Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (#3)

 This, the third book in the series, shares the story of Anne's college experiences where she earns her B.A. degree. She has roommates and their personalities are fun and interesting. She is not enjoying Gilbert's advances, and totally shuts him down when he tries to profess his love. She falls in love with someone else and soon realizes it's not what she thought. This whole romance is so beautifully depicted. It's obvious that this author knows of the pitfalls of young, immature feelings! 

Here's a quote from page 217, where roommate Priscilla is describing what the Redmond experience has done for her:

"There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves--so much in men and women, so much in art and literature, so much everywhere in which to delight, and for which to be thankful."

Anne's learning was this (from page 216):

"Humor is the spciest condiment in the feast of existence. Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them."

These two quotes really sum up the whole spirit of this series. It's a wonderful, uplifting way of learning how to bring goodness into the world. Anne is always seeking out ways to help others. And when she turns down the proposal of the man she thought she loved, she gives a great example of following the spirit. She didn't even realize it until the moment she had to say yes or no, and then the "scales fell off of her eyes" so to speak. She saw it all clearly all at once; her foibles. I've had that experience, so I could really relate to that feeling in that moment. Beautiful story!

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (#2)

 I was so swept away into the romance of Anne of Green Gables that I sprang for the whole eight-book set. I couldn't bear to leave Anne and Avonlea so soon. This is the second book in series and I loved it too! My memory of the Canadian production is too vague to know if these stories were a part of it...this was all new material to me. I loved the development of Anne's skill as a teacher...her commitment to never whip her students, her delight in their writing, and her joy in general were so well-described that I think Maud (the name the author went by) MUST have been a teacher at some point.

I also enjoyed the introduction of the twins! What a cool contrast they drew to each other, and how fun to watch Anne see her own history reflected in little Davy. There isn't a lot of Gilbert here, just a few powerful and genuinely winning quotes that foreshadow a deeper relationship. The end of the story is almost like a fairy tale, where the little woman in the woods, Miss Lavendar, meets her long lost love and Anne helps plan her wedding. It's a happy ending, with hints of more to come. I'm excited to be swept away into the third novel, where Anne is off to college. This summer is a perfect time to be swept away...there are some challenges that I am happy to stop thinking about. Chief among them is Leonard's health as we learn more about his prostrate cancer. 

Another reason this series is helpful right now is the healthy and full lives of the single women  in it...which may be my fate as Len's health declines. It's already pretty clear that he can do less and less. Henry has been here almost a week solo, and it's been mostly the two of us. Yes, he's had a bad cold, but even before that, he needed to rest and ...well, I'm grateful he is happy to let us go and do... Anne's hopeful and optimistic attitude is just a good reminder for how I want to live!

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

 This is such a delightful story! And it is so well-written. I don't believe I have ever read the books; I'd only fallen in love with the Canadian TV series years ago, starring our friend Schuyler Grant. As I read this book, I kept picturing the scenes from that beautiful production. We probably watched it five or six times back in the day...during Laramie days, I think.

What I didn't know was what a nature lover L.M. Montgomery was. Wow. Her poetic descriptions are just amazing; the moonlight, the sunsets, the flower gardens, all of it. It's described beautifully through Anne's eyes. I also loved reading about the distant sounds of the ocean...it's easy to forget this is situated on an island. 

It's a heart-warming story, and the way I remember Marilla's heart softening is beautifully evident in the book. Anne's growth and development are delightful to witness as she matures. Her inadvertent mischief and her hot temper are realistic! And I was hoping at some point she would realize that Gilbert Blythe deserved her forgiveness...I knew she would, just wondered when it would happen in the book. It's a delightful fairy-tale kind of book with a happy ending. The perfect summer read, where you feel that all is right with the world!

I loved this so much I decided to buy the entire eight-book series. This first one really helped me sleep and escape during a visit from Sierra and her family where the fighting of the boys was so hard to take. This book helped me escape and think about young women frolicking in the sunshine and being kind ot each other! Yes, Diana Barry's friendship is so warm and lovely to behold...

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

 I heard about this book at my new Ridgeview Ward book club. Sister Lossee's daughter said it was her favorite book, and we all decided to read it for our next meeting. I'm not sure when that is, but I went ahead and ordered it, because it sounded good.

And it is! It's an absolute gem of a book. It has the same charm and love of nature that the Anne of Green Gables has, only it's a stand alone story. At first Valancy describes her life as an absolute victim and her misery goes on and on for quite awhile. You sense, though, that it is true that she IS a victim on some level, so helpless is she. It's also during this time that we get a glimpse of some of the characters who will be important to the rest of the story.

Finally, through an interesting series of events, Valancy's circumstances change, and she suddenly develops the courage to make some additional changes. And she goes ALL IN on the changes, and it's wonderful to behold! The way the characters and story come together at the end is quite wonderful. The writing is lovely, and so is her life on the lake. The way she describes the beauty around her is soothing to the soul. It's almost like a fairy tale in its goodness and simplicity. Still, it's a life-affirming story that I will enjoy reading again. And maybe again! It's also set me on the path to read the Anne series!

Holy Homicide by Penelope Cress and Steve Higgs

 I got sucked into this one by clever Amazon marketing! The series was recommended based on my searches, and it did sound good. It was a solid C. Cute, safe, cozy mystery that wasn't particularly memorable, but it was a soft joy. As I wrote, Cozy. Which was welcome and filled some happy summer hours, while I tried to nap!

There were too many characters to keep track of, but the main ones were interesting. Rather flat and two dimensional, but okay. The writing was good, not annoying, and it flowed. However, what really annoyed me was the format! It is a kind of self-published Amazon thing, which is so annoying! The cover is kind of waxy and the text is TINY!! I hate that!!!!!!! So annoying. it's going into the D.I. pile right now...

At least it was clean and sweet. Not going to read any more of them. Not that sweet!!!

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

 I met a new friend at our Ridgeview Ward, Shirla Snow. We immediately discovered that we have much in common: born two days apart, love to read, love Dickens, Austen, and the classics, for example. When she mentioned her favorites, she cited one by this author, Lost in a Good Book. When I went to her home to borrow it, she offered this one first, having forgotten that her favorite wasn't the first in a series. So she warned me it's a little different, and recommended I only take the first two, and to return for more if I like these. So, this is the first in the series. She also mentioned that it had been twenty years since she's read either one of them, and doesn't know if she'd still feel the same way about them. With all of this history, I was excited to give them a try.

I was swept away right at the beginning by the intelligent, witty, and literary allusion-filled text. As I read on, though, I realized this story involved fantasy and time travel and all sorts of other things that had me going, "Huh!" Lots of unexpected developments, too many characters to keep track of, but still, a witty and intelligent read. So I kept on. I learned to really like the heroine, Thursday Next. Every name is a hoot and is used for different puns and purposes all the time! There's a even a character named Braxton Hicks!!! At times I felt a little ignorant, knowing I was missing MANY of the obscure allusions. This is an author with lots of connections he wants his reader to make. It's almost a game with him; much of it tongue-in-cheek. Also lost on me were some of the British cultural references. 

The author's cleverness is amazing. Throughout the book, he alludes to the unsatisfying ending to Jane Eyre. And I kept thinking, do I remember it wrong? Finally, as all of the pieces come together, I realized the author was fooling me, and that his interpretation of how it all came together was the crux of the novel. He plays with the characters and gives some far-fetched sceenarios about how it all REALLY came togehter, which was the way I remembered.

It is a very fun romp! However, there were times and scenes that got a little redundant... It's a romp, a tumble, with lots of twists and turns. I'm curious about the next installment, because Thursday marries her long-time love at the end of this one, and I'm sure the marriage will be a rocky one! She's a great character who I will enjoy following for at least one more installment. I think there are two more; we'll see how long I last!