Litsy

Harry Potter: Platform 9 3/4 | Scholastic Books

There‘s a guy that works in the lab where I work, and I‘ve always thought he looks like Stephen King. You can‘t tell as much in this photo, but he really looks like he could be a brother to him. I‘ve never talked to him before, but he always has a book with him (another point!); he‘s reading the Harry Potter series right now. Yes. I always try to see what book he has👀📚

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TheBookHippie

How to be Wildflower Workbook | Katie Daisy

#litsolace #MidsummerSolace
June 3 💚🌳🌴🎋🌲💚

Pick a place from which to observe a tree..
(in, under, or nearby)
Even a video of a tree..

Study this living, breathing specimen for at least 20 minutes. Observe how it looks, how it moves, how it reacts to the elements. How does the tree represent you and your life? What wisdom can you learn from it?

🌳strong, sturdy, dancing, beautiful, withstanding storms, showing life again ..💚🌳

TheBookHippie @IndoorDame @DestinyMorna @dabbe @julieclair @KadaGul @kspenmoll @Catsandbooks @AllDebooks @Chrissyreadit 1w

TheBookHippie If you want to be tagged daily let me know. 💚 1w

TheBookHippie 📗 https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wildflower-s-workbook-a-journal-for-self-discov... 1w

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Catsandbooks Yes please tag me! Thanks Christine! 💚 7d

DebinHawaii Yes please tag me! 🤗 Thank you! 💛 7d

TheBookHippie @DebinHawaii 😊 7d

kspenmoll I can easily do this after work 7d

dabbe 🌳🌲🌴 7d

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PaperbackPirate

How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal | Claudia Nice

May was a good reading month- great books and my reading time was up despite being a busy month.
Notice my page count was down though so maybe a few of those minutes were for sleeping. 😅

If I HAD to pick a favorite for the month…Billy Summers.

#Bookly

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hissingpotatoes

Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures | Cathy Johnson

so-so

3/5⭐ I like that the book has tons of journal page examples, includes some specific recommendations for materials, outlines different reasons for keeping journals, and encourages readers to just dive into keeping their own journal. However, the examples are all done by talented artists, which is a bit intimidating for those of us who can barely draw a stick figure let alone a realistic panda. Much of the text was repetitive and generic.

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hissingpotatoes

Making and Keeping Creative Journals | Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott

so-so

3/5⭐ The designs are nice with thorough coverage of many journal-making techniques. The layout of the book is technical and heavy on text, sometimes bloated. I would have liked more photos of the finished projects. Some of the fonts are very small and/or almost illegible, making things difficult to read.

slategreyskies I think that, with a book of this nature that is supposed to be both informative and inspirational, it would be tough to do the subject justice without a lot of photos. I mean it‘s a book on a visual creative form. How could they skimp on the pics? Hope the next one is better! 📚💕 3w

20 likes1 comment

BarbaraJean

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

Happy Saturday, Kindred Spirits! Here's our weekly #LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead check-in!

What are your thoughts on this week's reading?
What stands out to you:
From LMM's year at Prince of Wales College?
From her time teaching in Bideford?
Any observations, favorite sections or quotes?

Reminder: Next week, we'll pause the journals & pick up our first #LMMAdjacent book: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. We'll discuss Chapters 1-15 on 5/25.

rubyslippersreads, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

lauraisntwilder When Maud was in Charlottetown, I missed her beautiful descriptions of the countryside near Cavendish. We've gotten to see more of her personality in this section, I think. The trick involving Jack S. and Mary C. was funny and reminded me of how often gossip plays a role in her books, one way or another. 3w

TheAromaofBooks I don't know why I'm surprised at how often LMM's journals sound like her heroines haha Reading these has made me realize that while I frequently get impatient with rhapsodic descriptions of the countryside in fiction, I've always enjoyed it in LMM's books, and I think it's because she isn't writing what she thinks someone who loves the countryside/nature would say - she's literally writing what she, the author, feels, and her genuine love for ⬇ 3w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) nature and ability to see beauty all around her really comes through. It always feels genuine, and her journals show that it really IS genuine - her description of the snow on Dec. 6,'84 - “Earth looked like a cold, chaste bride in her silver veil, waiting to be waked by her lover's kiss to warmth and love and passion.“ Even though it's a bit flowery, I still loved this whole passage. @lauraisntwilder 3w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder I agree--we see more of her personality here. Her writing feels less self-conscious. I think she's both growing up and growing up as a writer. No doubt part of it is that she's older and having experiences away from home! And I hadn't thought about the connection to the gossip plot threads in her books, but it's definitely there! That episode, and much of her college year, reminded me of both Anne of the Island and Emily Climbs. 3w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks I agree with you both about her nature descriptions--she was criticized for her “purple prose“ in her fiction (and so was Anne!), but the descriptions in her journal feel so natural. She's not trying to be flowery, she's reveling in the beauty she sees and wants to capture it on the page. It really reminds me of Emily Starr!! 3w

25 likes5 comments

BarbaraJean

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

Happy Weekend, Kindred Spirits! This week we read through June 30, 1893, including the later part of LMM‘s stay with her father, her journey back to Cavendish, and her studies and social doings back at home.

What are your thoughts so far?
Was there anything that surprised you in this section?
What glimpses do you see of LMM‘s future writing?
Any observations, favorite sections or quotes?

#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

rubyslippersreads, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean I was surprised there wasn't more about her stepmother. From the bios, her time in Prince Albert seemed much harder than she portrays it. Same with her journey home; in the bios it sounded like she was left to fend for herself much of that journey, traveling alone for a while, which was scandalous/unsafe for a young girl at that time. Here, it sounded like she was accompanied the whole way, other than one overnight train. ⬇ 1mo

BarbaraJean It makes me wonder how much she left out at the time vs. how much she cut out later. It's been said that she “razored out“ pages—I wish there were notes in the text showing where those missing pages fall! @lauraisntwilder You noted how much this reads like one of her books—that rang true for so many scenes this week! The Mr. Mustard proposal & the cow escapades could have come right out of Anne. And she uses the Well & Dave memories in Story Girl. 1mo

lauraisntwilder I have been surprised by so many things. I agree that the step-mother seemed glossed over, but then, she barely mentions her harsh Grandfather Macneill and rarely mentions her grandmother at all. She hasn't mentioned Christmas at home, only concerts and school performances, then straight to New Year's. That feels telling to me--were all her friends occupied and she was alone with her grouchy grandparents? Surely they would go to Park Corner? 1mo

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lauraisntwilder Love the details about Austin, at school, which was very Gilbert/Anne. And the description of her Uncle John, who will later try to steal her house out from under her and his own mother, who "was not then, anymore than now, noted for his consideration of other people's rights or feelings." Scathing and prescient! 1mo

TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean - I may have missed it, but has she ever mentioned her own birthday at any point? That seems like the kind of thing she would make a fuss about, as someone who likes to assess where she is and where she's going. She definitely seems focused on the positives. In fairness, a lot of things/chores we would consider “drudgery“ were just a part of every day life there, and not worth describing, I suppose. I don't ⬇ 4w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) journal much about my daily chores either haha Like Barbara, I wonder where the missing entries are, and whether they had some harder/more complaining content. She glosses over her stepmother, but reading between the lines you can tell she has a hard time of it - just the simple fact that she had to give up school to stay home and do work speaks volumes for the kind of life she was living there, considering how important education is ⬇ 4w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) to her. I've really enjoyed all these random memories and stories - I don't know why I'm surprised to see what a storytelling knack she has, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how entertaining these have been. One gripe I actually have has been with the excessive amount of footnotes (not LMM's) - some explaining archaic words would be fine, but seriously a footnote to explain why they were hunting 4-leaf clovers just felt ⬇ 4w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) condescending 😂 And I feel like a glossary of characters would have been way more helpful than constant footnotes. Telling me how this person is related this one time doesn't actually help me remember them 15 pages later. But those are minor quibbles with the layout. I'm enjoying the journals themselves a great deal. 4w

lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks You know, you're right, I don't think she has mentioned her birthday. If she has, definitely not every year. And yes, to your footnote gripe! ? I didn't need a note for every resident of Prince Albert, especially when I already know she's never going back! I did think the (unnecessary) footnote about the northern lights was pretty though, specifically the phrase "a curtain of light." 4w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks I just checked, and no, there aren't descriptions of Christmas or birthdays, at least through 1893. I agree, Sarah: she seems like the kind of person who likes to look back & kind of take stock (she does that several times in a New Year‘s entry), so it‘s curious that those events aren‘t narrated or reflected upon in her journals. It does make sense that she wouldn‘t detail daily chores, etc. ⬇ 4w

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) the balance feels VERY tilted towards “gadding about” and social events, but naturally so. I think I just assumed there would be more grumbling about grumpy grandparents & awful stepmother! There was one point where she said that her grandparents seemed opposed to any kind of gathering of young people, which cracked me up—based on the events she recorded it seemed kind of like that‘s ALL she was doing: gathering with other young people.😂 4w

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks YES about the footnotes!! Some are a delight. But I am so tired of footnotes with irrelevant details about people who just aren't important to LMM. I don't care how they're related to her, where they used to live, where they move later—if they're never/rarely mentioned again! I started ignoring the people footnotes for that reason, but then found it annoying to have to go back to find an earlier footnote when ⬇ 4w

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...it became apparent that someone I overlooked turned out to be important. It would be so much more helpful for footnotes to fill in context about how/why the person is or becomes significant in her life. And leave out the footnote otherwise! I should have started making a character list like I do when reading Russian novels...😆 4w

TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder - I was actually thinking the same thing about a character list! 😂 For this book, a character glossary seems like it would be much more helpful than all these dadblamed footnotes LOL

I guess part of the reason I've been a little surprised about the lack of complaining has been because the biographies we've read have spoken with such confidence about how miserable she was living with her grandpa, how he was a ⬇ 4w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) terrible person, how he constantly held her back, etc. etc. If that information didn't come from her journals, then where did the biographers get it? At this point he just seems like a shadowy background character. Even when she was leaving for Charlottesville I don't remember her saying anything like “Grandpa doesn't want me to go,“ although she does mention that her Grandma was the one who drove her. Grandpa even has come to visit at ⬇ 4w

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) least once? I'm not trying to say that he wasn't actually against her furthering her education, etc., but I definitely don't feel like it's been mentioned at all so far. 4w

lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean I have to assume she talked about her grandparents in her letters. Rubio interviewed a lot of people for the bio, so maybe they told her the grandparents were hard to live with? It feels like she's writing down what she wants to remember and she wouldn't need to be reminded that Grandpa is a jerk. 4w

lauraisntwilder @TheAromaofBooks @BarbaraJean The absence of any good memories with her grandparents says a lot, too. Like Christmas and birthdays. If they were pleasant or she took a nice evening walk with her grandmother or something, I feel like it would've been mentioned. 4w

TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder - It's true, all of her “good times“ are taking place NOT at home! 4w

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks @lauraisntwilder Yes, I've wondered the same about where Rubio & others got the info that her grandparents were so difficult & her grandfather was against her education. The only inkling I've seen is in this week's reading, when she says he won't take her to interview for schools or let her have a horse to go herself. I think Laura must be right that it's in her letters or from Rubio's interviews. It could be in later journals ⬇ 3w

BarbaraJean (Cont'd) ...if she refers back to her growing-up years then. Didn't one of the bios suggest she exaggerated how bad things were? That exaggeration has to be somewhere! It would make sense if there are future journal entries where she reminisces/complains about the past. Regardless, you're both right that what's left out is very telling, when her best moments are NOT at home! And especially because home and family are such a focus in her books. 3w

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BarbaraJean

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

“How I do love books! Not merely to read once but over and over again. I enjoy the tenth reading of a book as much as the first. Books are a delightful world in themselves. Their characters seem as real to me as my friends of actual life.”
—L.M. Montgomery, January 12, 1893

#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

rubyslippersreads, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks ❤ ❤ ❤ 1mo

MaGoose Yes, I agree. I don't know if I'd read a book 10 times, but I'll read some at least two or three times. The Scarlet Letter, for example: I first read it in school as required reading and liked it well enough. But I read it again in my late 40s or early 50s and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got much more out of the story. Some books are meant to be enjoyed and absorbed at certain times during our lives, I guess. #litsylove 3w

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BarbaraJean

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

“Dear old world you are very lovely and I love you. I am glad to be alive in you.”

I LOVE that what becomes a future Anne quote is taken almost directly from 17-year-old LMM‘s journal!

#LMMJournals #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead

rubyslippersreads, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks ❤ ❤ ❤ 1mo

lauraisntwilder This diary reads like one of her books so far. 1mo

BarbaraJean @lauraisntwilder The cow escapades earlier this week felt so much like an Anne and Diana adventure! 1mo

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BarbaraJean

Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900 | Mary Henley Rubio, Elizabeth Hillman Waterston

“I had a charming time all through except for a scare I got with one of David Macneill‘s cows, and having to skulk about the woods for nearly an hour while the Baptists were going through the lane to Sunday School…”

The image of LMM “skulking about the woods” to avoid the Baptists just cracked me up. And the cow! I really want more detail in this entry!!

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMJournals

rubyslippersreads, lauraisntwilder, TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean Clearly I posted too soon, as there is more detail about avoiding savage-looking cows in the October 22 entry. 😆 1mo

TheAromaofBooks I'm so surprised that a country girl like Maud has such a terror of cows! I marked the passage I was reading today because I was a bit horrified at her casual attitude towards fence breaking as well! 😂 1mo

BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks I know, right?! But it was both LMM and Lu! That comment: “I don‘t know how it is that we have got to be such cowards over strange cows.” 😂Partially in their defense as regards the fence-breaking: at least some of it was done because of their “deadly fear” of cows.🤣 Although THAT made me worry that the cows would get out!! 1mo

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