![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thematical!
So! Here's another poll!
A clarification about the last question: when I say, "Who is your L.M. Montgomery?" I mean: which author do you love ridiculously much, their writing has become a part of you, you enjoy even their lesser works, and you can see their weaknesses clearly but they just don't matter in the face of your love?
Who is your favorite non-Anne heroine?
Emily
5 (41.7%)
Valancy
4 (33.3%)
Pat
0 (0.0%)
Rilla
2 (16.7%)
Kilmeny
0 (0.0%)
Jane of Lantern Hill
0 (0.0%)
Sarah, the Story Girl
1 (8.3%)
Marigold ( I just realized I have never read Magic for Marigold????)
0 (0.0%)
Which romance is the most satisfying?
Anne/Gilbert
1 (9.1%)
Emily/Teddy
0 (0.0%)
Valancy/Barney (this is the correct answer)
7 (63.6%)
Rilla/Ken
1 (9.1%)
Isle/Perry
1 (9.1%)
Pat/Hilary
0 (0.0%)
Kilmeny/Eric
0 (0.0%)
Phil/Rev. Jonas
1 (9.1%)
Leslie/Owen
0 (0.0%)
Another one I forgot
0 (0.0%)
Which house would you most want to live in?
Green Gables
1 (8.3%)
New Moon
0 (0.0%)
The Blue Castle
0 (0.0%)
Ingleside
2 (16.7%)
Anne's House of Dreams
0 (0.0%)
The Disappointed House
2 (16.7%)
Lantern Hill
0 (0.0%)
Silver Bush
0 (0.0%)
Miss Lavendar's house (this is the correct answer)
1 (8.3%)
The little cottage Anne & her friends live in when they're at Redmond (this is the other correct answer)
6 (50.0%)
Which of Anne's same-age friends is your favorite?
Diana
3 (27.3%)
Ruby
0 (0.0%)
Jane
1 (9.1%)
Priscilla
1 (9.1%)
Stella
1 (9.1%)
Phil
4 (36.4%)
Leslie
1 (9.1%)
Katherine Brooke
0 (0.0%)
Which of Anne's older lady friends is your favorite? (Marilla doesn't count!)
Miss Lavendar
4 (36.4%)
Miss Cornelia
2 (18.2%)
Miss Stacy
1 (9.1%)
Susan Baker
1 (9.1%)
Aunt Jimsie
0 (0.0%)
Rachel Lynde
3 (27.3%)
One Lauren somehow managed to forget
0 (0.0%)
Which of Anne's younger friends is your favorite?
Davy
2 (20.0%)
Dora
1 (10.0%)
Paul
0 (0.0%)
Little Elizabeth
2 (20.0%)
Charlotta the Fourth
5 (50.0%)
One Lauren somehow managed to forget
0 (0.0%)
Which book that has not been adapted most needs to be adapted?
The Blue Castle
5 (41.7%)
Rilla of Ingleside
3 (25.0%)
One of the other books about Anne
1 (8.3%)
Emily's books
3 (25.0%)
Pat's books
0 (0.0%)
The Story Girl books
0 (0.0%)
Magic for Marigold
0 (0.0%)
A Tangled Web
0 (0.0%)
Kilmeny of the Orchard
0 (0.0%)
One Lauren didn't mention
0 (0.0%)
Which book that isn't Anne of Green Gables is your fave/the one you reread most/the one that is YOURS?
A different Anne book
3 (27.3%)
An Emily book
3 (27.3%)
The Blue Castle
4 (36.4%)
Rilla of Ingleside specifically
1 (9.1%)
A Pat book
0 (0.0%)
The Tangled Web
0 (0.0%)
A collection of short stories
0 (0.0%)
One of the others Lauren didn't mention
0 (0.0%)
Lauren, I do not read this author
0 (0.0%)
Lauren, I do not read this author and I don't get your ~thing~ for her
0 (0.0%)
Whether you've read one book or all, how do you feel about L.M. Montgomery's writings?
I have never read any of her books
0 (0.0%)
I have never read any of her books but I keep meaning to
0 (0.0%)
I hate them
0 (0.0%)
Meh. Not for me.
0 (0.0%)
They're fine
0 (0.0%)
They're good but not great
1 (8.3%)
I used to like/love them but I outgrew them
3 (25.0%)
They're lovely! Nostalgic delights!
3 (25.0%)
She's one of my favorite authors and I LOVE her work, even if I can see her weaknesses
4 (33.3%)
Some other opinion Lauren didn't think of
1 (8.3%)
Which character that Lauren headcanons as WLW do you think should have been textually queer?
Anne
7 (58.3%)
Diana
4 (33.3%)
Phil
3 (25.0%)
Miss Lavendar
3 (25.0%)
Emily
3 (25.0%)
Isle
2 (16.7%)
Cissy Gay
2 (16.7%)
Pat
1 (8.3%)
Miss Cornelia
3 (25.0%)
Another character Lauren forgot
3 (25.0%)
Who is your L.M. Montgomery?
no subject
I put Terry Pratchett as my answer to who my LMM is, though I don't think he fills quite the same niche for me. He was deeply, enormously influential upon me as a young person and I read and reread him endlessly such that his style of writing feels Right to me whenever I read it, and I love the things he was doing while recognizing his weaknesses, but I don't actually feel the need to reread him much at all these days. He was what I needed as a teen and I'm endlessly grateful and have a huge love for him and his works, but his books are no longer The Thing for me these days.
Upon further reflection I think my actual answer may be "LMM but ONLY for The Blue Castle," lol!
no subject
Oooh, super interested! Do you mind sharing which ones?
She does indeed cover a whole range for you! :D
but I don't actually feel the need to reread him much at all these days. He was what I needed as a teen and I'm endlessly grateful and have a huge love for him and his works, but his books are no longer The Thing for me these days.
That makes a lot of sense.
I often wonder if the reason I feel lukewarm about Pratchett is because I discovered him too late. I didn't try to read the first book of his until I was in my mid-20s and by that time, I had reached the point where I just...don't enjoy reading humorous books. I mean, every now and then I'll pick up some Wodehouse to enjoy his prose stylings (particularly in dialogue), but I just can't take books with a comic tone seriously. And I need to be able to take a book seriously to love it.
(Some of my favorites can be funny--I think Jane Austen can be hysterical, for instance, but that's not the overall tone of her books.)
Upon further reflection I think my actual answer may be "LMM but ONLY for The Blue Castle," lol!
It is a book that is truly worthy of that devotion! Did you hear there's an adaptation in production? I haven't heard enough about it yet to know whether to be excited or horrified.
no subject
Oh yeah, it's the Anne books that are about either her or her kids when they're children; I understand they involve a lot of hijinks and people getting into scrapes and making embarrassing mistakes, and I would simply perish of second-hand embarrassment. I avoided the entire Anne series for years after an aborted attempt at reading the first book, but a few years ago I realized I could just skip those books and read only the ones that feature adult characters, and was then able to appreciate at least half the Anne series in the end.
I often wonder if the reason I feel lukewarm about Pratchett is because I discovered him too late.
I think that's very possible. He may well be one of those authors you have to hit at the right age to really fall in love with.
but I just can't take books with a comic tone seriously. And I need to be able to take a book seriously to love it.
Oh fascinating! I think that one of the things Pratchett taught me is that a comic tone can be used to say very serious things, and the one doesn't negate the other, and indeed one can highlight the other in a really amazing way. I think that kind of juxtaposition can be powerful! Now, not all of his books ARE saying serious things, to be clear, but sometimes they really are, and I love how his tone interacts with the serious/comic combination.
Actually, now that I think about it, this might be what I'm currently enjoying so much about Scum Villain's Self-Saving System fandom, my current obsession. It is inherently very funny and very silly, and it is through the humour that the hearts of the characters are accessed. Not a lot of fandoms are about stories that do that, and it really speaks to me!
Did you hear there's an adaptation in production? I haven't heard enough about it yet to know whether to be excited or horrified.
oh huh, I wonder if they were just waiting for the book to go public domain to start working on an adaptation! I really hope it's good, but I am not going to hold my breath on that. Though I have so much investment in this book and in my interpretations that I have, I think, very reasonable concerns that I will argue with the adaptation no matter what it does, lol.
no subject
I really want to be able to appreciate Pratchett and I just...can't! It feels like a personal failing, like my inability to appreciate 95% of jazz. All the cool people (within my very narrow, personal definition of cool) love these things! Why can't I??? I taught myself to like hot tea by sheer force of will, but it seems I can't do the same with art that I don't connect with!
I really hope it's good, but I am not going to hold my breath on that. Though I have so much investment in this book and in my interpretations that I have, I think, very reasonable concerns that I will argue with the adaptation no matter what it does, lol.
I feel similarly. I think there could be a really fantastic adaptation, but I think it's unlikely to happen. (See also: The Thief, which I think could absolutely be an incredible film, but is almost certainly not to be.)
no subject
I think that different types of embarrassment affect people in different ways, so we might both be sensitive but to slightly different situations? At any rate I'm glad yours doesn't interfere with your ability to enjoy the Anne books, given how important LMM is to you!
I taught myself to like hot tea by sheer force of will, but it seems I can't do the same with art that I don't connect with!
haha I feel you! I think when I was younger and had less experience with the different kinds of books in the world, I was able to use sheer force of will (eg with Jane Austen. I tried Pride & Prejudice, gave up 100 pages in. Tried Sense & Sensibility, gave up 2 pages in. Tried P&P again, made it to the end, was like "I guess I can see why it's well-regarded but it's not for me." Tried P&P AGAIN, and loved it.) but at this point I don't think that works for me anymore because at this point the issue is highly unlikely to be that I just don't know how to read that kind of book yet!
(and I also taught myself to like tea through sheer force of will! I was like, in social situations one is often offered tea or coffee and it's Weird to refuse both, so I need to learn one, and coffee is the more appalling to my tastes whereas tea is just boring, so let me learn to drink tea! and it worked. I did the same thing with wine, lol.)
And seriously, no pressure to like Terry Pratchett, I may love him but I can absolutely see how he wouldn't be for everyone!
See also: The Thief, which I think could absolutely be an incredible film, but is almost certainly not to be.
ohhhhhhhhh YEAH
no subject
I get that. I definitely feel like I learned to read in a different way when I was an undergrad English major, and that had I read some of those books before then, I would have hated them, but now I think they're great.
I was like, in social situations one is often offered tea or coffee and it's Weird to refuse both, so I need to learn one, and coffee is the more appalling to my tastes whereas tea is just boring, so let me learn to drink tea! and it worked.
Me too! Though my train of thought was, "Coffee is not great for you and also you can get addicted to it, so tea it is!"
I have this fantasy in my head of a gorgeously (hand-drawn) animated film of The Thief. It is perfect. It will also never come to be.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Also, didn’t Sullivan do a TV adaptation of the Emily books after Road to Avonlea? No clue what it’s like in terms of quality though!
no subject
He did, but I haven't seen it and it has no current cultural presence, so I'm ignoring it!
no subject
But The Blue Castle??? YOU WOULD LOVE IT! I also think you'd really enjoy Anne of the Island, which is about Anne at university with her friends. And my girl Emily.
no subject
And I have to say, based on that description now I’m really curious about the Pat books, hahaha. Morbid fascination!
no subject
no subject
no subject
Yeah, they're more used bookstore/old library copy books. Perhaps you will stumble upon them at some point!
LMM very clearly had emotional disorders throughout her life (definitely depression, probably anxiety) and her husband had it even worse. She really knew this stuff up close. (And, I believe, committed suicide as a result.) The fact that she's able to render joy and hope so beautifully is a testament to her strength.
no subject
Poor LMM. :( I get the sense that often people who feel great pain and sadness regularly are also more carefully attuned to the opposite emotions. It kinda reminds me of how so many people in entertainment, particularly comics, often have anxiety and/or depression.
no subject
I get the sense that often people who feel great pain and sadness regularly are also more carefully attuned to the opposite emotions.
Yeah...
no subject
I remember being annoyed at the time by the Anne's-wacky-kids books, but I do think Rilla of Ingleside would be interesting source material for an adaptation, just because we may have more appetite for an appropriately dark look at World War I than was available at the time.
I don't think I have an author I love as much as you love LMM, although Louise Fitzhugh might come close (speaking of canonically queer, I'm sure someone out there has written adult lesbian Beth Ellen fic) and then there's Celine, a book no one has heard of now, but I imprinted upon it so hard I'm afraid to reread it now for fear of being disillusioned.
no subject
I love this!
(I see your Isle/Perry vote! At least, I'm assuming that's you! A good choice!)
Anne of Ingleside is definitely one of the weaker books and not one that I revisit much at all. I'm not even sure that Rainbow Valley should be counted in the Anne series since it's really about other people's kids (also not one I revisit). But yeah, I think Rilla is such an interesting text, doing things that I haven't seen in other places, and I do think the time is right for it now.
Ah, Harriet the Spy! That's the only one of hers I read, but I love that for you! And the author was a lesbian, wasn't she?
I have indeed not heard of that one, but I am intrigued! Sometimes it really is best to just keep something pure and shining in our memories instead of revisiting it.
no subject
She was! There's a biography that's come out about her in the last year or so, titled Sometimes You Have to Lie. There were stylistic choices that annoyed me about it, namely my feeling that the author labored overmuch to establish Fitzhugh's importance in the larger culture, but I think you'd enjoy reading it (especially since Fitzhugh was in part rebelling against a inward-focused Tennessee family that had a hard time accepting her).
And yes, that was totally me on the Ilse/Perry train. In retrospect (I'd have to go back and reread the first two Emily books) I don't think Ilse is as well-developed a character as the books need (certainly she doesn't stick with people the way Diana does). But Perry's great.
Thinking about this I remember I went through a hard Marion Zimmer Bradley phase when I was a kid, but I think that was less "I love this author" and more "I hear there's lesbian content, maybe it's in this one!" So when the revelations came out I was saddened but not heartbroken, if that makes sense. I also went through a (much more hardcore) Agatha Christie phase, but again, it wasn't some kind of soul-bonding, it was more, I liked the formula and wanted more of it.
no subject
more "I hear there's lesbian content, maybe it's in this one!"
Ha!
o when the revelations came out I was saddened but not heartbroken, if that makes sense.
It definitely does.
I also went through a (much more hardcore) Agatha Christie phase, but again, it wasn't some kind of soul-bonding, it was more, I liked the formula and wanted more of it.
This makes sense too! I went through a Poirot phase in high school and read, like, all of them.
no subject
As for my LMM equivalent, it was Hermann Hesse when I was a teenager--his books made a huge impression on me back then, so they have a sort of nostalgic vibe, and I always enjoy re-reading them. These days I would probably say it's García Lorca, whose work I discovered at around the same age, and have loved ceaselessly since then! <3
no subject
Lots of books have summer moods, lots of books have winter moods, but it's harder to find autumn (or spring) moods, so I cherish them where I find them!
I have never read any Hesse or Lorca, but now I want to! With Lorca, do you read more of the poetry or the plays?
no subject
no subject
also omg the flashbacks to my problematic youthful Emily/Dean shipping ahahahaha
no subject
I did not ship them, but I can see why you would! So funny!
no subject
That's the LMM feeling in this household. But one day I will have fireplace ornaments and they will be named Gog and Magog.
As for who my LMM is? Robin McKinley all the way.
no subject
But one day I will have fireplace ornaments and they will be named Gog and Magog.
ME TOO!
McKinley is probably in second place for me in this category. I love that she's yours!!!
no subject
The LMM thing that has stuck with me the most, but which I don't think I've ever seen discussed when people talk about her books, is the Flash in the Emily books. It's so strange and haunting and inexplicable, and I've never encountered anything quite like it in fiction anywhere else.
no subject
YES THE FLASH. I will always cherish the weird hinted-at supernatural elements in the Emily books, but the flash most of all.
no subject
no subject
Awww! I do appreciate that! Very much!
no subject
"Who is your LMM," such a good question. I'm not sure I have one who precisely fits the criteria, but I think all said and done Diane Duane is probably the closest.
no subject
(I also picked up a copy of LMM's diaries somewhere and read it with great fascination and then vowed never to read it again, because it's a book-length, real-time, well-written depiction of a slow spiral into clinical depression and it horrified me as such.)
Oh, God, I know. I've read biographies, enough to know that I do not want to experience her mental health problems in her own writing. That poor woman.
but I think all said and done Diane Duane is probably the closest.
Lovely! I really love hearing about people's favorite writers! Not the ones who most impress them or who they present as their favorite in order to impress others. But the ones who got hooks into their hearts when they were young and never let go.
no subject
no subject