The Works of L.M. Montgomery

I'm reading Emily Climbs for the first time. I'm enjoying it, but in the debate of "who is slightly more Mary Sue-ish", I have to go with Emily. She has psychic powers! I think that gives her an automatic edge.

And violet eyes. Can't forget the violet eyes.

and also the nicknames of "Jade" and "Star". Lawd.

I hope that Lucy Maud didn't have her very own creepy obsessive jealous pedophile who was in love with her!

And pointed ears! Father Cassidy and Dean Priest both call her one of the Fair Folk. I never realized how well you can play Mary Sue bingo with Emily.

I like the end of Emily Climbs when Emily turns down the chance to go to the States. That was very Montgomery-ish, I think: she was going to make it on her own, Canadian, terms.

That theme comes up over and over again in LMM's stories, actually -- not just not going to the States, though that's it sometimes, often it's not going to the big city, and staying in your small coastal town and becoming a success that way. It comes up so often that it kind of feels like she kept writing that to justify her own career path.

Also, as an aside -- a lot of LMM's stories that haven't been in story collections are available for free from Amazon for Kindle. I've read pretty much every story collection out there, and there are a ton of stories that I'd never read -- many for good reason, because they're repackaged versions of other stories or stories that made it into a book, but some are great. They're perfect bedtime reading.

Another recurring theme in the stories are the long held grudge and the promise someone forces another to keep beyond reason. I need to find LMM's journals and read them to see where this comes from.

Jasmine wrote:That theme comes up over and over again in LMM's stories, actually -- not just not going to the States, though that's it sometimes, often it's not going to the big city, and staying in your small coastal town and becoming a success that way. It comes up so often that it kind of feels like she kept writing that to justify her own career path.

The "write only what you know" theme comes up a lot too, and I wonder if she used that to make herself feel better/justified she never wrote a fantasy novel or something like that. It's too bad if that's what stopped her, well-meaning advice from others, because if I don't know if a fantasy novel from Montgomery would have been good but it certainly would have been interesting.

The stories that the Sara Stanley tells in The Story Girl and The Golden Road, did LMM make those up or did she use common fables?

I know for a fact that she didn't make up the Shubenacadie story--I've (unfortunately) been to Shubenacadie, and it's a touristy legend there. I doubt very highly it originated with LMM, I think she probably picked it up. I'm tending to believe that some of the other stories like that were adapted from other legends/fables?

Luthien wrote:And pointed ears! Father Cassidy and Dean Priest both call her one of the Fair Folk. I never realized how well you can play Mary Sue bingo with Emily.

I like the end of Emily Climbs when Emily turns down the chance to go to the States. That was very Montgomery-ish, I think: she was going to make it on her own, Canadian, terms.

True, but if I were here, I would have gone at least for a quick little vacation.

Yeah, Dean Priest is annoying. Sheesh, what a martyr.

I am still on a mission to find the full set of Anne books in hardcover. Can't find them but I want them so badly. My 18 year old copies will just have to do for now.

That will be a quest! I don't think I've ever seen a complete set in hardcover, even in PEI. Usually all you can get is the first one, and maybe Avonlea and The Island. I'd love a hardcover Rilla of Ingleside but I doubt that will ever happen.

I was re-reading parts of Magic for Marigold recently, and I was surprised that the book didn't hold up as well as I remembered. I loved it growing up, and it's still good, but I just didn't feel any magic (ha!) reading it. The best part is when Gwennie comes to visit, and the beginning when Old Grandmother is alive. The rest is just a string of "Marigold goes here, and has some self-discovery". I do like the talking cats, though.

That will be a quest! I don't think I've ever seen a complete set in hardcover, even in PEI. Usually all you can get is the first one, and maybe Avonlea and The Island. I'd love a hardcover Rilla of Ingleside but I doubt that will ever happen.

That is exactly the problem I have. I can get the first three usually but not a full set. (I have a box set which my grandparents gave me when I was 10)

I have a hardcover first edition of Rilla, that my grandmother gave to me when I was 10 (and her grandmother gave to her when she was 10). I treasure it beyond any other book in my collection.

I don't think there are a full set of Anne books in hardcover. I know I've looked a lot of places, but I don't think they exist, save the very original printings. You'd think whoever has the rights to publish those books would have jumped on that but maybe there's a financial issue of which I'm not aware?

If someone ever does put all seven books in hardcover or does a big compilation book with a fancy leather-bound cover or something, I'll snatch that up in a heartbeat.

MLIS wrote:I have a hardcover first edition of Rilla, that my grandmother gave to me when I was 10 (and her grandmother gave to her when she was 10). I treasure it beyond any other book in my collection.

My grandmother gave me my first Anne book, too! It was her favorite book as a child.

I know I saw a set of rather generic hardcovers for the whole series somewhere . . . I found this for Rilla though and now I waaant it, wah. Slight fail for making Rilla a blonde on the front cover, but still cool looking.

And one of the reviews on amazon.ca says:

I didn't know that the cheap little paperback edited out about 20 pages of text.

okay, if that's true, this is definitely a must-have.

So, I'm looking through my books the other day and I realized I really want to see Anne of Green Gables written from Gilbert's point of view. Does anyone know if that exists? I was only able to find one story on FFN, but it was abandoned years ago.

No, I don't know of anything like that. Have you tried archiveofourown.org?

I got the Rilla hardcover today and scanned the jacket and the cover. link It is the shiny and I will probably put a bit more pictures up later.

I've discovered the first parts (at least that I've noticed) included in the hardcover edition of Rilla I got that were cut out of the paperback Bantam-Seal edition. I've bolded the sentence cut out of the paperback. It's during the chapter "The Sound of a Going".

"I am not acquainted with Lord Kitchener," said Susan, composedly, "but I dare say he makes mistakes as often as other people. Your father says it will be over in a few months and I have as much faith in his opinion as I have in Lord Anybody's. So just let us be calm and trust in the Almighty and get this place tidied up. I am done with crying which is a waste of time and discourages everybody."

Jem and Jerry went to Charlottetown that night and two days later they came back in khaki.

I checked the e-text at Project Gutenberg to see if they had the complete paragraph, and they did, so they have the complete text to if you want to compare/contrast to the paperback.

"Ah, well!" Cousin Sophia sighed. "It might be better for you if it wasn't! Such a lot of hair takes from a person's strength. It's a sign of consumption, I've heard, but I hope it won't turn out like that in your case. I s'pose you'll all be dancing tonight—even the minister's boys most likely. I s'pose his girls won't go that far. Ah, well, I never held with dancing. I knew a girl once who dropped dead while she was dancing. How any one could ever dance aga' after a judgment like that I cannot comprehend."

"Did she ever dance again?" asked Rilla pertly.

"I told you she dropped dead. Of course she never danced again, poor creature.

I think that tiny bit they cut out in the second quote is interesting, just because I'm wondering if she's saying maybe the minister's sons will dance because men are slightly more reckless but it's still equally inappropriate for either the sons or the daughters to dance, or if she's saying well if someone dances it's a little the men can get away with it.

I do not know how I feel about a modernized Anne TV series.

There is no debate! This is not going to be good.

Also, who would want to deal with the pressure of not being Megan, Colleen, and Richard!

I'll reserve judgement till I see it ur the last line is making me fearful.

Hmmm. As long as it sticks to the books, I'll give it a chance. That last movie with Gilbert fighting in WWI and Anne going to look for him was a travesty. It still makes me angry (which is totally irrational I know).

ETA: Ohhh a modernized take on the story. Um. Well.....No. Just, No.