Lucy Maud Montgomery: More Than Just AoGG

[Blergh]

On 3/7/2022 at 5:50 PM, Snow Apple said:

I read a book about Evelyn Nesbit and it seems LMM based Anne's looks after one of her early modeling pictures. I found that interesting.

Yeah, especially considering the facts that Miss Nesbit was so stunning. Alas, virtually every wealthy man she met got toxically obsessed with her yet LMM somehow  managed to write Anne's story without bring a HINT of Miss Nesbit's chaotic and scandalous life (granted Miss Nesbit was more or less a passive victim of what happened around her rather than remotely an instigator ).

Edited March 11, 2022 by Blergh

[Prairie Rose]

On 3/5/2022 at 3:23 AM, Harvey said:

Funny thing, I started reading it yesterday too! 😄 I found it online as a pdf. It's very good.

It's so wild when it talks about the intermarriage of the 3 families and how it was totally common to marry your cousins. Not great 😵.

Did you finish? I did last week. As the book went on, I found it harder to get through. The biographer, though, definitely did her homework and then some. This has to be the most extensive biography I've ever read.

[Harvey]

On 3/22/2022 at 2:27 AM, Prairie Rose said:

Did you finish? I did last week. As the book went on, I found it harder to get through. The biographer, though, definitely did her homework and then some. This has to be the most extensive biography I've ever read.

Yes, I also finished last week.

The book was very addicting for me, I  could hardly put it down and because of it's length (and therefore it requiring a lot of time to read it all) it kinda overtook my life. But It was very interesting and I am happy I read it. I just wish Maud didn't omit the more juicy parts of her life, and gave more details about the precise problems with Chester.

Still it was a great read, my favorite was the repeated mention of how there was no divorce on Prince Edward Island for the longest time and they were so proud of that, meanwhile spouses were poisoning and beating each other up. But hey it's all okay as long as they don't get divorced! 😵

[SomeTameGazelle]

I don't remember coming across this before, but I was recently reading that L M Montgomery's first novel was called "A Golden Carol", which was rejected by publishers and she burned it -- reminiscent of Emily and her "A Seller of Dreams". And when I was poking around online I found that she also wrote a short story called "An Invitation Given on Impulse" with a character Carol Golden whose nickname was "Golden Carol". The story reminds me a little bit of Anne inviting Katherine Brooke to stay at Green Gables.

[PRgal]

I'm re-reading all the Anne books (okay, listening, since I really don't have the time to sit down and read all that much.  And when I DO read, it's usually non-fiction/parenting books.  Next up is Ruth Whippman's BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity which JUST dropped this week.), starting from the beginning.  There are aspects of Anne Shirley that are universally tween/teen and others that kind of fit the traumatized foster kid who was finally placed in a "forever home."  And the adults, do we really lose our sense of creativity and spirit?  Or is Rachel Lynde just another "Karen?"  Anyway, I haven't looked at Anne in years (save for the reboot from a few years ago that didn't last...) and it's good to get back in on it.  

[Harvey]

On 6/5/2024 at 2:37 AM, PRgal said:

I'm re-reading all the Anne books (okay, listening, since I really don't have the time to sit down and read all that much.  And when I DO read, it's usually non-fiction/parenting books.  Next up is Ruth Whippman's BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity which JUST dropped this week.), starting from the beginning.  There are aspects of Anne Shirley that are universally tween/teen and others that kind of fit the traumatized foster kid who was finally placed in a "forever home."  And the adults, do we really lose our sense of creativity and spirit?  Or is Rachel Lynde just another "Karen?"  Anyway, I haven't looked at Anne in years (save for the reboot from a few years ago that didn't last...) and it's good to get back in on it.  

Good for you! The anne books are so refreshing and good for the soul.

I think back then creativity was not encouraged too much, it was more about sticking with tradition and tried and true methods. I wouldn't classify Rachel as a karen. As far as we know, she never asked to speak to anyone's manager.

[PRgal]

2 hours ago, Harvey said:

Good for you! The anne books are so refreshing and good for the soul.

I think back then creativity was not encouraged too much, it was more about sticking with tradition and tried and true methods. I wouldn't classify Rachel as a karen. As far as we know, she never asked to speak to anyone's manager.

True.  Especially with school.  Look at how people reacted when Miss Stacy introduced what we'd now call "gym."  Callisthenics was beginning to be introduced at my alma mater (a girls-only school that's been around since the Victorian period) around that time, I believe.  But my school is in Toronto and the school's mandate has always been about having a progressive education (the school introduced their laptop program just after Y2K, if I recall correctly.  Definitely after I graduated).