Litsy

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

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Maud had a tough four years in this volume! She can be so funny and relatable, then occasionally say something strange or slightly racist. It's tempting to say she's a product of her time, but I think it's more accurate to say she lacked self awareness sometimes. I find these journals fascinating. It's such an interesting record of life in this time period.

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lauraisntwilder

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

Good gracious, Maud! That's a lot of racism in two consecutive sentences. ? "We seemed to be motoring through a river there and back but in the little Jew theatre itself we spent hours in another world. The film was The Birth of a Nation and it was very fine."

TheBookHippie Sigh. 6d

dabbe 😱 6d

BarbaraJean Yeah. Yikes. 😬 Also, the footnotes here were entirely insufficient, describing “Birth of a Nation“ as “a film set in the Civil War period.“ 6d

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lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean Right?? What else have these footnotes left out? 6d

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder The footnotes in these journals feel so inconsistent to me. Sometimes they explain way more than I want to know (i.e. detail on WWI battles), or they leave out so much context as to virtually be inaccurate (like here). 6d

lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean Very true. I'm grateful that they've transcribed the journals, but the scholarship of the footnotes took a nosedive when Oxford was no longer involved. They are never helpful at this point. 6d

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DrSabrinaMoldenReads

Diary Of Virginia Woolf Volume 5: Vol. 5 (1936-1941) | Virginia Woolf

“Shall I ever write again one of those sentences that gives me intense pleasure?” (Among her next to last entries before her suicide)

So sad how she considered herself to be a poor writer. She considered writing to be her therapy. She felt she had to do it in order to live. This is a theme in her books especially “To the Lighthouse” which was autobiographical.

Prompt: #DearDiary

#Fallings

Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

TheBookHippie I adore her writing. 3w

Eggs Excellent 👌🏼 3w

23 likes2 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

Well, discussion questions didn‘t happen yesterday after my marathon weekend, so here we are on Monday!

Vol. 5 includes the Pickering lawsuit and lots of legal wrangling with Page, dissention and division over Church Union, and Ewan‘s reoccurring mental health episodes. It takes us through the end of LMM‘s time in Leaskdale, ending with Ewan accepting a call to Norval & Union—meaning an uprooting for LMM from a place & home she grew to love.⤵️

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean While there were some delightful interludes about LMM‘s cats, her garden, and books she was reading, along with some sweet anecdotes about Stuart and Chester, this volume was certainly thematically heavier than previous volumes. By the end, LMM‘s sadness over leaving Leaskdale felt surprising to me. It did remind me anew of her deep attachment to place (foreshadowing Pat of Silver Bush!). ⤵️ 1mo

BarbaraJean How did this volume of the journals land for you? Did you find it enjoyable, heavy, thought-provoking, heartbreaking… all of the above?

What stands out to you: what was most interesting, what will stay with you?

Was there anything surprising to you about these years in LMM‘s life?

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals 1mo

TheAromaofBooks There was soooo much going on in this section!! I have to say that I was somewhat surprised by how reluctant LMM was to leave Leaksdale, and even Zephyr (!!!), which also made me think about how she tells us that this journal is a place for her to complain - while I definitely think she had some VERY hard years, I do wonder if we are getting the negative-focus from her journals, when she is feeling her most tired and discouraged. 1mo

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TheAromaofBooks I loved the account of their trip to Mammoth Caves!! I have been there myself, so that made it extra interesting to me. She also drove through towns in Indiana and Ohio that I have visited (I have family in Warsaw, IN), so that section felt more personal to me. And I did laugh at the story of her losing all their money - except she actually had it the entire time. I am consistently impressed by her ability to sketch a situation so well. I am ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) sure she was an absolutely delightful correspondent. Her sense of humor pops out so unexpectedly sometimes.

Pg. 306 - The “crossword craze“ - I loved thinking about crosswords being in their infancy and everyone getting into them. With LMM's amazing vocabulary I'm sure she was very good at them.

I also really enjoyed the passage where she copied her relative's journal and then talked about the memories that it had brought her. Maybe ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) because we were reading dates from 1925, I was suddenly struck during this section of journals at how LMM is almost exactly 100 years older than me, so not just that these things were happening exactly 100 years ago, but that she was my age (ish - I think we're actually 110 years apart lol) when they were happening. So this section where she is getting very nostalgic about her childhood and remembering specific but small happy moments ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) really resonated with me. My life isn't nearly as hard as hers, but the drudgery of adulthood does wear you down sometimes, and it can be bittersweet to look back on those more carefree days when all your dreams were still real possibilities. (Said as someone who actually has a fabulous life that I love haha)

Okay, pg. 390, I want this book!!! “How We Ran the Farm“ sounds AMAZING.

This is super random, but on pg 392 there is a footnote⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) where the editor claims that LMM “omits a word“ from her sentence. The sentence is “I must suffer the pangs of deferred but candidly confessed curiosity for a season“ and the editor thinks there is a word missing after deferred. But it seems to be quite clear that what is being deferred is not a missing word like “pleasure“ but the curiosity. What do you all think? I only bring it up because I felt mildly indignant for LMM's sake 😂 1mo

TheAromaofBooks I am really going on and on, but I have gotten SO into these journals, way more than I ever thought I would. Even when they are sad and difficult I look forward to reading them! LMM is such a fantastic writer that even her descriptions of the mundane engage me. It was VERY hard to read about Ewan's mental health issues, and to see LMM beginning to develop mental health problems of her own - the beginnings of self-medication and the repetition of ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) things like, “I just need to live long enough to make sure my children are taken care of“ - so sad!!!

The entire church union thing made basically 0% sense to me, like why anyone thought this was a good idea, what they were trying to accomplish, why they were voting on it, why everyone hung out in their old church for another 3 months AFTER voting on it (I assume because of financial reasons but still) - it all just seemed like an ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) absolute nightmare, and, as LMM pointed out, not a good reflection of the God they all claimed to serve. 😑

And those Pickerings!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Suffice to say, even though it was tough reading at times, I really enjoyed this journal a great deal, and admire LMM even more than I did before. 1mo

TheAromaofBooks PS I really wish I could remember which biography so snidely dismissed LMM's mourning of Frede by implying that she was more upset when her cat died. The fact that years have gone by and she is still bringing up Frede and how much she misses her and how sad she still is about it (and has NOT brought up the cat btw) just really makes me annoyed with whichever biographer that was! I really am glad we are reading the full journals ourselves ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) because I definitely feel like I have gotten a much different picture of LMM and various aspects of her life than I did from the biographies, especially regarding things like how important Frede was to her and LMM's relationship with Ewan (I feel like always shown as 100% negative in biographies, when I actually think that the two of them got along just fine when he wasn't in one of his terrible funks). So anyway. I do feel like it's ⬇ 1mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) been worthwhile.

And I'll really stop talking now 😂 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I‘m sure you‘re right that we‘re getting a disproportionate amount of negativity in the journals. Especially knowing LMM used her journal as an outlet to “write it out” when she was down. I remember her letters to MacMillan as much more positive, but then I‘d imagine those were disproportionate in the other direction, with a more positive bias! None of these sources will give a purely balanced or unbiased view of LMM‘s life, but ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d)…like you, I love reading the complete journals for myself, without someone else‘s filter. I think the Mary Rubio bio made those snide remarks about LMM‘s grief. I pulled it off the shelf because I wanted to find & be indignant about it again, but I can‘t find where she makes the comparison. The cat in question was Good Luck, so we haven‘t gotten to the 40-page cat-mourning entry yet! But I completely agree—LMM‘s grief over Frede is still⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …so evident throughout these pages, years & years after Frede‘s death. It‘s so unfair to say LMM was more upset about the cat.

Yes, that detailed description of the Mammoth Caves was fascinating! And how fun to read about places you‘re familiar with! That whole trip was so interesting to read about—I cracked up over them all trying hot dogs for the first time.

I found the actual reproduction of the relative‘s journal rather tedious ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …(I was glad there was just a sample of it!), but LMM‘s commentary, with all the memories it brought back for her, was so touching. I was struck by the 100-years-on phenomenon as well! I hadn‘t thought about correlating it to my own age—I‘ve actually been doing the math over and over to figure out how old LMM is at various points. It would be so much easier to just remember she‘s 104 years older than me. 😆 I hear you on relating to ⬇ (edited) 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d)…LMM‘s nostalgia over childhood! I follow a nature photographer on FB who lives literally up the road from my childhood home in England…and I sink into that nostalgia whenever I see her photos. In the midst of adult responsibilities, there‘s something so attractive about the simplicity of childhood!

LMM is SUCH a good storyteller. I loved her story about how Dixie & Luck were following her to the Post Office and Luck got scared into the ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …bushes—and Dixie was “such a gentleman” to wait for Luck even though he loved going to the Post Office. LMM has such a knack for noticing moments like that and bringing them to life on the page—it takes her journals beyond just the mundane, for me.

I‘m with you on the p. 392 footnote!!! I interpreted that sentence the same way you did, and found it terribly presumptuous of the editor to claim there was a word missing! ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …The church union vote was super frustrating to me, too. I understand the impulse to say “we‘re not so different from each other, why don‘t our denominations join together”—which in itself is commendable—but how could they not see that the practical outworking of it would be a NIGHTMARE? There‘ve been deep divisions in churches I‘ve been at over petty things like the freaking color of the paint in the sanctuary (don‘t get me started). ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d)…How would trying to merge three different denominations with their own positions on theology, worship, etc. NOT create deep disagreements and differences, let alone exacerbate already-existing ones?!?

@TheAromaofBooks Also: no need to apologize for your rambles!! When I saw how many “conversation” notifications I had in Litsy, I thought: “Oh, good, Sarah must have commented about the LMM Journals!” 😁 1mo

26 likes22 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

“Tonight was my first evening home since July 6th. Verily, 'tis a treat. I look forward nowadays to an evening home as I used to look forward in the leisurely old Cavendish days to an evening out.”
—L.M. Montgomery, July 15, 1925
———
Maud is always so relatable. 💜
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

Daisey So relatable! 1mo

TheAromaofBooks For real!!! 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder Just a heads up: our discussion for Vol. 5 is on the schedule for tomorrow, but I‘m probably not going to get it posted till Sunday evening. This weekend is PACKED, and I should have advance prepped seeing as I finished the book Tuesday, but here we are 😐 I‘m guessing there‘s no hurry, though! 1mo

TheAromaofBooks No worries!! I still have about 25 pages left to read anyway, so Sunday evening sounds about right 😂 Hope your weekend is full of the good kind of busy!! 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks It‘s all good stuff, just a lot! Zoo trip all day yesterday, then today: prayer group, church, potluck… and now I have a small lull before a concert my husband is playing this evening. I‘m so tired 😆 1mo

33 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals: The Ontario Years, 1922-1925 | Lucy Maud Montgomery

“So long thy power hath blessed me sure it still
Will lead me on
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till
The night is gone

Something entered into & possessed our souls and the night became holy and the dark woodland a temple of the Almighty. Moments like that were the highlights of our trip and catch our eyes as we look back.”

In this week‘s #LMMJournals section, LMM‘s descriptions really shone for me—her love of place & love of nature.⤵️

lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead friends, how is your reading coming along? @lauraisntwilder —how is your catching up going? @TheAromaofBooks —are you still reading along with the journals? (edited) 2mo

TheAromaofBooks Yes!! I am a little behind, but still very invested in these journals. This section has been ROUGH. How can things just keep getting worse for her?! And the whole church union thing seems so stressful and kind of pointless?? Why are we doing it if some congregations can vote not to do it?? 2mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks After reading those couple of biographies we read, I knew things would keep getting worse, but it hits differently as you read it in her words and from her perspective! The church union thing was baffling to me as well. It seems like the vote was to allow congregations to have a say rather than only leadership, but seeing the way it fostered such animosity in churches and communities—it seems like a terrible idea. ⬇ (edited) 1mo

BarbaraJean So this is interesting (from: https://ucheritage.ca/formation-of-the-united-church-of-canada/): “The United Church was inaugurated on June 10, 1925 in Toronto, Ontario, when the Methodist Church, Canada, the Congregational Union of Canada, and 70 per cent of the Presbyterian Church of Canada entered into an organic union. Joining as well was the small General Council of Union Churches, centred largely in Western Canada.“ That 70% is telling!! 1mo

BarbaraJean Also: all the comments about Methodist vs. Presbyterian in LMM's earlier books make a lot more sense in the context of this later church union movement. 1mo

25 likes5 comments

Robotswithpersonality

Remarkable Diaries: The World's Greatest Diaries, Journals, Notebooks, & Letters | DK

pick

The coffee table book format may suggest a shallow read, but there's an awful lot of information packed in here! Although it acts more like an appetizer for any one life story you might want to read more about, so many of the original journals, diaries, featured here have been published in book or excerpt form that it simultaneously acts as an introduction and a reading list. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Perhaps reflecting the changing technology, moving from handwriting to typing and online, three quarters of the book focuses on accounts from before 1900. Even given that much space, of course, it's no doubt just a sample of a fraction of what is out there in the world, though it tries to feature a number of nations, cultures, languages, even if it seems to me there were more white, western faces. 2mo

Robotswithpersonality 3/? The accounts are careful to indicate the wrongdoings of a number of historical figures, even if their place in history still secured them a spot for discussion. 😑
The formatting is interesting because you'll see in images a sample of the diary, perhaps other examples of that person's work or things from their life, and a bit of in context imagery and wording besides the basic bio and what's significant about the diary and their life. 2mo

Robotswithpersonality 4/? Some diaries get two two-page spreads, the second set 'in detail', with more aspects of the journal and their life.
The 'directory' at the end of each section of time covered felt a bit odd, because all of a sudden you'd get a two-page spread of columns of text covering a handful of extra diaries from the same time period without any further visuals or details. I mean, if you're going to include them, give them the page spread too! 2mo

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Robotswithpersonality 5/? It wouldn't have made the book that much longer. 🤷🏼‍♂️
It makes sense that a good number of the entries are about writers, though I guess from the cover, I was surprised there were not more artists, or people who had made their diaries into art objects. It's really more of a who's who beyond the very first journals which are significant just for their place in the timeline of the medium's existence. 2mo

Robotswithpersonality 6/? No surprise, unfortunately, that a number of diaries center on those who experienced or commented on conflicts, wars and revolutions, considering how often they feature in humanity's history.
The collection does include a fair amount of female contributors, the percentages feel as though they represent the timeline, the historical disparity in women having the ability to be recognized for literary achievement or work outside the home. 2mo

Robotswithpersonality 7/7 It's a pleasing item to flip through, but if you're planning to read it cover to cover, I recommend taking it slow, it's an awful lot of disparate historical snippets to cram into your brain in a short period *cough* library loan period *cough*, though many figures and events will be familiar.
An interesting read, but I think I like focusing more on the life of one individual at a time. More memoirs to come! 2mo

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Robotswithpersonality

Remarkable Diaries: The World's Greatest Diaries, Journals, Notebooks, & Letters | DK

Such elegant phrasing of such an ugly thing.

9 likes

Robotswithpersonality

Remarkable Diaries: The World's Greatest Diaries, Journals, Notebooks, & Letters | DK

“Color possess me...“ ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

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Robotswithpersonality

Remarkable Diaries: The World's Greatest Diaries, Journals, Notebooks, & Letters | DK

Not just a prolific inventor, Edison apparently possessed stylish penmanship. A lot of photos of pages from the original journals or their manuscript copies in this collection, this is the first one in I could easily read.

StaceGhost “Slept as sound as a bug in a barrel of morphine” okay eddy you ball 2mo

julesG That is remarkable penmanship. 2mo

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