Blog Break

I have a very strong urge to reread all of the books that I own-the 'really likes' and the favorites. This should take me a good year at best, so the blog's on hiatus. I can't wait :) To Narnia, Hogwarts, Bayern, Prince Edward Island, Inkworld, and Mitford...and much more.
When I come back I have Montgomery's short story collections to review!

A Tangled Web, by L. M. Montgomery

Rating: 9/10


It is time for Aunt Becky, on the point of death, to bestow her legendary, heirloom Dark jug on a lucky member of the Penhallow-Dark clan. The whole clan gathers in the hope of getting the jug, but once there, Aunt Becky tells them that the new owner will not be revealed until a year after her death. In that time, the Penhallows and Darks are ready to tear each other apart for the jug. Feuds are started and ended, new and old loves surface, and every family is affected by that memorable gathering at Aunt Becky's.

I'm surprised at how much I loved this! It was really cleverly written, with several different stories going on and intertwining. Sometimes all the characters were hard to keep straight, but I loved their stories, which overlap.

Montomery was clearly strongly influenced by clan/family (especially of the overbearing sort) relationships, traditions, and histories. In all of her work the reader is introduced to members of her main characters' families, and she was an expert at conveying their personalities, faults, and humorous characteristics.

The first section is really well done. Aunt Becky is very entertaining, although I sure as heck wouldn't want to meet her! She has a very sharp tongue. It's interesting how she casts clan members' mistakes and humiliations up to them, and does it because they are so reactive to her biting remarks. Many characters like her-sharp-tongued and harsh-have the softest hearts of all.

I enjoyed meeting the various members of the Dark-Penhallow clan. All the falling in love was both amusing and absorbing. For example, Peter Penhallow wonders why every man isn't in love with the woman he loves, and that he is the only man to ever be in love. Isn't that how everyone in love feels? I can't give any input on that myself, of course :). And dear Roger Penhallow! What is Gay thinking? Mooning after that insipid Noel.

There are several storylines, and some that aren't about romance, which is nice. Gay Penhallow's conceited, self-absorbed fiancee leaves her for seductive, sly Nan Penhallow; Peter Penhallow and Donna Dark are united after a lifetime of enmity; Joscelyn Dark questions the wisdom of separating with Hugh on their wedding night for reasons unknown to anyone else; Little Sam and Big Sam, after years of living together contentedly in mutual bachelorhood, separate over a matter of principle; lonely little Brian Dark longs for love and warmth in his hitherto cold, empty life; the mysterious Moon Man, who has second sight and fixes his affection on nothing but the moon, 'Lady Moon'.

And then there's the matter of the jug, of course. Montgomery doesn't reveal who is to get it until the very end, so the tension is built up nicely. My heart was pounding and my eyes were fixed on the words when that part came! It was a nervous moment. With a very unexpected resolution.

My reviews always end up too long...
Yes, so I really loved this book. My only qualms were what is now a disgusting bit of racism in the last sentence, and of course, the over-emphasis on looks. But really, those are minor.
This book is infused with Montgomery's trademark humor, beauty, passion, wisdom, and a something that I can't quite put my finger on.
As to who the woman and man on the cover are intended to represent, I haven't the foggiest idea. Beautiful cover, though.

So, after reading all of L. M. Montgomery's novels, I have concluded that the Anne books are my favorites, there's just nothing like them; but her other books are pretty darn good! (to understate)

Mistress Pat, by L. M. Montgomery

Rating: 8/10

Pat, now twenty, loves Silver Bush more with every passing year, and feels that it is the only source of satisfaction and consistency in her life. She spurns beaus and marriage in order to stay at her home, much to the disapproval of those around her. No matter how hard Pat tries to keep change from Silver Bush, it comes, in the way of a new hired man, irksome in-laws, and much more she doesn't anticipate.

There were a lot of changes in this one! Even I, the reader, had misgivings about a new person (the hired man) at Silver Bush. But I ended up liking Tillytuck enormously, just like Pat and her family.

*Judy is as delightful as ever-so wise and cheery. I find myself thinking in her vernacular-and liking it! The opening scene in this book is great, when the women at Silver Bush gather in the 'silver bush' to do their work. Great dialogue and atmosphere.

*I liked Suzanne Kirk, Pat's new neighbor, and felt so sorry for her when Pat ignored her for 'laughing' at Silver Bush. Pat is more touchy and protective than ever of her home.

*I could've shaken Rae (Pat's younger sister) many times! But especially Mr. Wheeler, the flirty, nasty minister she falls in love with. At many points, though, Rae is very strong and practical. Sometimes it's as if she is the older sister. And I love her relationship with Pat.

* I agree with what Uncle Horace says about books: '"Real life! We get enough real life living. I like a nice snug tidy ending in a book with all the loose ends tucked in."'

* A thought of Pat's I like: 'Pat didn't like a cloudless sky...it always seemed to her to be hard and remote...a few clouds made it friendly...humanised it.' Yep!

Okay, some more general stuff here. Pat rises very well to the challenge of dealing with changes that come her way. It's amazing how Montgomery changes the tone of her books when the characters grow up. To be sure, her books aren't only for children. In fact, in many ways they might miss and loveliness and wisdom of her stories, although they enjoy them. Not to insult children, but I just don't like labels on books to be taken very seriously. Anyone of any age can enjoy and learn from any book.

Mistress Pat is reminiscent of Emily's Quest in some ways; hope that doesn't give anything away. Pat comes to wonder if she really can be happy only at Silver Bush, and as she struggles to keep things as they are, her life becomes rather lonely and empty, and she has doubts.

A few complaints: More of Hilary (Jingle)! And the ending was a bit too abrupt for me. I like big changes and realizations to have several pages to settle in before the story ends.
I can't help resenting Montgomery a little for two things that happen towards the end. But I suppose they were necessary and inevitable. And that just emphasizes that Montgomery is so good she makes me suffer or be joyful along with her characters.
Also, there was one end that was kind of left loose, but luckily it isn't too major.

These are some quotes of Judy's I find worthy of putting in here:

"There do be always new good coming up to take the place av the old that goes, Patsy." Wise Judy.

"God must be liking a bit av fun, too, Patsy, when he made us so fond av it."

"I've been having a long life, Patsy, and minny things to be thankful for but nothing more than me liddle gift av seeing something to laugh at in almost iverything."

"There'll be a way," said Judy gently. "There always do be a way."

"Love don't iver be dying, Patsy."

'As Judy would say, there was always something to take the edge off.'

So, that's that. I wish there were more books about Pat! If only Montgomery was living, she could write endless sequels to all her books. But I can always read them over and over again =).

I'm now on the last of Montgomery's novels I hadn't read-A Tangled Web. It's rather heart-breaking to be at the end of them, but I still have all her short-story collections left. Hee!

The Golden Road, by L. M. Montgomery

Rating: 7/10

The King children and their friends are back, getting into scrapes and adventures, and listening, enchanted, to the Story Girl's stories. These are their last years together on the 'golden road' of youth and its dreams. To liven up their time together, they start a newspaper of their own.

It's getting difficult to review Montgomery's books without repeating myself and sounding hackneyed, so I will talk about things unique to this book.

This one was better for me than its predecessor, The Story Girl-though I sometimes wonder how much the time and place we read books impact our liking of them.

I like Bev's narration, and the way he slips quotes into conversations in the beginning is very cute. Felicity is amusing with her prim-and-proper mannerism. I feel a bit sorry for Sara Ray, who's portrayed as so pathetic and insignificant! But I must admit that her incessant crying gets a little exasperating. It's nice when she 'shows a flash of spirit'. I like my spirited characters :). I really like Uncle Blair, the Story Girl's father.

It rather annoys me that most of the Story Girl's stories are about romance, but I cannot deny that they are exciting stories. I loved the story The Christmas Harp, and the one about Mr. and Mrs. Davidson (erm, can't remember what it was...lol).

The Awkward Man sounds exactly like me! I tend to avoid eye contact and blush when speaking with people, especially men. Like it says about the Awkward Man: 'he was in an agony of painful blushes.' I feel for you, Awkward Man! Too bad we can't have a talk...although, we might not get anywhere because we would likely both be blushing and staring fixedly at our feet.
His love story is really beautiful. I'm glad that the mystery of his locked room was cleared up from the prequel, The Story Girl. Montgomery seems to have a high esteem for marriage, which is interesting because her own marriage wasn't exactly happy. Well, I guess the fact that she didn't find the man exactly right for her doesn't stop her characters from it.

Sara Stanley (the Story Girl)'s idea that thoughts have colors is interesting. But when I try to imagine which thoughts are which colors, nothing comes to mind!

Montgomery contrives the most incredible scenarios! The newspaper was very funny, with the children's comments sprinkled throughout. All the misspelling and misconceptions-this book captures youth, the 'golden road'.
Poor Cecily, with her persistent guy-I know what that's like!

'Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.' How true. I've always believed that.

The Golden Road is sad, touching, hilarious, enchanted, beautiful...so many things, like all of her books. I would have liked some sort of epilogue though. It's clearly implied what will happen to some of the characters, but still.

The two 'Story Girl' books are a little forgettable for me, unlike Montgomery's other books (except Kilmeny of the Orchard), but I still like them a lot.

Pat of Silver Bush, by L. M. Montgomery

Rating: 9/10

Aaand the L. M. Montgomery spree continues...

This is going to be a long, rambling post, so if you don't like rambles, especially fanciful ones, you'd better skip it, because I'm going to post it regardless! :)

Pat Gardiner loves her family's farm and home, Silver Bush, more than any place she's ever been and wants nothing more than to stay there, with everything in it always the same. She loves her family, friends, and home fiercely and tries her hardest to keep them unaltered. But change is fated to come, and Pat must cope with it.

I really enjoyed this. I love the descriptions of Silver Bush-the fields, trees, orchard, graveyard, garden. I love Judy Plum and her wise, wonderful way of talking; her supposedly Irish vernacular actually does not hinder the flow of the story, but adds to her likeableness (is that a word...? I think not). I always like housekeeper/cook characters like her. There's just something about them...like Rebecca Dew (Anne of Windy Poplars) and Susan Baker (Anne's House of Dreams through Rilla of Ingleside).

Pat herself is delightful, and I sympathize with her so much, with the way she wants things to stay the same. She learns to deal with it well, for example growing to love her new baby sister when at first she dreaded her birth; when Pat goes for a three-week visit to her aunt's, unwillingly: "This is just a visit. I'll soon be home again...in just twenty-one days," she reminded herself bravely. Pat is very dependable herself, and very good at loving people and things to the utmost.

I would've liked to be a little more introduced to Pat's family-their looks and personalities. There seemed to be a smaller cast of secondary characters in this book, or at least, they were less prominent. About Pat's mother: "Mother never showed what she felt." Sometimes I wish I could be that way! But, really, I don't think I do wish to be that way. Only to have the ability when I want it, maybe.

' "I knew they could never have the soul of Silver Bush. That would always be mine." ' Montgomery always has sentences like this in her books. She knew that places and things do have character, depending on who is looking at them, who loves/hates them, and what has happened in or to them.

I like the way Pat names things on Silver Bush. It never occurred to me to do that. Naming things does make them like people, and really alive! Montgomery really makes me more aware of my surroundings.
On inspiration I named some things in my backyard and house:
* Japanese maple with reddish-orange leaves: the Wednesday Woman
* Tall fir tree next to it: Lord Fir. I have less than a month to enjoy him before he becomes this year's Christmas tree :(
* Sprawling, rough, green tree with many, randomly-placed arms: Progo (the tree reminds me of the 'cherub' in L'Enle's A Wind in the Door)
* Lone maple tree- Aching Bess. She's been 'trimmed' (butchered) and so is longing, aching, for her reaching branches again. When they grow in she will just be Bess.
* Camellia bush in neighbor's yard: the Bush of Happily Ever After. The way the evening sun falls on it, is bewitching. It makes me think of all my favorite books and their happy endings.
* Huge tree with abundant red leaves in summer/spring, in another neighbor's yard, facing ours: the Tree of Time. This tree looks so wise, as if it has seen so much and has always been; I don't know if it's male or female. If someone cuts it down, look out!
In my living room:
* Baby grand piano: Olga
* Mini cactus: Floyd
* Blue, oriental-patterned wing chair: Timothy
* Yellow and blue-print chair and hassock: Wendy
* Big yellow curtains: left one is Deb, right one is Dina
* White china cat: Prissa
* Old black couch with thin white stripes: Sid
* Tall floor lamp: Lois
* Mantel clock: Esther. She has been in our family since the year the Titanic sunk. The things she must have seen!
* Little green-leafed plant whose scientific name I don't know: Lucy

Not very imaginative names, maybe, but it was fun to think of them. When I looked at the objects, the names just popped into my head and could be nothing else. I love books that cause me to imagine all kinds of things!

Okay, back to more things I liked about this book, if you don't think I'm a nut-case yet:

I love the idea of Jingle's 'dream houses'- wouldn't it be fun to imagine them, just the way we want? Houses, especially their interiors, are fascinating to me. Oh, and I like Jingle himself immensely, of course! He's a really interesting character, and Pat brightens his life so much. And he hers.

Montgomery always puts into exquisite wording truths I have always felt; many of the sentences she puts together just make me shiver with their beauty and intrigue. Here are some, with my comments:

'She was pierced by the swift exquisite pang which beauty always gave her...always would give her. It was almost anguish while it lasted...but the pain was heavenly.'  Who hasn't felt this, when looking at a gorgeous sunset,or moonlight, etc?

'Pat felt herself a sister to all the loveliness of the world. If only everybody could feel this secret, satisfying rapture!'   Pat thinks this while outside, on a moonlit night.

'A street where the wind could only creep in a narrow space like a cringing, fettered thing, instead of sweeping grandly over wide fields and great salt wastes of sea.'   *shiver*

'The old loyalties of home were still potent.'

'The big white house with its background of sapphire water, where there was a coloured, fir-scented garden, full of wind music and bee song, that dipped in terraces to the harbour shore and was always filled with the sound of "perilous seas forlorn." '     It seems that in almost every book LMM quotes this line of Keats' 'Ode to a Nightingale'. It's a beautiful quote- 'perilous seas in fairylands forlorn'. Doesn't that just give you shivers?

'He was thinking...of the house. He could see it...He could almost see its lights gleaming through the dusk of some land "beyond the hills and far away." '

'Hilary (Jingle's real name) was waiting in Happiness, sitting on an old mossy stone by the spring that the years had never touched.'

'Why, Pat wondered, did lovely thing so often hurt?'    Why, indeed? It's such an unfathomable mystery and truth.

Too many lovely sentences to list here! Montgomery writes about quite ordinary situations, if indeed anything is truly ordinary, but she makes them fascinating and exciting; her books read like fantasy, without the...fantasy.

Sometimes it's like Pat's my twin! When told she must go to Queen's Academy and study for a teacher's license, she tells Judy: "I don't seem to be like other girls, Judy. They all want to go to college and have a career. I don't...I just want to stay at Silver Bush and help you and mother."
That's the way I recently felt! I didn't want to go to college, but stay home and help my parents, maybe get a job while living at home. Now I'm reconciled to college...sort of :)
Pat is a 'kindred spirit', as Anne would say.

LMM has an uncanny knack of making me dislike, even despise, the 'beaus' of her heroines that don't end up lasting. Harris and Lester-ugh! Suffocating. But Jingle...!

Again, this book emphasized looks too much for my liking, but I really couldn't care less because the rest more than makes up for that.

When her characters grow up there's always sadness accompanying it, just the fact of them growing up along with other things. Sometimes 'losing the way to fairyland'. I hope I never lose that! Or maybe I already have...

I love LMM's love stories...her stories in general. They make me feel warm and happy inside, as do the books of Shannon Hale and many others. I don't necessarily look for reality in books, but for that warm, happy feeling. No stuffy professor of literature will ever bring me away from that or convince me that 'great works of literature' are the only worthwhile books to be read. Never!
Montgomery's endings always give me 'that thrill'. The last sentences or so are always just right, and haunting. There is no one like LMM! The same could be said of my other favorite authors.

I'm tempted to immediately read the sequel, but I believe I will read the sequel to The Story Girl, The Golden Road, first. Ahh, it's the best of all things to have so many LMM books yet to read!

I promise I will never write such a long post again, unless I cannot help it. I just had to let out the torrent of feeling Pat of Silver Bush brought in me.

Sometimes I think that stories/books are beyond the author's control or influence, and the authors are only the mediums through which they are told.

Okay, I'll shut up now. My word, that was long.

Kilmeny of the Orchard, by L. M. Montgomery

Rating: 6/10

Eric Marshall goes to be a substitute teacher for a friend at Lindsay, P.E.. Island. One day he stumbles upon a wonderful old deserted orchard. There he discovers a girl playing a violin. This beautiful, mute girl is Kilmeny Gordon,  and she steals Eric's heart.

I'll start off with the good:

* I liked reading about Eric coming out of his practical, matter-of-fact self

* The dialogue between Eric and David Baker in the beginning was absorbing and real-sounding-'fleshed out', as they say.

* Eric's thoughts after Kilmeny runs from him on their first meeting are very funny

* I liked Kilmeny's childlike candidness, and the fact that she was free from silly feminine coquetry; she was strange and interesting.

* The orchard was exquisitely described, making me want to be in it. Or plant an orchard in my backyard :)

Now for the bad:

* The beauty thing. Now, I don't mind beautiful characters as long as it isn't excessively emphasized. In this book, it's as if Eric only loved Kilmeny and wanted to marry her because of it. And his family and friends seemed to approve of her based on her looks! Whenever they were doubtful over the wisdom of the match, Eric said "Wait until you see her", not mentioning Kilmeny's personality. And they were won over at once when they saw her. Ugh.

* I can't say more, but lots of it was rather contrived and predictable. There was only one unexpected conflict. The end was a bit convenient and predictable. This doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of it too much, though

* Neil Gordon, who loved Kilmeny too, was treated as the 'untrustworthy foreigner' because he was Italian and often sulky

* I would have liked to know Kilmeny a weensy bit better. It would have been interesting if Montgomery had alternated between her and Eric's perspectives. But maybe that's because I"m so used to female protagonists in her books...

* There was a little humor, but not as much as in her other books

So, to sum up, this was a sweet, enjoyable story (every reviewer has said that, but there's really no other way to describe the book), with the usual interesting background characters. Love wins the day, and that is always good :). Now, whether it's true love, that's another matter...
This, after The Blue Castle, is the second of LMM's more 'adult' books I've read, and Blue Castle is definitely the better of the two.
All in all, Montgomery's orphan/young girl/ coming of age stories are my favorites. Thinking of them, at the moment, is like thinking of a cold glass of water on a hot day.
I'm definitely not paying $40 for it on Amazon-for the Bantam edition, anyway, which is the cover on this post. It's a beautiful cover, and I'm too stubborn to settle for anything other than that edition. I know, I'm silly, but I set a great deal of store by book covers!

And yes, that means that I do think this book is worth adding to my LMM collection. It's good to read for fans of Montgomery.

Her books always have a haunting effect that gives me a strange ache, especially because of her wonderful descriptions of nature and the effect it can have on us. Except for the part when I met the orchard, Kilmany of the Orchard didn't give me that ache, which both hurts me and enchants me, that I've come to expect from Montgomery.

Pat of Silver Bush next!

Jane of Lantern Hill, by L. M. Montgomery

Rating: 8/10

Jane Stuart has always lived with her mother and grandmother in a mansion on dreary Gay Street, where she never feels at home. Her grandmother is cold and controlling, and Jane's mother, always going out to social gatherings, does not have the backbone to stand up to her; neither does Jane, at first.
This all changes when Jane's father, who has lived apart from his wife for years on P. E. Island, sends for Jane to come see him. Jane has been taught to hate him, but when she visits him she finds everything a father should be. They pick a house together on Lantern Hill, where Jane spends the summers, and it becomes her real home, where she comes alive.

I'm going on a Montgomery spree! I've found several great websites where I can read her books for free!! Because my library does not have them. After the review I will list the sites.

This is a great book! I love the way Jane blossoms when she is living with her father during the summer. He helps make school subjects more interesting and meaningful to Jane, and when she goes back home to the mansion, she has more nerve to stand up to grandmother, and not let her biting remarks hurt her. Jane's natural cooking and housekeeping skills stretch plausibility, and the ending is rather abrupt, but these are very minor grievances.

Montgomery defies the notion that without a definite 'plot', there is no good story. She defies that so well! Especially with her characters that fairly walk off the page. I can just see Jane's grandmother sneering at me, and Jane cooking in the kitchen. The characters in Montgomery's books are the sort that make me expect them to appear before me at any moment.

A recurring theme I see in her books is that imagination is wonderful and can add so much to life, but it can never replace real people and experiences. It was great to see Jane able to feel useful and appreciated. I understand the need to be useful! Sometimes it takes me a bit to get engaged in Montgomery's books, but once I do they make a home in my heart. All the warmth and gorgeous descriptions of nature! Ahhh...wonderful stuff!

Aren't these Bantam editions beautiful?

Up next is Kilmeny of the Orchard.

Here are the sites where I found free Montgomery e-books:

Project Gutenberg

Onread.com

Free-ebooks

Many Books

Another thing- one of my favorite authors, Shannon Hale, posted a great entry in her blog some time ago. It has changed my outlook on reading! You can find it here.