Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery

[Kell]

OK everyone, get out your books and start reading! :readingtwo:

Our choice for August is the children's classic, Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery.

Synopsis:
When Anne Shirley erupts into the Cuthberts's lives, they don't realize how fond they will become of the red-haired orphan. Both entertained and exasperated by her constant chatter and imaginings, they soon find it hard to remember what Green Gables was like without its adopted daughter.

Some questions to consider:
1- Who was your favourite character and why?
2- Was there a particular part you enjoyed/disliked more than the rest?
3- Was this the first book you've read in this genre/by this author, has it encouraged you to read more?
4- Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with?
5- Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience?

(You do not have to answer all, or indeed, any, of these questions, they are meant only as points for you to perhaps mull over as you read, and provoke more discussion. Please feel free to ask and answer any questions that come up as you read.)

Enjoy!

[wrathofkublakhan]

my copy comes with a girls necklace.....


http://www.calarts.edu/%7Edk/tut/anne.jpg

[Kylie]

Very nice, Wrath :mrgreen:

My version is an ebook so I'll be reading it on my iPod. I prefer having a book to hold but I'm going to be a cheapskate :smile2:

Once I finish my current book, I'm hoping to get through Carmilla relatively quickly for the comparative reading circle, then I'll dive in to Anne... I hope I won't be too far behind!

I just noticed that locket is taped to the cover. I hope if you take it off that it won't take half the cover with it! :icon_eek:

[Hazeltree]

I got this years ago and have read it several times. I thought I had all the books in the series but I can only find the first 3 so maybe I just got them from the library.

I really enjoyed all the books - I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[Renniemist]

I have started on Anne of Green Gables and I am really enjoying it.
I had read all the Anne books when I was younger and had thought they were great. :D

[Echo]

I finally got around to starting this book today, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's actually bringing my out of my current reading funk!

What I noticed right off was how much Anne talks. That would normally annoy me, but I sort of found myself enjoying her chatter despite myself, much as Matthew and Marilla do. I'm finding myself really sympathizing with her, although much of what she says (like her complaints about her looks, about wanting to stay with them, etc.) could be taken as an effort to manipulate...sort of like fishing for compliments. But I can see that she's not like that. I've never come across a heroine as earnest as she is. She's about to start her first day of school, and I can't wait to see what happens!

[princessponti]

I disappear for a while, and when I return I find you all reading one of my all time favourites!! :D I'm really looking forward to finding out what you think! I'm glad you're enjoying it Echo and Renniemist :)

I love Anne and her world, I love the way she talks and the romance of her soul - I wish my copy was out of storage!!

[Kylie]

I finished reading Anne of Green Gables a few days ago, and I'm going to cheat and copy part of my post verbatim from my reading list:

I found Anne to be a simply enchanting character, and wise beyond her years. I love her way of looking at things, and the pleasure that she takes in everyday things that other people would take for granted. I especially like that she didn't lose that aspect of herself when certain events took place.

[Kell]

I read this whilst away on holiday and have to say I found it absolutely enchanting! Although if I'd met Anne in person, I possibly would have found her constant chatter highly annoying, she has such a sunny and positive disposition that I think she's pretty much impossible to dislike! Watching her overcome obstacles and achieve goals, all with a smile on her face and a wonderful adventure on her mind, was some of the most fun reading I've had in a very long while.

There was quite a lot about the story that I could predict far, far in advance, but I simply didn't care - I wanted to read on anyway and was rather sad to finish it in the end!

[Princess Orchid]

As someone who went to school in Canada, this book was definately on all our reading lists! I have to say, it's been a few years since I last picked this one up, but I do remember enjoying it at the time. I found the Anne series to be appropriate for children as well as adult readers, but tbh, I preferred the later (?) Avonlea books, which were probably aimed towards older readers.

[chocolategal]

I love anna of green gables, but i dint read for this. Because i had only just finished it at the end of july!!

[wrathofkublakhan]

Why, I think I'll order me up a child tomorrow. Might help around the farm some...

[Echo]

Why, I think I'll order me up a child tomorrow. Might help around the farm some...

LOL! I love how they act almost as if they're ordering a takeout meal or something. "Matthew, call the orphanage, I'm in the mood for a child this evening." :lol:

[lovesreading06]

I really enjoying this book. At the beginner of it you think how selfish she is for wanting a boy and wanting to send the girl back.

Mrs Lynade shoun't of said she was ugly looking either.

The confession time when she was told to confress to something she hadn't did.Then made a lie so she could get to pinic then she coun't then Marilla finds it in the sawing room. Thank god she was able to get the pinci. I thought Marilla was very unfair in that chapter

[maclsj]

I managed to read my first reading circle book! Yay!

At first I found the book slow and a little irritating but I did get into it and found it very enjoyable and sweet. It's the sort of thing you read on a wet autumn afternoon with a mug of hot chocolate. I'll definitely be saving the next book for later in the year (although the weather lately is such that I may end up reading it soon!). I would definitely recommend this to others to at least try.

[SteffieB]

I really enjoyed this book..but at first was put off by the very un-PCness of it. Marilla made a comment in the very beginning about the local French boys, and this is an area that purged itself of the French, who later settled in Louisiana. It's a little like Mark Twain that way, or any book, really, from a different era, I guess. And in other ways it was a lot more modern, with the celebration of Anne's intelligence and her pursuit of knowledge.

Anne's dreaminess and imagination really appealed to me. This book took a surprisingly long time for me to read, too. When I told a friend I was reading this, he said he had watched tv programs when he was a kid -- anybody remember these? I have never seen them! And several people have told me they visited Green Gables, too.

[lovesreading06]

I felt sorry for anne when she made diane drunk. Marilla did say it was in the sitting room closet. She wasn't allowed to see dianne because mrs barry and mr barry thought she got her drunk on purpose. Which i thought was mean. This might sound nasry but i glad minne may was ill and anne could help. So Mr and Mrs barry know she could trust her. When the cake mistake happened. Marilla should of told anne. How was anne to know that wasn't best vanilla but anodyne liniment. I glad they forgive her.

I really wish she should of forgive Gilbert. He did reascure her from the river. I was so happy when she passed her exams

Its one of those books where you feel you been there watching her grow up.

[FishAndChips]

I have now started this and I must say I am really enjoying it, even though I was a little dubious. It's a very heartening little book so far. I'm not that far in yet so I can't really comment much but I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.

[lovesreading06]

1- Who was your favourite character? Anne

2- Was there a particular part you enjoyed more than the rest?Getting the puffed sleeves.

3- Was this the first book you've read in this genre/ by this author, has it encouraged you to read more?
Yes it was and i defintly want to read more of her books.

4- Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with?
Not really struggled I thought there were quite spiteful wanting to send her back to get a boy.


5- Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience? Yes i felt i was there watching it all happen.



Thanks chocolategal for even putting this book down on the list. ( i looked back to see the preveious theard but august is missing) I wanting to find out who it was that suggested the book. Just to say thanks because it been a brilliant book. i'm pretty sure it was you but not 100%.

[Echo]

I'll try answering some of these questions now...

1. Who was your favorite character and why? I think it was Matthew. In his own quiet way, he paved the way for Anne's happiness. I think he was her truest friend in the entire book.

2. Was there a particular part you enjoyed/disliked more than the rest? I really enjoyed the episode of the haunted woods, in which Anne ends up scaring herself with her too-vivid imagination.

3. Was this the first book you've read in this genre/by this author, has in encouraged you to read more? This was the first book I read by this author, and after reading it, I would like to read an unabridged version of this story, and read the later books. Anne is a character I want to know more about!

4. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? I thought Anne was going a bit too far in her grudge against Gilbert. After a while, it was like, "enough already!"

5. Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience? Definitely, yes! I absolutely devoured this book. After I was finished, by boyfriend actually welcomed me back to the real world.:lol: While I was reading, everything else went away, and I felt like I was transported to a different place.

[Kylie]

I thought Anne was going a bit too far in her grudge against Gilbert. After a while, it was like, "enough already!"


:mrgreen: I agree Echo. I would have expected a couple of weeks or months but I think by the end it had been a few years! I can't wait to read the following books to see what happens between them.

[wrathofkublakhan]

<snip>
3. Was this the first book you've read in this genre/by this author, has in encouraged you to read more? This was the first book I read by this author, and after reading it, I would like to read an unabridged version of this story, and read the later books. Anne is a character I want to know more about!
</snip>


I know I could look this up, but this is a forum!

What exactly is unabridged?
Does this mean it was edited from the original? And why would anyone do that to a classic? Or am I just guessing? Do I know the answer? No I don't! Help!

[Echo]

I know I could look this up, but this is a forum!

What exactly is unabridged?
Does this mean it was edited from the original? And why would anyone do that to a classic? Or am I just guessing? Do I know the answer? No I don't! Help!

My version of Anne of Green Gables was an abridged version, which means that it had some parts cut out to make it shorter. By unabridged, I mean that I want an un-edited, original version of the book. I don't know why publishers do this, but I do know that my version was called a Children's Classic. Maybe they thought the unedited version was too long and dense for children.

[wrathofkublakhan]

My version of Anne of Green Gables was an abridged version, which means that it had some parts cut out to make it shorter. By unabridged, I mean that I want an un-edited, original version of the book. I don't know why publishers do this, but I do know that my version was called a Children's Classic. Maybe they thought the unedited version was too long and dense for children.

Thanks Echo. I guess it's like The Princess Bride where he only read the good parts.
I remember my teacher in grade school reading a story called Little Britches (http://www.amazon.com/Little-Britches-Ralph-Moody/dp/0553200909) to us while we rested. I loved that story. I finally found it in the library and checked it out - it had swear words! My teacher had artfully read it for us to our age level and it was a wonderful story.
Some part of me thinks that no book should be edited unless it is the actual writer - but I guess it happens!

[Kylie]

Does this mean it was edited from the original? And why would anyone do that to a classic?

Because there are some barbaric people in the world! I don't think I've ever read an abridged version of a book before. I'm sure I would always be wondering what had been left out. And who are the publishers to decide what is and isn't important to the reader?

I saw a book club show on telly once where a woman mentioned she was listening to an abridged audio version of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (which, if you haven't heard of it, is a novel of 7 volumes and is exceptionally long). Having read the entire novel before, she was disappointed to find one of her favourite parts missing in the audio!

Anyway, <ahem>, back on topic now.

[wrathofkublakhan]

<snip>

Anyway, <ahem>, back on topic now.</snip>

(cough), yeah.
Anne is such a great book. I think book two is her college years - has anyone read that? I so love her, dare I say 'plucky' attitude, and a woman in college in that era is bound to be fun.

[Renniemist]

I'll try answering some of these questions now...



4. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? I thought Anne was going a bit too far in her grudge against Gilbert. After a while, it was like, "enough already!"

.

I think Anne’s grudge against Gilbert irritated me more reading it now than it did when I read this book as a child. Then I thought that it was perfectly justified. So I suppose it may depend on what age you are when you read the book.

I have read all the Anne books and from what I can remember the next book is Anne of Avonlea. I am going to read all of them again and if I am right Anne of Avonlea was very funny.

[princessponti]

I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed ready Anne :) it makes me all warm on the inside! I love her, I find her a really inspirational character, to maintain her uniqueness throughout.

I love the Anne/Gilbert story. I grew up with the tv series and grew into the books in later life; her life is like a warm blanket to me.

[Kylie]

Princess Ponti, I was looking at (and drooling over) the whole series of Anne... books in a shop the other day. I might wait until after Christmas and buy a few during the sales :mrgreen:

I only read an ebook version this year so it would be lovely to own my own copy. Have you read the entire series?

[princessponti]

I've got them all on my bookshelf in my bedroom (where I keep my warm fuzzy books) - I was really lucky to find the whole lot together in a charity shop. I read them all quite a while ago so they are due to be picked up again - let me know if you get anymore and we could read them together!! :)

[EshInoBi]

I took it out of the library, I had just watched an old movie of it, so I thought it would be an interesting read. When I saw the length of the book, I didn't think it would be worth it to read it, seeing as how the movie turned out. Would it have been worth it?

[Kylie]

I would highly recommend reading the book. I don't think it's really that long and it's very entertaining. It is followed on as a series of books, with Anne growing up and having children. I plan on reading them all eventually - I loved Anne of Green Gables :mrgreen:

Welcome to the forum!

[lovesreading06]

I would say read it.

[miss_m_c_r]

I read it, I thought it was going to be long and boring too. It is actually a very interesting read?!;)

[EshInoBi]

Okay then, I will try it. I was about to return it tomorrow, but no I have another book to read. :readingtwo:

[Sarahrob]

Why, I think I'll order me up a child tomorrow. Might help around the farm some...


:lol: Fantastic!!!

I read this only last month. I was extremely bored in work and Project Gutenberg was calling, so I read this, Daddy Long Legs, Clover (follow-up to What Katy Did) and another one whose name escapes me... Cricket? Something along those lines. Astonishingly, I had managed to get to the age of 33 without reading Anne of Green Gables.

I loved the book, but I do think that Anne was a bit of a drama queen. In real life I'd have probably hung around with Gilbert just to get away from her.:mrgreen:

[cdid]

Hi. I'm new here. so I thought I'd post something on this thread. :)
I have read five books from the Anne of Green Gables series when I was in high school and I love them all, although my favourites are the first three. I used to love Anne so much that I signed myself as 'Anne's friend' whenever I'd write letters or notes to my sisters and friends :mrgreen: (this is back in high school of course).