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Galentine's Day is right around the corner...so why not curl up with a good book? Check out my latest n  n    BooktTube Video n  n - all about five fabulous books on female friendship!

n  The Written Reviewn

To come!

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This was my first time reading "Anne of Green Gables" and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is a children's book, and so I was expecting a story with a lovely protagonist and some lovely and educating morals, and that's what I got. Anne is simply lovable from the very beginning where she's being fetched by Matthew on the train station to come live in Green Gables. She's highly enthousiastic about everything from the trees to the birds and the brook, and sometimes she was a bit too enthousiastic for my taste. Still, I loved her, because she was such a fierce and courageous little red-head at her age.
I think that one thing about this book that appeals to children a lot is the fact that Anne has a vivid imagination. She can go on for pages about her thoughts and feelings while we, the readers, are waiting for the story to continue. I found those digressions very endearing, and they are definitely the reason why this children's book is actually over 400 pages long.
The book turned into a narrative on Anne growing up, and each chapter became about a new episode in her life. That narrative style did become a bit too predictable for my taste, but in the end I still really liked this story because it warmed my heart and put a smile to my face.

Which books changed me as a reader?

One would like to answer that Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or Dickens or Lagerlöf or Proust determined my path as a lifelong reader. But I doubt that is the case for most of us. They are more often the effect of falling in love with an entirely different kind of book, a root cause leading all the way to tackling Ulysses.

One of the most inspiring books I read as a young girl was the seemingly endless series of Anne (with an "e"), who has all the odds against her, and yet grows up to be a loving, caring, independent and determined woman who consistently follows the path her heart and brain dictate to her, even or especially when it goes against the narrow conventions of her conservative environment. She doesn't win the hearts of her community by being sweet and subdued and grateful, though. She wins them by showing bravery and creativity!

She taught me to love the poem "The Lady of Shalott", and I learned it by heart with her! She taught me small town prejudice and the value of education to stand above pettiness. She taught me that love can exist in the strangest of places, and I think I loved her in the same way her shy stepfather Matthew did. She taught me that one can be wrong and still get it right.

Lucy Maud Montgomery taught me the power of storytelling to change the hearts of adolescents who are reading and living in the world of fiction. For I have grown up in rural Canada a century ago. Yes, I have, several times! Just like I grew up in an English boarding school with Sarah Crewe, admiring A Little Princess the most when she was starving.

...

On either side the river lie
long fields of barley and of rye

...

n  n    Book Reviewn  n
3+ of 5 stars to Anne of Green Gables, the first book in a series by L.M. Montgomery, written in 1902. I read this book nearly 30 years ago and had to refresh my memory a little, before writing the review. I'd forgotten it was part of a whole series. I read more than one, but not sure which other ones. I recall this first one... a tale about an orphan girl, acclimating to a new family, meeting friends and neighbors. On the outskirts, it's a coming-of-age tale about a young girl becoming a woman and learning about the realities of life. It's both a funny book to read and an educational one with some lessons. It's something every kid should read, just to understand how good they have it... or if they are adopted, to learn how to deal with it. Anne's a beautiful person, forgetting age for a few seconds. And whenever she's around, it sorta feels like the comforts of home. If you haven't sampled it, read one of the books in the series just to see what life was like for a girl like her over a century ago. It'll be a positive read, even so many years later.

n  n    About Men  n
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
1. a cousin loaned me her copies of the first three books in this series back when I was only 13-years-old. I remember enjoying them then, but I wanted to refresh my memory before continuing on with the rest of this series;
2. it is available for free on Hoopla; and,
3. July 2023 is my "O' Canada Month"!

Praises:
Author Lucy Maud Montgomery fleshes out her characters in a most heartwarming manner!
MC Anne Shirley - early on in the story, I had to empathize with this spirited young girl's unfortunate upbringing. I wonder if her overactive imagination was a matter of survival during her earlier neglectful years. I found her to be quite endearing with her dramatic, passionate and kindhearted qualities. Her descriptive love of nature and pure meditative joy over the most simple things helped me envision her natural surroundings. Even though adoptive guardian Marilla Cuthbert's sarcasm and criticalness and nosy, busybody neighbor Rachel Lynde's downright rudeness are perfect foils, it was satisfying to see how they were eventually won over by Anne's innocence. And although she held grudges at times, overall, Anne is a most winsome, delightful character!

Overall Thoughts:
Set on Prince Edward Island in the early 1880s, Montgomery used her childhood memories to write this classic. Her descriptive settings made me feel like I was a part of the Avonlea community.
One must be in the right frame of mind before reading this story. Don't expect a strong plot or villains set out to make Anne's life miserable. Written in 1908 with youngsters in mind, it is a lighthearted, pleasant read.

Nostalgia at its finest!

2021: Jestem szczęśliwa, że mogę żyć na świecie, w którym wydano "Anię z Zielonego Wzgórza"

2022: To moje 3 spotkanie z Anne w ciągu 3 lat. Możliwe, że wiecie jak ogromną sympatią dążę tę książkę. Tłumaczenie Bańkowskiej jest odświeżające i uwaga- po prostu świetne.

One I really should have read when I was younger.

reread january 2022
nowe tłumaczenie to sztos totalny.

2017 / ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2022 / ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.25 Silver Stars
with Golden Sparks

it started beautifully, in the middle had a little downhill (when Anne was kind of annoying), but then it could recover even better than its beginning.
I loved it!
all those rivalry between Gilbert & Anne! so wonderful & cute!

Anne was a good character, a dreamer with the magical ability to be optimistic & high-spirited & of course, a book lover. I agreed with her on many things. she was mostly talkative & sometimes stubborn, (& her absentmindedness were usually troublesome, but cute & fun) yes, but firstly, she was a kid, secondly, everyone has negative characteristics & thirdly she could grew out of it & been wiser & more mature when she was older. she also learned from her mistakes. (only one exception!)
I didn't like some old traditions or thoughts that I knew it was real & people's cultures all those years ago, but I guess with all those beautiful descriptions & rebellious cute Anne & her funny mistakes, I could enjoy the book.
I liked Marilla & Matthew Cuthbert too. lovely!
but in general, there were a lot of characters (I'm talking about her classmates or some random villagers) came all at once, that sometimes I just lost track of them in the scenes & I mostly just remembered the important ones.

Somehow, at some points (especially the letters part) it gave me the Daddy Long Legs vibes.

it was one of my nostalgic series I watched when I was a kid, but as I didn't like to read Classics, I didn't come near this book until now. I think I would like it even then.

now gonna go continue my crying under blanket!
-
Premises: ★★★★/5
Characters: ★★★★/5
Plot: ★★★★(★)/5
Writing: ★★★★/5
Idea: ★★★★/5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The first time I read this incredible story I was 10 years old. Since then reading it many years later and many more times it’s still an absolute delight to read.

Are you also die-hard fan of Netflix series: Anne with an E! And also have you been pouting since the day you have heard the cancellation news? If your answer is no, that’s fine, you just miss another epic visual feast, shame! Especially the teen romance Anne and Gilbert is guaranteed to make you smile and warm your heart.

But before that, if you want to revisit the joy, innocence, naiveness, beauty of your childhood, just grab this book and meet with orphan Anne Shirley whose positive, optimistic, exciting energy is contagious. And you may prefer audiobook version to listen the powerful narration of Rachel McAdams.

For decades this book has been considered as children novel but it also teaches us so many things about life, parenthood, friendship, questioning town’s people’s biased, hypocrite thoughts and wrongful beliefs through the eyes of a little girl who has been accidentally adopted by Cuthberts: Marilla and Matthew: brother and sister who needed a boy to help them at farm’s chores. But as you may imagine Anne found a way of enchanting them with her pure joy and excitement. Yes, she stayed with them to be their mischievous, unique, cheery, smart daughter.

Here are my favorite quotes of the novel:

“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?”

“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet.”

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

This time I’m thanking Goodreads to put this book in “Most Popular 100 YA books list” and reminded me of how much I enjoyed it when I was a kid so helped me revisit my memories. As an adult, I still wholeheartedly adore this book! It truly made my whole weekend.

n  "I don't believe I'd really want to be a sensible person, because they are so unromantic."n


n  A series of letters. n

Dear Jo (aged 11),
Get off The Sims and pick up a copy of Anne of Green Gables and read it now. It will change your life.
Best wishes,
Jo (aged 22)

Dear Ms Montgomery,
I would like to take your beautiful prose and drape it over the washing line in my back garden to create a mystical den that only I and my friends may enter.
Who would I have to talk to for this to happen?
Thank you in advance,
J.W

Dear Anne,
I now understand completely why so many young girls (and some not so young girls!) have fallen in love with you over the years.
You are simply marvellous and, even though I’m late to the party, you are making me feel like the guest of honour.
I wish I had met you when I was younger so you could have taught me that it was OK to get lost in daydreams and not feel shy about looking at things a bit differently than other people.
Because you and I and the rest of our kindred spirits really do have the best view.
Lots of love,
Jo.

Gilbert- Just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I have a feeling that we’re going to get on splendidly in the future. Oh and I’d never crush your candied heart under my foot, though I’d probably just eat it. - J

Dear Manchester,
It has come to my attention that there are places in this world that are not rife with gangs of delinquents in hoodies, canals brimming with shopping trollies and boys who think it’s acceptable to wear jeggings.
There is a place in this world where a “myriad of bees” hums over orchards with “a bridal flush of pinky-white bloom” and where brooks are heard laughing under the ice. You will not find sullen commuters who think it’s courteous to steal the last Metro in the morning. This is a place where you can drift “luxuriously out on a sea of daydreams” and eat plum pudding instead of a Greggs pasty and where “days slip[ped] by like golden beads on the necklace of the year.”
This place has scope for imagination. (And it also has seasons other than ‘Grim’)
And this place is called Prince Edward’s Island.
Consider this your first warning, Manchester. If you don’t buck up your ideas, you will find yourself less one Mancunian.
Yours Faithfully,
J. Williams.


Dear Boys who worked in the cocktail bar at Bangor SU about a year and a half ago,
Remember my 21st birthday?
That wasn’t raspberry cordial …. Was it?

- A former student who would like to remain anonymous.