Anne of Green Gables - I have questions

[drspouse]

So, I'm listening to this on Sleepy Bookshelf.
I really like it, having not read it as a child, and I'm wondering:
Are all the others worth reading?
What order do they come in? The listed order doesn't seem to match up with the dates.
And very important:
What kind of currants went into the currant wine? Because I understood that blackcurrants were banned in North America. Or is that recent? Or are these redcurrants?

"The first series of the Netflix adaptation (Anne with an E) offers fascinating insights into how aspects of Anne's character are linked to trauma."

I only watched the first season, but agree and thought it was an interesting adaptation in that respect.

@ArabeI

Oh, the Blue Castle, and Valancy! I'd forgotten that was one of LMM's.

I recall, similar to a pp, that as a child I was disappointed in the more staid, married Anne in the later books; recall some jealousy of Christine, which for some reason stood out amongst the examples.

But remember queenly Christine has got fat, while Anne’s moment of jealousy sparks her into flushed, green-eyed beauty, even wearing a black dress that doesn’t suit her.., 😀

Which is the one where student-age Anne randomly decides to chloroform the cat? And then fails to do it and equally randomly cherishes the non-murdered moggy instead?

@FebruaryRainandSleet that must have been Anne of the Island, that is the one where she is at college and sharing a house with other girls.

@FebruaryRainandSleet

Which is the one where student-age Anne randomly decides to chloroform the cat? And then fails to do it and equally randomly cherishes the non-murdered moggy instead?

Isn’t it her friend Phil (Phyll?) who does the chloroforming? Or rather doesn’t?

Yes, it is Anne of the Island!

"But remember queenly Christine has got fat, while Anne’s moment of jealousy sparks her into flushed, green-eyed beauty, even wearing a black dress that doesn’t suit her.., "

Yes! There was also something about Christine and Dogs, Anne and Gilbert found amusing. I think she may have bred dogs, labradors, or something like that.

@ArabeI

"But remember queenly Christine has got fat, while Anne’s moment of jealousy sparks her into flushed, green-eyed beauty, even wearing a black dress that doesn’t suit her.., "

Yes! There was also something about Christine and Dogs, Anne and Gilbert found amusing. I think she may have bred dogs, labradors, or something like that.

Dobermans, I think.

I re-read the whole series this past summer. It was such a joy, they have aged so well. The language is beautiful (writers then had much higher expectations of a child’s vocabulary then they do today!) Anne’s House of Dreams and Rilla of Ingleside will always make me cry.

I’ve been re-reading them on fadedpage.com and just started Rilla. Just thinking how strange it seems now that in those days, it was normal for 17-year-olds to be teachers.

And being teachers of their very recent peers! It shows such differences in the authority imbued in adults generally. She was the teacher, she was an adult and so ‘Miss Shirley’ and expectations were that students would respond accordingly. I could not imagine in modern times having to go in and teach kids that were barely a year below me in school, and had known me in school.

I think when Laura Ingalls Wilder first taught school aged 15 (the minimum age was 16 but they needed someone, she was top of her class and the superintendent turned a blind eye) she had pupils who were older than her. I found my first prac class of 6 year olds scary enough and I was in my 30’s.

House of Dreams always bothers me because Anne was so ambitious. She loved hard work and setting goals for herself, and then along comes the opportunity to write a great novel, Captain Jim's life book, and she just says she can't do it. Gilbert even suggests she do it and she tells him she wouldn't be able to. This is the girl who came top of the Queens list and carried off all those scholarships, but no, better get a man (Owen Ford) to write the proper book. Gutting. I know Avril's Atonement wasn't great writing, but you'd have thought she could have matured into a good writer.

I do find it interesting though that in Anne of Ingleside, Christine makes a bit of a snide comment about her having given up her writing to have children. Shows LMM was very conscious of that choice.

That was one thing I liked about the ending of the latest Little Women film. That the story only included Jo getting married because her publisher insisted on it.

@EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn

That was one thing I liked about the ending of the latest Little Women film. That the story only included Jo getting married because her publisher insisted on it.

And by the time of Jo's Boys, Jo is a truly successful author. Maybe that's one reason Montgomery didn't go down that route with Anne, because Jo March - who'd been really serious about writing all her life - had already been done?

@ErrolTheDragon
No, it wasn't that, in the New Moon series, Emily is quite successful in her writing.

I don't think Anne ever had a huge drive to write either. In the Emily series, she must write, she keeps a diary throughout etc. and is very passionate about it, Anne never was. Yes Anne was good at English and school essays, short fanciful pieces etc. but I don't think she ever could have been a 'great' writer.

I don't think there's any reason why Anne couldn't have written Captain Jim's Lifebook but Anne and Gilbert, like LMM, are both Conservatives and conservative. It would be a massive jump out of her allotted role to focus on writing a major book. Remember that Anne could only go and see Captain Jim after she'd finished putting her house of dreams into immaculate order 'befitting one trained by Marilla' or thereabouts. Gilbert is always worrying about her doing too much (ie non-home things), but never worrying about her having more babies.

I've just come to hang out with some kindred spirits. Anne of the Island is my favourite too. I love the female friendships and the everyday episodes and re-read them regularly. Haven't managed to make DD (13) fall in love with them yet though, but she loves Anne with an E.

I always felt Anne was more interested in people than in writing. She’s much more sociable than Emily, always manages to fit in but didn’t belong anywhere in her early life. She enjoyed her education and teaching but she also seems very happy being busy in her nice house and with lots of children and hearing all the happenings in her community.

I also think the loss she had also really solidified her desire for a family. Everything had been just wonderful after an appalling early childhood, and then the rug pulled out from under her with Joyce. Once she had Jem she really had what she wanted and locking herself away to write would’ve taken her away from it (I think she ended up with more kids than Diana, who had quite a head start. But Diana, as a Barry of Avonlea, didn’t need to build her own family). As Mrs Dr Blythe of Glen St Mary, Anne finally really truly belonged.

In more modern times I totally see Anne having a very interesting career, but it wasn’t the passion for one that Emily had in an era when it wasn’t a thing. If Emily had children at all I expect no more than 2.

Why were blackcurrants banned?

I’m going to have to read all the Anne books. I read Anne of Green Gables as a little girl but I found Anne a little bit irritating.

The descriptions of the countryside are just beautiful, though.

@RonCarlos

Why were blackcurrants banned?

foodtolive.com/healthy-blog/black-currants-banned-usa/

@tcjotm I wouldn't want to be Emily's kid, would you? I love the books but she is too self contained. It would be like being parented by a distant star.

@RonCarlos

Why were blackcurrants banned?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcurrant_production_in_the_United_States

To protect the timber industry,

The ban was after the Anne books started so they were probably still around then. Also, that was a US ban, not Canadian, though it seems popularity in Canada waned too, which is understandable. It’d hardly make you popular with your neighbours.

@ThePlantsitter me neither! I really don’t think she’d likely want kids at all anyway but she seemed very in to Teddy and without reliable contraception back then, some kids were probably inevitable 😂