I'm ashamed to admit that I've only read the first Anne book, and that was years ago. I really enjoyed it, and I went on to collect the next three or four in the series. I watched the adaptations and loved them (the first two, anyway...let's not talk about The Continuing Story). But for whatever reason, I never read the rest of the series. Or anything else by L.M. Montgomery, for that matter.
Even though I've only read one of her books so far, L.M. Montgomery feels like an author that I will love. Usually I'm wary of authors who have written dozens of books...it always makes me wonder if their stories are all similar, because how can one person have that many different stories in her head? (I'm no writer, though, so maybe I just don't understand.) But with Montgomery, I'm just in awe of her, because most of her books sound interesting to me.
These beautiful new editions have recently made me even more interested in reading more of her books. They are seriously gorgeous and the covers have such a soft, nice feel. Even the spines are pretty!
So I'm finally going to do it. After I finish rereading Harry Potter, the next series I'm going to tackle will be the Anne of Green Gables series. :)
I suspect that many of you are big fans of L.M. Montgomery, so I'm wondering...which of her books are your favorites? Which do you recommend? The ones I'm currently most interested in are the Anne series and The Blue Castle (obviously, since I own them), plus the Emily books, A Tangled Web (despite the mediocre reviews), and Jane of Lantern Hill.
RILLA OF INGLESIDE! I love (most of) the Anne books, but Rilla's is amazing. Although I must admit that I have a super appreciation for Phil Gordon, who you meet in Anne of the Island...she's one of my all-time favorite characters. :) I really like The Blue Castle, too, although I never fully fell in love with the Emily books. Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea are both really fun short story collections. I didn't care much for the Pat books nor Magic For Marigold, and I haven't read A Tangled Web or Jane of Lantern Hill...I also like Kilmeny of the Orchard, which is short but sweet. Anyway, I love L.M. Montgomery :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendations! :) I forgot to mention it in the post, but I think I own Chronicles of Avonlea, too. It seems like most people prefer the Anne or Emily books to the Pat ones...
Delete"The Blue Castle" is one of my pick-me-up books. It never fails to cheer me up. It's just a pleasant, easy read. I've re-read it several times.
ReplyDeleteI also love the Emily series. As much as I LOVE the Anne series, I sometimes think I enjoy the Emily series a tad more. (Although I do loathe one of the characters, but really.... I think we're supposed to loathe him).
I didn't know about the books with the new cover art! Thanks for sharing that. (I'm a total sucker for a nice book cover).
I'm so excited about reading The Blue Castle. People seem to really love it! :) I'm a sucker for pretty book covers, too. I owned the first four Anne books in ugly, beat-up old copies from Goodwill, so I've been really enjoying collecting these new covers (gradually) to replace my old ones. :) When I buy more of Montgomery's works, I'll definitely be buying them in these editions, too...they're really nice.
DeleteOh! I adore pretty much all of L.M. Montgomery's works ~ the Emily books are wonderful, I love a A Tangled Web, The Blue Castle and all of the Anne books. There are also a heap of her short stories available for free download for the Kindle; they are a really fun to read and some of them you can see where she gleaned ideas from them for her longer books.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, I guess her stories are a little the same, most of them are slice of life, either about children or adults, and they centre around community and family relations. I personally love that they are like this; and I really enjoy the stories. I feel like the characters in all her stories are all so different it's easy to like all of them! ♡
xox,
bonita of Lavender & Twill
Yes, from what I've heard, her books have a similar homey feel, which I think I'll really appreciate. :) I'm glad to hear that you love A Tangled Web...it seems to get pretty mediocre reviews, but I think it sounds interesting!
Deleteshe is one of my favorite authors! I own everything by her, but her Emily series is by far my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading the Emily series! But that will have to wait until after the Anne books, since I already own some of those. :)
DeleteI'm in the same boat, Kristin. I don't think I've ever read the Anne series, which is... ooops. Not good because I adore the entire movie series. What I have heard is The Blue Castle is gorgeous. So I should read that too. Ooo! Those new covers are beauties. I might *need* them. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe movies are so good! Yes, people seem to love The Blue Castle. You definitely need these new covers. Ha. :) At least, that's what I tell myself, too.
DeleteYay! I'm so glad that you're *finally* going to give Anne some attention. ;) Hopefully the books will stand up to all of my gushing. There's nothing as disappointing in the world of books than unmet expectations that were blown out of proportion by a bunch of giddy hype. Although in this case, I'm pretty sure you'll like them. :)
ReplyDeleteI think I own all of L.M. Montgomery's works, but I've held out on reading Jane of Lantern Hill and a couple collections of short stories because I don't want to come to the end of unexplored books. I'm pretty sure that would seem utterly ridiculous to most people, but it gives me a weird sense of satisfaction to know that I still have a couple of unread volumes on my Montgomery shelf to look forward to. :)
The Anne books have always been my favorite (especially Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Rilla of Ingleside, and Anne of Windy Poplars – in that order). Part of their elevated status may come from discovering them first, but I guess I'll never know. :) I also love The Blue Castle, the Emily books, and Kilmeny of the Orchard. The ones I've enjoyed least are A Tangled Web, Magic for Marigold, and the Pat books – they were ok, just not ones that I would likely read again or tend to recommend to anyone other than a die-hard fan. I don't normally like short stories (because they're too... short ;), but I actually like most of Montgomery's.
Yes, I've neglected her for too long. :) From what I remember, I enjoyed the first Anne book, so I'm hoping to like all of them! I know exactly what you mean about still wanting to have a few of her books unread! I'm the same way, except with music, with the Avett Brothers. I still haven't bought a couple of their older albums because I like knowing that I haven't heard all of their music yet. :)
DeleteI had every intention of reading the Anne series first, but now I'm considering sneaking in The Blue Castle first. I could slip it in between some of the Harry Potter books, but if I want to read the Anne series first I have to wait until I finish Harry Potter. Hm...I'm tempted to start The Blue Castle, since I've heard such wonderful things about it, and a stand alone novel sounds really good to me right now! :)