Broadside No. 18 – Lucy Maud Montgomery

Ahoy there me mateys!  Welcome to the eighteenth broadside – the Lucy Maud Montgomery edition.  In 2018, one of me favourite books of all time, anne of green gables, will turn 110 years old!  Me crew members jackie b @ deathbytsundoku and jane @ greenishbookshelf have been doing an anne-read-along and I have been happily following their progress.  I adore LMM’s writing, have read 17 of her books, and think this be a fine time to highlight the author . . .

Please note: All book descriptions are from Goodreads and the book title links lead to Goodreads.

anne of green gables series

The collection that I grew up reading (and rereading) included 8 books that tell the stories of Anne Shirley growing up on Prince Edward Island.  The tales begin with anne of green gables.  The Cuthberts, a brother and sister, hope to adopt a boy orphan to help with the farm.  However when Matthew goes to pick up the orphan, he finds a red-headed little girl instead.  Their lives are never the same.  Both they and this pirate Captain ended up in love with Anne with an E.  She was feisty, intelligent, imaginative, clever, and just all around awesome.  Ye get to read Anne’s adventures from being a newcomer in a small town, to making new friends and enemies, through growing up, to falling in love (sigh!), to working, to having children.  Then we even get to follow some of her children.  I have to admit I was a bit obsessed.  I adored the movie with Megan Follows who will always be me Anne:

Then there was the Avonlea show in me later years that I watched and adored.  And when me ma took suggestions for where to go in Canada, I begged to go to PEI.  Which we did.  Me ma is awesome.  The trip was a dream come true.  From seeing the Haunted Wood and getting to walk Lover’s Lane to looking at the red mud, I was absolutely ridiculously excited.  I even got me postcards stamped at the Cavendish post office.  I still call friends “bosom buddies” and “kindred spirits.”  Me first mate also recently read this book and thought it was wonderful (so he didn’t have to walk the plank!).  Book one is a classic that I think everyone should read and the rest of the books make me heart happy too.  Okay I know there is not a lot of details here about these books and just a lot of ramblin’ but I adore them all.  Arrr!

Some favorite quotes:

“A bosom friend—an intimate friend, you know—a really kindred spirit to whom I can confide my innermost soul. I’ve dreamed of meeting her all my life.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

“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.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

“It was November–the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Goodreads has this to say about the first novel:

When Marilla Cuthbert’s brother, Matthew, returns home to Green Gables with a chatty redheaded orphan girl, Marilla exclaims, “But we asked for a boy. We have no use for a girl.” It’s not long, though, before the Cuthberts can’t imagine how they could ever do without young Anne of Green Gables–but not for the original reasons they sought an orphan. Somewhere between the time Anne “confesses” to losing Marilla’s amethyst pin (which she never took) in hopes of being allowed to go to a picnic, and when Anne accidentally dyes her hated carrot-red hair green, Marilla says to Matthew, “One thing’s for certain, no house that Anne’s in will ever be dull.” And no book that she’s in will be, either.

the emily series

This series is about another orphan girl, named Emily, who grows up in Canada.  Don’t ye just love the cover for book one?  A cat and a book.  Yup.  Sign me up.  Now I have to admit that since Anne had me heart and soul, I never was as obsessed with Emily.  But like Green Gables, this series has wonderful friendships, fun antics, and the lovely writing of LMM.  Really I should read these again at some point!

Goodreads has this to say about the first novel:

Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely — until her beloved father died. Now Emily’s an orphan, and her mother’s snobbish relatives are taking her to live with them at New Moon Farm. She’s sure she won’t be happy. Emily deals with stiff, stern Aunt Elizabeth and her malicious classmates by holding her head high and using her quick wit. Things begin to change when she makes friends: with Teddy, who does marvelous drawings; with Perry, who’s sailed all over the world with his father yet has never been to school; and above all, with Ilse, a tomboy with a blazing temper. Amazingly, Emily finds New Moon beautiful and fascinating. With new friends and adventures, Emily might someday think of herself as Emily of New Moon.

the pat of silver bush series

This series is two books.  I have to admit that me memories of this are: “I loved it.”  That is it.  No details at all.  Sheesh! I think this duology is certainly going to get a reread in 2018.  Arrrr!

Goodreads has this to say about the first novel:

Patricia Gardiner loved Silver Bush more than anything else in the world. She was born and raised in the beautiful old-fashioned house on Prince Edward Island, “where things always seemed the same” and good things never changed. But things do change at Silver Bush–from her first day at school to the arrival of her new own first romance. Through it all, Pat shares her experiences with her beloved friends and discovers the one thing that truly never changes: the beauty and peace she will always find at Silver Bush–the house that remembers her whole life.

 

So that be me introduction to L.M. Montgomery.  If ye haven’t read any of her novels I would suggest ye hoist those sails and get moving!

To visit her website go to:

L.M. Montgomery – Author

To see a complete list of all books she has written visit:

L.M. Montgomery – Books

To add this author or her novels to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

If ye missed me other author broadsides:

Garth Nix – No. 1

Sharon Shinn – No. 2

John Scalzi – No. 3

Tamora Pierce – No. 4

Brandon Sanderson – No. 5

Robin McKinley – No. 6

Michael Crichton – No. 7

Mercedes Lackey – No. 8

Dean Kootnz – No. 9

Justine Larbalestier – No. 10

Neil Gaiman – No. 11

Kate Elliot – No. 12

George R.R. Martin – No. 13

Rosemary Kirstein – No. 14

Piers Anthony – No. 15

Ann Leckie – No. 16

Paolo Bacigalupi – No. 17