October 2025 Reading

This month's reading mostly focused on books published 100 years ago for the 1925 Club.  However, it was fun to see Lisa Scottoline and Maureen Corrigan in conversation, sponsored by a local library, and caused me to check out her second book.  I also spent a weekend in Deep Valley, MN for the Betsy-Tacy Convention, always a good time.

Mystery and Suspense

Grime and Punishment by Jill Churchill (1989). Jane Jeffry, recently widowed and raising three children, is busy with car pools and community commitments (and gossip).

Emily Climbs by L. M. Montgomery, for the #1925Club

When I was about 13, my family went to Martha’s Vineyard to spend part of a weekend with my father’s law partner. His children were younger so I begged to be taken to the local library (What, you say, you needed an excuse?). And what do you think I found on a discard table near the Chilmark Library door but a three-book series I’d never heard of by the author of Anne of Green Gables - also set on Prince Edward Island but about a different orphan. They were first edition hardcovers; unfortunately falling apart, but I have cherished them anyway. All three are delightful page-turners.

Six Degrees of Separation – from I Want Everything to Camino Island

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up.   This month’s starting point is I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena, which is about an elderly Australian novelist who was once accused of plagiarism.

WWW Wednesday – June 26

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Six Degrees of Separation – from Butter to The Blue Castle

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is a Japanese mystery, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, which I have not read.

The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett

Title: The Grace of Wild Things
Author: Heather Fawcett
Publication: Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins, hardcover, 2023
Genre: Juvenile Historical/Fantasy
Setting: Prince Edward Island

Description: Grace is a lonely orphan whose only talent is magic. Miserable at an orphanage, she runs away to the notorious witch in the woods and offers herself as an apprentice.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Our Wives Under the Sea to Joan Aiken's Kingdom . . .

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (2022), described as “fathomlessly inventive” by the publisher, if you like puns.

Chocolate Caramels for Anne Shirley

For the L.M. Montgomery Cooking Challenge, I decided to make Chocolate Caramels: 

But Anne could not eat. In vain she nibbled at the bread and butter and pecked at the crab-apple preserve out of the little scalloped glass dish by her plate. She did not really make any headway at all.

“You’re not eating anything,” said Marilla sharply, eying her as if it were a serious shortcoming. Anne sighed. 

“I can’t. I’m in the depths of despair. Can you eat when you are in the depths of despair?” 

WWW Wednesday: October 28, 2020

WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Further Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery - #1920Club

Title: Further Chronicles of Avonlea
Author:  L.M. Montgomery

Publication: McClelland & Stewart, Hardcover, 1920

Genre: Children’s fiction

This was the edition at my library

The #1920Club is hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings who share blogger reviews of books published that year.

Six Degrees of Separation: From Fleishman to A Cure for Dreams

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Start at the same place as other avid readers, add six books, and see where you end up.

This month’s chain begins with Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner who often writes about celebrities for the New York Times Magazine.

I have not yet read Fleishman but the author’s name led me to my first book which is Daddy- Long-Legs by Jean Webster (1912), an old favorite.  At a fictional college based on Vassar, orphaned Judy learns how to have fun as well as to study, making choices and developing personality not previously available to her. There is plenty of taffy and fudge making (a pity that tradition has not endured) in these college stories. As Bronte Coates observes,

“A variant on the boarding school theme, these stories were set in fictionalised versions of women’s colleges and are credited as playing a part in normalising the idea of higher education for women.”

Marilla of Green Gables (Book Review)

Title: Marilla of Green Gables 
Author: Sarah McCoy

Publication: William Morrow hardcover, October 2018

Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: This book imagines the life of Marilla Cuthbert before she took in orphaned Anne Shirley, beloved heroine of Anne of Green Gables.  In 19^th century Prince Edward Island, Marilla and her older brother Matthew lived in Avonlea in the newly built homestead known as Green Gables.  

Green Gables, Prince Edward Island

Anne of Green Gables has been one of my favorite books since I was 11, 

and I finally made it to Green Gables in July!

"It would give me such a thrill, Marilla, just to wear a dress with puffed sleeves."

Anne's room was just as I imagined it.

We walked through the garden to the Haunted Wood...

where we met Anne Shirley, strolling by...  

Looking back at Green Gables from the Haunted Wood

Which Anne of Green Gables character are you?  

I was afraid I might be Rachel Lynde, based on some of my 

answers, but I am Anne, of course!

Visiting Lucy Maud's grave

For my Top Ten Anne Shirley-Gilbert Blythe 

Most Romantic Moments, 

click here. 

Top 10 Most Romantic Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe Moments

You may not be surprised to hear I own four copies of Anne of Green Gables. One, my original copy and favorite, is missing – I think it is a mustard-colored Grosset & Dunlap paperback with Anne past her ugly duckling phase, in a sort of photographic cover, wearing an organdy white dress and with smooth auburn tresses.  Does anyone know that one?  I gave away an ugly Scholastic paperback and an unattractive (albeit useful) anthology of books 1-3 or I would have six.

The brilliant Stephanie Lucianovic of the Grub Report recently listed what she considered Top Ten Most Romantic Betsy Ray-Joe Willard Moments, and someone asserted that it would be hard to come up with a similar list for Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe. I disagree:

Downton Abbey Reading List

Friends who know my love of this period have been asking for my recommendations of great books set around World War I, so I have compiled a list. I also include a few favorites outside this time frame likely to be enjoyed by those who share my taste. Some are out of print and may be hard to find – try your library or bookfinder.com!

WWI Era Adult Fiction

Ever After, The Light Heart and Kissing Kin / Elswyth Thane (Are you familiar with Thane’s beloved Williamsburg novels? She is one of my all time favorite authors, and if you don’t mind starting mid-series, I will let you start with books 3, 4 and 5 above which involve the Day (from Virginia) and Campion families in England prior to and during WWI. As Thane was American, you won’t need to worry about the unflattering depiction of Americans often encountered).
Sabrina / Polland (Set in Ireland before WWI, this is the story of an aristocratic family not unlike the Crawleys. I wish someone would make a miniseries of this book!)