To go into this time of deep, deep depression and basically be told that it's your fault and you're a disgrace and have to be hidden away - ugh, so awful.

When you mentioned about LMM being really judgmental, it made me remember a footnote from the earlier section (pg47), which quoted a later journal entry of LMM's saying that her cousin James had no children and so “the old homestead of Hugh Montgomery will ⬇ 1d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) pass into other hands with this generation.“ The footnote points out that James actually had adopted three children. I was immediately struck by how LMM definitely seems like the type of person who would not have remotely considered adopted children inheriting the same as the farm “staying in the family.“ Her high view of the Montgomerys comes through frequently, and she definitely has a lot of feelings about “class“ and who belongs ⬇ 1d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) where.

It's interesting to me how deeply the idea of someone being “insane“ haunted LMM. She says on pg149 “Was my husband going out of his mind? He had every symptom given in the encyclopedia on that type of insanity. It was one of the things I had always had the most deeply rooted horror of.“

I wonder why it horrified her so much?? 1d

lauraisntwilder The week got away from me and I'm behind on my reading, but I'll come back and discuss when I get caught up! 1d

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

This week, we read the first part of volume 4 of the complete journals, where perhaps most significantly, LMM records her response to the end of WWI.

📚What are your thoughts on this week‘s section of the journals?
📚What sections or quotes stand out to you?

#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean I was struck by her entry from Nov. 12, where she said she was “thankful—and bored!” The sudden end to the ups and downs, victories and reverses in the war, the feeling of NOT dreading the news—I can imagine how odd that must have felt to happen so suddenly, and what a strange void it must have left after she‘d been following the war news so closely and intensely for so long. It also made me wish I could feel bored about the news!!! (edited) 1w

TheAromaofBooks It does make sense in a way. When you go through something so intense and so all-consuming, you do feel a little lost when it's over, even if you also are glad haha I personally LOVED the story that she got from an old friend of her mother's - her mother so glad to see the old friend because she needed help - “What is your trouble?“ “Oh, little Lucy Maud is SO sweet and lovely today... and I've NO ONE to help me enjoy her!“ I love that so much!! 1w

TheAromaofBooks For some reason another story that stuck out to me was when she was talking about her Aunt Emily and how she's just kind of mean-spirited and doesn't even know it. “I recall some things that Aunt Emily said to me when I was a young girl that I can never forget - little poisoned arrows that have rankled ever since. Yet I have no doubt she forgets she ever said them and would be amazed if she were told of them.“ It just really made me think how ⬇ 1w

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) important it is to watch what we say to people because you never know when something is going to stick with them!

And I LOVED that the story in Rilla where Rilla yells at the movie theater for the girl to pull the knife out of her stocking - is a true story! That made me so happy because that story has always cracked me up. 1w

lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks I find it so strange that she later went on to write a largely autobiographical series of books about a young orphan who is forever haunted by the mean things her mean, old relatives said about her while she was hiding under a table and that she would name that character EMILY. 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Yes!! I loved that story about her mother, and what a gift it was for her to hear it! It reminded me of the little packet of letters Anne receives when she visits her birthplace, giving her a glimpse of her mother's love and pride in little baby Anne. And I was so glad to discover that it was Frede who was the original for the movie theater story!! 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder Isn't it wild how much of LMM's life shows up in little bits and pieces in her fiction? I hadn't even made the connection between Aunt Emily and Emily the character. What a parallel. And LMM's comments about Aunt Emily are also echoed in Marilla's memories of cruel things said to her as a child. 1w

TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder - I have to say that the parts of this journal section that broke my heart a little were the ones where she talks about how important Frede is to her and how she doesn't know what she would do without that friendship. 😢 It's just so crazy how we have no idea what life is going to bring us, and how someone you think is going to be there to grow old with you might not be. But seeing how close they are - sooo sad!!! 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Ugh, YES. I keep a page flag at the outer edge of the week's reading, and I kept seeing the beginning of the next section, when she records Frede's death. It broke my heart every time she talked about her friendship with Frede, and I was reminded of how little time they had left together. 😭 1w

TheAromaofBooks This week's section is going to be so sad!!! 6d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks With the journals, I usually read 20-ish pages on M-F… but yesterday was a rough day and I couldn‘t bear to start this section, knowing how it begins! 6d

TheAromaofBooks That's usually what I do as well, but with the moving I have been wrapping up all my “chapter ish a day“ reads one at a time instead of trying to read a chapter out of a half dozen books 😂 So I am trying to read this entire journals section next and it's SO hard. And we can talk about this when we discuss this section, but I feel like one of the biographies kind of dissed LMM because she wrote more about her cat dying than Frede - but this has ⬇ 6d

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) been SO powerful and emotional and it's pages long! It's been really interesting to read the full journals for myself because there have definitely been several interpretations of her journals in the various biographies we read that I have NOT agreed with. 6d

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Yeah, this week's section isn't an easy one to binge 😢 I read just the first entry last night and discovered that it's 20-ish pages—and I also thought about that criticism of LMM writing such a long entry about her cat's death. I was inclined to dismiss the comparison/criticism at the time—sometimes things are just too difficult to write about. But the length & emotion of this entry made me even more mad at that biographer! 4d

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

“…think of all the fun you miss if you are non-excitable. There's nothing quite so wonderful as dancing around a blazing fire. What matter if it end only in gray ashes? And while walking is a sure and safe mode of locomotion it isn't half as exhilarating as flying, even if you do come down with a thud.”

This reminds me SO much of Anne! Doesn‘t Marilla use the same reasoning in reverse?!

#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

CSeydel Oh my gosh, I love this 1w

TheAromaofBooks I do think this is such a great example of different personality types. I'm definitely in the “walk even though it's boring“ camp haha 1w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Yeah, I tend to agree with Marilla a bit on this one--I tend to privilege the sure and safe modes of locomotion so as to avoid the thud 😂 1w

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

“This is part of Montgomery‘s great gift as a story teller—she actually relived the moments as her pen traced them on the page… It would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of the journals as living text. Her life is literally in these pages and in the pages of her novels.”
#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

I started Vol. 4 last night and really enjoyed the intro, as well as getting back into Maud‘s life. How‘s your reading coming?

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

JenlovesJT47 I haven‘t read any of the journals yet. Do you think it‘s essential to read them in order or does it matter? 2w

TheAromaofBooks I started the journal yesterday... a brief delay when I realized I had accidentally purchased Volume 5 instead of Volume 4 😂 But I am back on track now that I am in the right year!! 2w

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 Oh, I didn‘t realize you hadn‘t read any of the journals yet! Do you want to still be tagged for the journal posts? I don‘t think it‘s essential to start from the beginning instead of jumping in partway through, but it‘s probably helpful to have some context for her life (biographies, etc.)—she does refer back to previous events, people, places, etc. 2w

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks Hahaha! I asked for volume 4 for Christmas and was annoyingly specific on my list, realizing how similar all the titles are—they‘re not super clearly marked by volume numbers! I was paranoid my husband would get volume 5 accidentally 😆 2w

JenlovesJT47 You can tag me, no problem. I got behind on reading the journals last year but I do have them downloaded already so I‘m going to start them soon. I love journaling myself so I‘m looking forward to these! 2w

JenlovesJT47 I have read quite a few biographies about her so I will try to start on the current one this week. She was such an interesting person! 2w

BarbaraJean @JenlovesJT47 Sounds good! She WAS such an interesting person—and such a good storyteller that her journals really bring her to life. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as you read! 2w

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years: 1918-1921 | Jen Rubio L.M. Montgomery

Thank you everyone who voted on our next adjacent reads! Top picks:
Last of the Mohicans (6 votes)
Pollyanna (5 votes)
Life of Charlotte Bronte (4 votes)
I made the above schedule based on our votes & the Journals Vol. 4. We'll read Rilla and Pollyanna in May! Ivanhoe, More Tramps Abroad, and Beautiful Joe all received 3 votes each, so I'll plan to work those in later in the year.
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals #LMMReread #LMMAdjacent ⬇

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

BarbaraJean As always, all are welcome to join in for any part of the buddy read that strikes your fancy. I keep separate tag lists for each book and for the #LMMJournals read. Just let me know if you're not tagged and you'd like to be. @LitsyEvents 1mo

TheAromaofBooks Last of the Mohicans! I've always wanted to read this one, but I'm also scared 😂 Love the 5-chapters-a-week schedule for that one. 1mo

julieclair Yay! I‘m in for Pointed Firs and the Mohicans. And maybe for Rainbow Valley… please tag me for all three. 😃 1mo

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks 😂 It almost works out to chapter-a-day! I was torn between allotting 3 or 4 weeks for that one, but decided taking more time is never a bad thing 😆 1mo

BarbaraJean @julieclair I‘ve got you down for all three! 1mo

Daisey I‘m in for Last of the Mohicans! 4w

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BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years 1911-1917 | Jen Rubio

I apologize for not posting this sooner—I don‘t know how it got to be Wednesday and I‘m only just starting this last chunk of volume 3!! How is everyone‘s journal-reading coming along?

I‘ll plan to post questions this weekend—late on Friday if I can, because I have a busy weekend ahead. Looking forward to discussing with all of you. And now I‘ll dive into my reading! #LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

JenlovesJT47, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks I'm enjoying this section!! I'm intrigued by how obsessed LMM is with the war. It's obvious that she's an anomaly among the somewhat backwater area where she lives, but I wonder if more people in Canada at the time felt as she did, as she's quite obsessive about it. 2mo

lauraisntwilder I'm actually on track to finish on time, which is great because I was behind on all the other sections. Not because I wasn't enjoying it, but life got in the way. 2mo

lauraisntwilder Oh! I've also ordered a copy of The Watchmen, her poetry collection that she barely mentioned except to say she didn't expect much to come of it. 😜 2mo

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BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I am intrigued by her interest in the war, but not as intrigued by reading her updates about war developments (or the footnotes explaining them) 😂 It gives so much personal context for Rilla, though!! Like you, I‘m curious how closely the rest of the population was following events. There must have been lots of people who felt as she did, given the newspaper coverage she talks about. 2mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder Oh yay about catching up! And 😂 about the poetry collection! I realized I actually have it in an ebook collection of LMM‘s works, but her comments don‘t exactly inspire me to read it… 2mo

lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I'm definitely not reading all the footnotes. Not just the war ones, either. I'm not finding them very helpful for her personal interests either. She'll mention someone and the footnote will go ahead and tell when they died, which I don't always want to know at the moment I'm reading about them. 2mo

TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean - I have definitely been skipping the war footnotes! I don't actually need to know all the nitty gritty historical details of what LMM is talking about 😂 2mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks Well, now I'm gonna skip them, too! 😂 Honestly, I really wish the footnotes were more helpful, or at least consistent. The editors give way too much info sometimes (like death dates and war details), and not enough or irrelevant info at other times (so many times I wish I could get a refresher on who someone is and when LMM has mentioned them before). 2mo

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Mirazzles

After Anne: A Novel of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Life | Logan Steiner

I read “Anne of Green Gables” for the first time two years ago, and since then, I‘ve become obsessed with everything Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne Shirley. 💛

Ruthiella Do you know about #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead hosted by @BarbaraJean ? They are all about Anne and LMM! 2mo

Mirazzles @Ruthiella no, I didn‘t know anything about that! Thank you! 🥰 2mo

BarbaraJean @Ruthiella Thanks for the tag! @Mirazzles We have several parallel LMM buddy reads right now, reading through her complete journals and interspersing re-reads of her novels and related books (ones she mentions in her journals or books that have been compared to her books, etc.) We‘re finishing up Vol. 3 of the journals this week and start Anne‘s House of Dreams next week. You‘re very welcome to join any part of it that catches your fancy! 2mo

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Mirazzles @BarbaraJean that would be nice! How do I join? Just read and comment ? 🥰 1mo

BarbaraJean @Mirazzles I have several tag lists and I can add you to any or all! Then you just read and comment as desired! We have discussions on Saturdays and the pace is roughly 100 pages per week. The overall buddy read is #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead and the tags are: #LMMReread, #LMMJournals, and #LMMAdjacent for books related to LMM and her books. I‘ll go tag you for our current schedule and then also the poll I have up for future #LMMAdjacent books! 1mo

Mirazzles @BarbaraJean that‘d be awesome! Thanks so much! 🥰 1mo

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LitsyEvents

Anne of the Island | Lucy Maud Montgomery

Repost for @BarbaraJean

I‘m having so much fun reading LMM‘s Christmas stories! We‘ll finish those on Christmas Eve, then pick up our regular buddy reading starting 12/29. Above is our #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead schedule through mid-February, including two for #LMMReread, the last bit of Vol. 3 for #LMMJournals, and #LMMAdjacent read: The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett.

See original post at https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2819444

BarbaraJean Thank you for reposting! 2mo

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