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Have many of you read the Anne of Green Gables books?

27 replies

MsAmerica · 15/09/2018 21:16

I've read the first five, but have never seen any filmed version. I was reading this article apropos of a Netflix version and was surprised - and dismayed - to find that Lucy Maud Montgomery had a horribly unhappy life.

The Other Side of Anne of Green Gables
By Willa Paskin

www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/magazine/the-other-side-of-anne-of-green-gables.html

OP posts:
Efferlunt · 15/09/2018 21:31

I loved these books but loose interest as she grew up. Was discussing this with a friend ages ago. Her theory was that the author really understood what it was like to be a young girl but not grown up and married. Sorry to hear she had such a sad life.

spinabifidamom · 15/09/2018 23:45

I discussed them with my friends at school. I first started to read them as a 12/13 year old girl but I recently reread them for the first time in years. I apparently had a set of them in a box somewhere in my apartment which I forgot about. It was interesting to learn about how people used to live. It was a walk down memory lane for sure.

Someone got me a set for Christmas once.

highlandcoo · 15/09/2018 23:55

I've only read the first one but have read it many times. Not for ages though. I was a little girl with bright red hair and really identified with Anne!

My copy is very old as my mum was given it as a Sunday school prize back in 1933.

Must dig it out from the loft and have a reread.

Blameanamechange · 16/09/2018 00:02

I watched it on tv and loved it. It seemed so idyllic. A pity she had a sad life.

Almostfifty · 27/09/2018 22:56

I've read them all many times. My favourite is Rilla of Ingleside. The pathos of her writing it thinking they'd lived through the 'war to end all wars' and not knowing about WWII always gets to me.

ILoveDolly · 27/09/2018 22:57

I love Rilla too!

2slicesoftoast · 27/09/2018 23:00

I've read them all. And watched the films / series. The Netflix Anne with an E is least close to the stories but closest to the actual reality, I think.
As a child / teen I read with romantic eyes. After DD was born I read them again, and they made me sad.

WhistlerGrey · 27/09/2018 23:01

Yes - all of them many times. But Emily of New Moon was my favourite.

RyvitaBrevis · 27/09/2018 23:21

I also read the first five (in the chronology of Anne’s story), and I’m glad I stopped where I did, before the spectre of WWI loomed over Anne’s children. And like you I was distressed to find out a couple of years ago just how unhappy LM Montgomery’s life was, the speculation about her suicide, etc. It has changed how I see the books but I still love Anne and Gilbert’s story, and Anne’s literary ambitions and how they change over time.

I also enjoyed the short story anthologies that were published later, especially - ‘Akin to Anne’ and ‘Along the Shore.’ And the Megan Follows TV mini-series is worth watching. Haven’t seen the Netflix series.

There are a couple of users around here with AOGG references in the name.

yellowplumpreserves · 27/09/2018 23:25

Yes! Love them (and am one of the users with a reference in my name). Love the first once most but some of the others are great too. There is a lovely humour on them and they seem very real. I love how you seem to really get to know the characters. People like Rachel Lynde are so believable, and I’m sure many of us have have met people who are similar to many of the characters.

BayTrees · 27/09/2018 23:28

I've read at least some. I've read at least the first few several times and seen the Megan Fellows TV series but I don't remember the layer volumes. I have my aunt's complete set. Some in original dust jackets and at least 1 is a war edition
I guess she must have loved them to save them and eventually pass them on to my mum for me as she didn't have children. I must reread them!

shaggedthruahedgebackwards · 27/09/2018 23:29

I adore the AoGG books

I discovered them when I was around 12 and the Megan Fellows adaptation was shown on TV

I read all the books and then read them all again when I was in my mid 20s

I have AoGG on my Kindle too and read a chapter here and there as comfort reading

I don't know much about LMM

A trip to Prince Edward Island is on my bucket list

Dottierichardson · 28/09/2018 07:24

I read them a long time ago and I saw the Megan Fellows adaptation too, which is my favourite so far, even though the later ones depart considerably from the books. Colleen Dewhurst is so brilliant as Marilla. I tried to read the 'Emily' books when Virago reissued them recently but found them far too ornate and 'flowery', so don't dare go back to the Anne stories in case the style annoys me now.

Callmecordelia · 28/09/2018 07:29

One of the mumsnetters with Anne of Green Gables usernames signing in....

Happyandshiney · 28/09/2018 07:43

I loved them as a child and I’m reading them with my DD. We’re on book 4.

Everincreasingfrequency · 28/09/2018 07:44

Only read the first one - no staying power! That interview is really interesting - the focus on Anne's previous life, and the sadness of her being an orphan.

If Anne was 11 at the beginning of the book, that would have meant she was doing her previous 'jobs' at such a young age - presumably that was the norm at the time?

BertrandRussell · 28/09/2018 07:48

I have them all on my iPad in case I'm ever stranded anywhere. They've saved me in many broken down train/waiting for late child/hospital waiting room scenarios.

explodingkitten · 28/09/2018 08:28

For people wanting to read the article: only the last two or three paragraphs are about the author. The other zillion paragraphs are about why you should watch the netflix series (or not, in my case).

MayFayner · 28/09/2018 08:31

Yes! I’ve also been to Prince Edward Island, seen the musical and everything 😂

Happyandshiney · 28/09/2018 09:34

I’d love to visit PEI - was it worth it May?

Peridot1 · 28/09/2018 09:37

Loved these when I was younger. I think I read them all. Must re read.

MayFayner · 28/09/2018 09:49

happy yes, it’s absolutely beautiful there and I would go back like a shot. Anne of GG wasn’t actually our first reason for visiting (we were on a cycling tour around the island) but she was a very close second, as DD was about 8 at the time.

Gorgeous place. The earth really is red thereSmile We went around the end of August and we got bitten alive by mosquitoes but that was the only downer to an otherwise amazing trip.

prettygreywalls · 28/09/2018 10:04

I loved these books and avidly read them as a child although I must confess I can't really remember much about what happened in them

peachgreen · 28/09/2018 10:37

I've read them all a zillion times and could practically recite them off by heart. As a romantic, Anne of the Island and Anne's House of Dreams are my favourites but Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea are the best ones. Rilla of Ingleside was a return to form, imo, though awfully sad. I will always have a soft spot for them. The bit in House of Dreams where Gilbert introduces Anne as "my wife" and it says "it was the first time Gilbert had said 'my wife' to anyone but Anne, and he narrowly escaped bursting with the pride of it" is swoon-inducingly lovely. Aww.

Hated the Netflix adaptation. Anne is all wrong.

Peridot1 · 28/09/2018 10:44

I just had a look on Amazon and got a complete LM Montgomery Ultimate Collection for 49p!

It seems to have everything she ever wrote. Not sure what it will be like but for 49p I thought it was worth a go!