Prince Edward Island

We're off on a little adventure this week. As my due date gets closer I wanted to see if we can fit in one more trip. So we're headed to Prince Edward Island in Canada! We've both always wanted to visit and so we're so excited!

 

In addition to lighthouses, scenic drives, and delicious lobster, I can't wait to see the Anne of Green Gables house! I'll see you all back here sometime next week!

Images from here and here.

A Girl of the Limberlost

A Girl of the Limberlost 

by Gene Stratton-Porter

★★★★★

How did I miss this book when I was younger? It’s like a slighter darker version of Anne of Green Gables, and I loved every second of it.

Published in 1909, the story is about a young girl named Elnora who lives in the country. She is going to high school for the first time, but her lack of social skills and money makes the way difficult. Her whole life has been spent on her farm with her cold, unloving mother. Her father died in the Limberlost swamp the day she was born and her mother has resented her ever since.

Elnora is such a unique character. She is stubborn and driven to succeed. She's fiercely intelligent but incredibly compassionate. She is patient, giving her mother the benefit of the doubt for years. She's a hard worker, willing to make money to achieve her dreams. She has self-respect and is willing to sacrifice in order to find true happiness. She reminded me a little bit of Jane Austen’s Lizzy Bennet, particularly in a scene where one woman comes to talk to her about her possible engagement.

There is so much I loved about this book. There's a fantastic female lead who isn't just trying to win a man. The plot focuses on relationships with her family and friends and pursuing her dreams. She stands up for herself even when she doesn't fit in. She's a problem solver and isn't overwhelmed when a slight obstacle gets in her path.

**SPOILERS**

Kate Comstock, Elnora's mother, is a fascinating character. She’s so oblivious to the pain she causes her daughter because she’s trapped in a prison of grief. She has one of the most drastic changes in attitude and overall character development that I've ever read. The way it's done it's completely believable, but it's still a 180 and it was so satisfying to see her relationship with Elnora change throughout the book.

I love how the romantic aspect of the story played out too. Elnora protects her own feelings and isn’t swayed the moment Philip gave her a second glance. She waited until she was sure he didn't want anyone else and she was not just a consolation prize. That’s so unusual to find in a novel, especially one written more than 100 years ago. She wanted someone who loved her deeply, not someone who settled for her in a moment of passion.

**SPOILERS OVER**

BOTTOM LINE: I fell hard for this novel. Elnora is so determined and intelligent, she’s definitely become one of my new favorites. The book is chocked full of wonderful characters, including her Uncle Wesley, the young ruffian Billy and even her selfish, detached mother becomes a character you care about.

BONUS: This is a Hoosier classic set in the Limberlost swamp that is in northern Indiana. I visited the author’s home after finishing the book and will post on my trip!

Emily of New Moon

Emily of New Moon

by L.M. Montgomery

★★★★☆

Emily Byrd Starr is a dreamer. Even at a young age she writes poems and wanders through nature. When she is orphaned by the death of her father her mother’s estranged relatives descend upon her home and draw lots to decide who will care for her.

This novel obviously shares a lot of ground with its predecessor, Anne of Green Gables. The author’s two heroines share similar temperaments and interests. There are also a lot of characters that feel very familiar. Emily’s Aunt Elizabeth Murray is reminiscent of Marilla, while her Aunt Laura takes Matthew’s role of a softer guardian.

That being said, Emily is a great character on her own and I think my appreciation for her will develop even more with the other books in the series. She has a wonderful imagination, but she can be stoic around strangers. She’s strong-willed and stands up for herself when she feels she has to. She’d immensely loyal and trusting. We also get the chance to see her with her beloved father before he dies, something we never had with Anne.

The story follows Emily as she moves to New Moon and settles into a new life there. She has a deep love of cats and doesn’t make friends easily at first. I loved her best friend Ilse. She is a little unapologetic spitfire. Her close friends also include her cousin Jimmy with his penchant for poetry, the hired boy Perry and her classmate Teddy.

BOTTOM LINE: If you read and loved Anne of Green Gables then you can’t miss this one. Montgomery writes wonderful characters and I can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy.

“Gossip lies nine times and tells a half-truth the 10th.”

Top Ten Books That Will Make You Cry

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Books That Will Make You Cry.

1) The Book Thief - I ugly cry every time I read this.
2) The Time Traveler's Wife - Beautiful romance, impossible obstacle
3) Song of Achilles - The Trojan War never felt so personal.
4) Anne of Green Gables - One word: Matthew
5) The Sparrow - Tragedy on an epic level
6) Still Alice - If you know anyone who has had Alzheimer's this one will get you.
7) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - 9/11 heartbreaker
8) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Just about my worst nightmare, but also incredibly inspiring story of the human spirit.
9) Jude, the Obscure - Leave it to Hardy to redfine tragedy.
10) Little Women - Do you guys remember Joey's reaction on Friends? Exactly.

Top Ten Most Memorable Secondary Characters

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Most Memorable Secondary Characters. I love this question! 

1) Marian from The Woman in White – She is such a fantastic character and I always wished she had gotten a slightly different ending.

2) Dumbledore from Harry Potter – Wise, powerful, hilarious, one of my favorite characters ever.

3) Miss Havisham from Great Expectations – What a character! She makes an intense first impression and she’s impossible to forget.

4) Fermin from The Shadow of the Wind – Loyal and crass, Fermin is a bit of a mystery until we get to know him better in The Prisoner of Heaven.

5) Melly and Rhett in Gone with the Wind – It’s Scarlett’s story, but those two are by far my favorite characters in the book. One is a scandalous man who says what he thinks; the other is a great lady with a quiet strength. I love them both.

6) Matthew from Anne of Green Gables – He is such a softy. He loves Anne like his own daughter and he is always on her side.

7) Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird – He is a wonderful father and a humble man. Seeing him through Scout’s eyes makes him even more admirable.

8) Charlotte from Pride and Prejudice – She ends up with Mr. Collins, it’s a horrible fate. But at the same time she decides to marry him because she wants her own home and to no longer be a burden on others. She is a good friend and she is a strong woman. It took a couple rereads to appreciate her, but once I “got” her I loved her story.

9) Marvin from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – He’s a depressed robot and he is hilarious.

10) Laurie from Little Women – He is Jo’s best friend, partner-in-crime and confidant. You can’t help but love him dearly.

Top Ten Favorite Romances

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for my Top Ten Favorite Romances. There will be some SPOILERS if you haven’t read these books.

1) Anne and Captain Wentworth in Persuasion – Their love withstands years of separation and rekindles in the most beautiful way.

2) Anne and Gilbert in the Anne of Green Gables series – I love that we get to see their whole relationship, from courtship through marriage and children throughout the series.

3) Henry and Clare in The Time Traveler’s Wife – Spanning almost Clare’s entire life, these two had a romance that defied fate.

4) Jo and Professor Bhaer in Little Women – I know most people rooted for Laurie and Jo, but re-reading this as an adult made me fall in love with Bhaer along with Jo. They were perfectly suited for each other and they both thought they would probably never find love.

5) Thursday and Landon in the Thursday Next series – What would you do if the man you loved was completely erased from existence? Thursday has to deal with this, yet the books are still hilarious.

6) Levin and Kitty in Anna Karenina – Sure, Anna’s romance is more dramatic, but Levin and Kitty were always my favorite. Their relationship was not an easy one. They both had to mature before they could be together. Their relationship shows that real love is hard work, but worth every second of it!

7) Lucy and George in A Room with a View – The ultimate question in a good romance; do you marry the sensible guy or do you throw caution to the wind and follow your heart? This book has one of the best examples of this kind of romance that I’ve ever read. Plus, they meet in Florence, which is just a lovely bonus.

8) Marco and Celia in The Night Circus – A ridiculously difficult obstacle to overcome, magic in the air, what more could you want?

9) Arwen and Aragorn in Lord of the Rings – A romance that was relegated to the Appendix for the most part, but undoubtedly swoon-worthy. To be together Arwen must give up eternal life, but she knows that a short lifetime with him is better than an eternity without him.

10) Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester – Of course they made my list! Their love is undeniable, yet Jane still walks away because she won’t compromise her belief system for any man. Then comes one of literature’s most irresistible lines … “Reader, I married him.”

Image from here. 

Top Ten Favorite Kick-Ass Heroines

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for your Top Ten Favorite Kick-Ass Heroines. The women on my list are ones who decided not to be victims. They are women who are smart and clever and aren’t afraid to let people know that. These are women who bucked societal norms and did their own thing. They are all my heroes.

1) Jo March (Little Women)

2) Hermione Granger (Harry Potter series)

3) Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series)

4) Valentine Wiggin (Ender’s Game series)

5) Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games series)

6) Eowyn (Lord of the Rings)

7) Dagny Taggart (Atlas Shrugged)

8) Violet Baudelaire (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

9) Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables series)

10) Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) 

Image from here. 

Rilla of Ingleside

Rilla of Ingleside
by L.M. Montgomery
★★★★★

This is the eighth and final book in the Anne of Green Gables series. I’ve slowly been working my way through the series and in the last couple books I really missed having Anne as one of the main characters. In this installment Anne’s youngest daughter, Rilla takes center stage and the book got back to the heart of the first few books. It embraced all of my favorite elements from the early books.

It’s a bit more serious than the previous books. The characters are forced to deal with the realities of war and the loss of their quiet lives as their sons and sweethearts are sent off to fight in World War I. It deals with big issues, but offers perspective and hope along with the drama. The book was published shortly after WWI ended, so the trauma everyone had experienced must have been very fresh in Montgomery’s mind as she wrote this.

The characters see firsthand how painful war is as they watch the men in the community leave to fight in battles on another continent. Some of the men feel the need to leave immediately and join the fight; others struggle with a desire to serve their country while wanting peace. The women are left to take care of the homes alone. They all believe the war will be over soon and begin to loose hope as months stretch into years.

We see the hurried wedding of a war bride and the fate of an orphaned baby whose father is at the front and whose mother dies in childbirth. Rilla takes care of the war baby and she has to go from being an innocent teenager to a woman over the course of the war. We also see Rilla and her mother, our beloved Anne, stretched to the point of breaking as they fight their own fear and grief.

SPOILERS

When Walter died my heart broke. Rilla’s brother was the person she was closest to in the whole world. My own brother is one of my best friends and the thought of losing him in a war is terrifying. Walter’s last letter to Rilla will stay with me for years to come. His words about the power of sacrifice and being at peace with death are more beautiful than I can explain.

SPOILERS OVER

BOTTOM LINE: I love this series so much and this book is now among my favorites. It was a fitting ending to the saga and I look forward to re-reading the whole series in the future.
 
“It is a strange thing to read a letter after the writer is dead, a bittersweet thing in which pain and comfort are strangely mingled.”

“Ah yes, you’re young enough not to be scared of perfect things.”

Rainbow Valley

Rainbow Valley
by L.M. Montgomery
★★★★

This is the seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series, but the Blythes are actually minor characters in this novel. The story focuses more on the widowed minister, John Meredith, and his children, especially Faith and Una. They girls are friends with the Blythe children and they all play together in a place they call Rainbow Valley.

There were so many funny misunderstandings in this one. At one point, Faith and Una get mixed up about what day of the week it is and they miss church, which causes a big scandal in the little community. Every time they try to stand up for their father they end up making things worse. There’s also a pair of older, unmarried sisters they find themselves with unexpected suitors.

The first chapter of the book had me laughing out loud. Anne and her house keeper Susan are talking about gossip and their back and forth banter is just hilarious. There’s also a little orphaned girl named Mary who’s quite a pip. She was abused in her foster homes and is on the run. Her bad language and general worldview seem to get everyone in trouble.

This one was much funnier than some of the other books in the series, but it’s not my favorite. I missed Anne, Gilbert, and some of the other characters I’ve grown to love so dearly. This one felt like it wasn’t really part of the series, but I still enjoyed the story. Even when Anne isn’t the central figure of the story, Montgomery has a way of making you love the characters in her books.

“When that over-harbour doctor married the undertaker’s daughter at Lowbridge people felt suspicious of him. It didn’t look well.”

“We miss so much out of life if we don’t love.”

Top Ten Books That Broke Your Heart A Little

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Books That Broke Your Heart A Little. I don’t know how to list these without having possible SPOILERS, so fair warning, if you haven’t read a title on my list, skim the comment!

1) The Book Thief – I love this book. I just love it, but I can’t help myself, I fall apart when I read it.

2) Where the Red Fern Grows – What’s that little boy, you want to get some puppy dogs? Don’t do it!

3) Anne of Green Gables – When Matthew died, enough said.

4) The Time Traveler’s Wife – I know what’s coming, but I still cry every time.

5) Atonement – Ian McEwan is really good at writing sad books, but this one takes the cake.

6) The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter – Holy depressing ending batman!

7) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – So good, but not a really an upper.

8) Bridge to Terabithia – Teaching kids how to cope with death since 1987.

9) The final 3 Harry Potter books – First Sirius, then Dumbledore, then Hedwig, then so many others. It’s realistic because they’re at war, but that doesn’t mean I like it.

10) The Knife of Never Letting Go –Manchee’s death was such an unexpected blow.

Image from here.