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Anne of Green Gables #1
Ania z Zielonego Wzgorza
Ania z Zielonego Wzgorza
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1908
30064 people are currently reading
557409 people want to read
About the author
L.M. Montgomery
1,857 books13.1k followersLucy Maud Montgomery was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908.
Montgomery was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
Montgomery was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47,147 reviews
February 28, 2009
I don't often give books five stars and as I neared the end of this book, I gave some thought to how many stars this book deserved. I've read the Anne of Green Gables series once before - over twenty years ago. In spite of the amount of time that has elapsed, I clearly recall reading the last book in the series very slowly and thinking to myself, "I will be so sad to not be able to read about Anne anymore." When I picked up this book a few days ago to re-read it, I found within a few chapters that it was like seeing an old friend. Anne was even more delightful than I recalled, since I now have daughters who share her "scope for imagination," her penchant for large words and her zest for life. Reading about Anne's appreciation for life's loveliness made me appreciate my daughters and long to live more in-the-moment myself. So, I decided that a book that feels like an old friend after twenty years deserves five stars.
Anne Shirley must be one of the most delightful characters ever written, largely because she is far from perfect. She makes mistakes, as we all do, but her mistakes are much funnier than my own feel and she makes me see the value in learning from each of them, laughing at them and moving on. Like my middle daughter, there is no lukewarm with Anne. I love that she approaches life enthusiastically, despite have spent a decade belonging to no one.
I also like that Anne talks straightforwardly about wanting, seeking and building friendships. Even now, I am hesitant, awkward and scattershot at building relationships. I may meet someone who seems a kindred spirit, but lack the time or, let's be honest, sheer boldness to approach them and seek to build a friendship. We see Anne seek and build relationships not only upon her arrival in Avonlea, but during her time at Queens.
One reasons I re-read this book was because two friends recommended it for it's fluency in writing dialogue. Unlike Little Women, which I attempted to read for the writing, this book did not disappoint. The dialogue sounds exactly like each character would sound and it flows smoothly from narration to dialogue and back. In fact, I'm baffled that Little Women routinely makes top 100 lists while Anne of Green Gables is nowhere to be found on the lists of must-read classics. Unlike the Little Women characters who are archetypes rather than three dimensional characters, Anne is a bold a female character who refuses to be categorized. That's exactly why I love her and love this book.
Anne Shirley must be one of the most delightful characters ever written, largely because she is far from perfect. She makes mistakes, as we all do, but her mistakes are much funnier than my own feel and she makes me see the value in learning from each of them, laughing at them and moving on. Like my middle daughter, there is no lukewarm with Anne. I love that she approaches life enthusiastically, despite have spent a decade belonging to no one.
I also like that Anne talks straightforwardly about wanting, seeking and building friendships. Even now, I am hesitant, awkward and scattershot at building relationships. I may meet someone who seems a kindred spirit, but lack the time or, let's be honest, sheer boldness to approach them and seek to build a friendship. We see Anne seek and build relationships not only upon her arrival in Avonlea, but during her time at Queens.
One reasons I re-read this book was because two friends recommended it for it's fluency in writing dialogue. Unlike Little Women, which I attempted to read for the writing, this book did not disappoint. The dialogue sounds exactly like each character would sound and it flows smoothly from narration to dialogue and back. In fact, I'm baffled that Little Women routinely makes top 100 lists while Anne of Green Gables is nowhere to be found on the lists of must-read classics. Unlike the Little Women characters who are archetypes rather than three dimensional characters, Anne is a bold a female character who refuses to be categorized. That's exactly why I love her and love this book.
August 7, 2024
How do you review a book that transcends books?
https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...
Do you ever love a book so much that it doesn’t feel like a book? You’re so immersed and reading is so effortless that you don’t feel like you’re reading at all? The characters are real enough to be people, and their problems and happinesses feel like they’re happening to you?
That was me with this book.
Which is all well and good until it comes down to reviewing it.
Basically what I’m saying is I’m at a loss for words. I’m saying I have nothing TO say. This is just too damn good.
I didn’t read this as a kid, or for many years after. I didn’t think I’d be interested. I had a copy for years with no intention of picking it up, because I am shallow as hell and only bought a copy in the first place because it’s pretty. (In my defense: look HOW pretty.) Honestly, I can’t remember why I decided to read it in the first place.
But I am very, very, VERY glad I did.
I love Anne so much. I love Green Gables. I love Diana, I love Matthew and Marilla, later on I love Gilbert (although I don’t really understand how people love him from this book alone. Not much to see).
After reading this, I was obligated to chase the high of the reading experience by picking up the next two installments as quickly as possible, and they were just as good. Mostly. But still an unparalleled level of good.
I guess what I’m trying to carry across here is that somehow this hundred year old children’s classic about an orphan girl moving to a rural island in Canada was one of the most unputdownable books I’ve ever read.
And also the writing is as pretty as the cover.
Bottom line: I want to live in this book, please and thank you.
-----------
pre-review
fun fact: joy exists as a concrete object, and it's called Anne of Green Gables.
THIS BOOK IS PURE JOY.
review to come
https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...
Do you ever love a book so much that it doesn’t feel like a book? You’re so immersed and reading is so effortless that you don’t feel like you’re reading at all? The characters are real enough to be people, and their problems and happinesses feel like they’re happening to you?
That was me with this book.
Which is all well and good until it comes down to reviewing it.
Basically what I’m saying is I’m at a loss for words. I’m saying I have nothing TO say. This is just too damn good.
I didn’t read this as a kid, or for many years after. I didn’t think I’d be interested. I had a copy for years with no intention of picking it up, because I am shallow as hell and only bought a copy in the first place because it’s pretty. (In my defense: look HOW pretty.) Honestly, I can’t remember why I decided to read it in the first place.
But I am very, very, VERY glad I did.
I love Anne so much. I love Green Gables. I love Diana, I love Matthew and Marilla, later on I love Gilbert (although I don’t really understand how people love him from this book alone. Not much to see).
After reading this, I was obligated to chase the high of the reading experience by picking up the next two installments as quickly as possible, and they were just as good. Mostly. But still an unparalleled level of good.
I guess what I’m trying to carry across here is that somehow this hundred year old children’s classic about an orphan girl moving to a rural island in Canada was one of the most unputdownable books I’ve ever read.
And also the writing is as pretty as the cover.
Bottom line: I want to live in this book, please and thank you.
-----------
pre-review
fun fact: joy exists as a concrete object, and it's called Anne of Green Gables.
THIS BOOK IS PURE JOY.
review to come
May 24, 2017
"Dear old world," she murmured, "you are very lovely and I am glad to be alive in you."
This quote really accurately depicts how Anne lives her life and what makes you love her as a character. She's stubborn and makes mistakes, but she also has a huge imagination and sees the world as beautiful and full of possibilities.
I loved this SO much and I'm sad I never read it before! I love all the characters and the plot, and it's really fun to see Anne grow up through this book. The writing is also really really lovely.
I can't wait to read the sequels and follow Anne's story!
This has made it up to my favorite books of all time list, that's for sure.
REREAD NOTES
I didn't think I could love this book more but somehow I do?? I AM SO EMOTIONAL.
This quote really accurately depicts how Anne lives her life and what makes you love her as a character. She's stubborn and makes mistakes, but she also has a huge imagination and sees the world as beautiful and full of possibilities.
I loved this SO much and I'm sad I never read it before! I love all the characters and the plot, and it's really fun to see Anne grow up through this book. The writing is also really really lovely.
I can't wait to read the sequels and follow Anne's story!
This has made it up to my favorite books of all time list, that's for sure.
REREAD NOTES
I didn't think I could love this book more but somehow I do?? I AM SO EMOTIONAL.
January 4, 2021
This story has such a special place in my heart. Utterly delightful from start to finish! Now, please excuse me - I'm going to go finish up my little cry. 🌻
May 21, 2022
2021: Jestem szczęśliwa, że mogę żyć na świecie, w którym wydano "Anię z Zielonego Wzgórza"
2022: To moje 3 spotkanie z Anne w ciągu 3 lat. Możliwe, że wiecie jak ogromną sympatią dążę tę książkę. Tłumaczenie Bańkowskiej jest odświeżające i uwaga- po prostu świetne.
2022: To moje 3 spotkanie z Anne w ciągu 3 lat. Możliwe, że wiecie jak ogromną sympatią dążę tę książkę. Tłumaczenie Bańkowskiej jest odświeżające i uwaga- po prostu świetne.
April 25, 2020
yo Anne has no chill, she is practically a talking machine, I am not complaining tho
November 22, 2025
It's delightful when your imaginations come true, isn't it?Anne (note the "E") Shirley is tired of being an unloved orphan and is ready for change.
Elderly siblings, Matthew and Marilla, are tired of running the farm by themselves and are ready for a change.
So when Matthew and Marilla send for an orphan boy to help out at the farm...imagine their shock when they find eleven-year-old Anne Shirley at the train station.
At first, Marilla is determined to send her back...and Anne is devastated.
My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.But soon, Anne's whimsy, and bright-eyed love, and her fantastical words endears her to the curmudgeonly siblings.
Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.But if Matthew and Marilla think raising Anne would be easy - ohhh, they are in for a surprise. She will keep them on their very tip-toes!
Ahhh...Anne. This book has gotten me through so many stages of my life that every time I read this book, it's like coming home.
I don't even truly have the words for it - I just love her.
Her wild imagination, her beautiful interpretation of the world, her desire to do what's right...she's truly iconic.
The only thing I wish was changed was that this book takes us from eleven-year-old Anne to about fifteen. I think it should have been one book per year, just because I want to spend more time with young Anne before we transition to her more grown-up books.
But even that criticism is quite light. Honestly, if you haven't read this book, I cannot recommend it enough.
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July 10, 2023
I will never forgive Netflix for cancelling Anne with an E.
Rtc
Rtc
July 2, 2025
Are you also a die-hard fan of the Netflix series: Anne with an E! And also have you been pouting since the day you heard the cancellation news? If your answer is no, that’s fine, you just missed another epic visual feast, shame! Especially the teen romance between Anne and Gilbert is guaranteed to make you smile and warm your heart.
But before that, if you want to revisit the joy, innocence, naivety, and beauty of your childhood, just grab this book and meet orphan Anne Shirley whose positive, optimistic, and exciting energy is contagious. And you may prefer the audiobook version to listen to the powerful narration of Rachel McAdams.
For decades, this book has been considered a children’s novel, but it also teaches us so many things about life, parenthood, friendship, questioning townspeople’s biased, hypocritical thoughts and wrongful beliefs through the eyes of a little girl who has been accidentally adopted by Cuthberts: Marilla and Matthew: brother and sister who needed a boy to help them with farm chores. But as you may imagine, Anne found a way of enchanting them with her pure joy and excitement. Yes, she stayed with them to be their mischievous, unique, cheery, and smart daughter.
Here are my favorite quotes from the novel:
“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?”
“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray, I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods, and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet.”
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
This time, I’m thanking Goodreads for putting this book in the “Most Popular 100 YA books list” and reminded me of how much I enjoyed it when I was a kid, so it helped me revisit my memories. As an adult, I still wholeheartedly adore this book! It truly made my whole weekend.
But before that, if you want to revisit the joy, innocence, naivety, and beauty of your childhood, just grab this book and meet orphan Anne Shirley whose positive, optimistic, and exciting energy is contagious. And you may prefer the audiobook version to listen to the powerful narration of Rachel McAdams.
For decades, this book has been considered a children’s novel, but it also teaches us so many things about life, parenthood, friendship, questioning townspeople’s biased, hypocritical thoughts and wrongful beliefs through the eyes of a little girl who has been accidentally adopted by Cuthberts: Marilla and Matthew: brother and sister who needed a boy to help them with farm chores. But as you may imagine, Anne found a way of enchanting them with her pure joy and excitement. Yes, she stayed with them to be their mischievous, unique, cheery, and smart daughter.
Here are my favorite quotes from the novel:
“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?”
“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray, I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods, and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet.”
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
This time, I’m thanking Goodreads for putting this book in the “Most Popular 100 YA books list” and reminded me of how much I enjoyed it when I was a kid, so it helped me revisit my memories. As an adult, I still wholeheartedly adore this book! It truly made my whole weekend.
July 5, 2020
"OH, Marilla"
"Fancy. It’s always been one of my dreams to live near a brook. I never expected I would, though. Dreams don’t often come true, do they?"
"It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will."
Anne of Green Gables will always have a very special place in my memory, for it offered one of the loveliest, most wonderful stories I've ever read. This is something you could keep on reading for ever without tiring or loosing interest. I loved every chapter, every paragraph, every line, and down to the every little bit of it.
“Oh, Marilla, can I go right now—without washing my dishes? I’ll wash them when I come back, but I cannot tie myself down to anything so unromantic as dishwashing at this thrilling moment.”
Instead of narrating a perfect word with perfect occurring, this book offers a very much realistic existence, where the reader is met with all kinds of emotion. One could hardly conceal laughing in certain parts just as it is hardly possible to hold a tear in another part.
"Which would you rather be if you had the choice—divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?"
Personally, I would've love if the book contained more narration on Anne's first two years, and move on to the next years from next book, though I guess it's coming from my own selfish need to have a better ending with Matthew. But on the other hand, I guess that inevitable reality of life adds to how the books is imprinted even deeply in one's mind and memory. In any case, the book forever remain one of my all time favorites.
"Diana, wilt thou give me a lock of thy jet-black tresses in parting to treasure forevermore?"
“Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
“Oh, Matthew, isn’t it a wonderful morning?"
"Fancy. It’s always been one of my dreams to live near a brook. I never expected I would, though. Dreams don’t often come true, do they?"
"It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will."
Anne of Green Gables will always have a very special place in my memory, for it offered one of the loveliest, most wonderful stories I've ever read. This is something you could keep on reading for ever without tiring or loosing interest. I loved every chapter, every paragraph, every line, and down to the every little bit of it.
“Oh, Marilla, can I go right now—without washing my dishes? I’ll wash them when I come back, but I cannot tie myself down to anything so unromantic as dishwashing at this thrilling moment.”
Instead of narrating a perfect word with perfect occurring, this book offers a very much realistic existence, where the reader is met with all kinds of emotion. One could hardly conceal laughing in certain parts just as it is hardly possible to hold a tear in another part.
"Which would you rather be if you had the choice—divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?"
Personally, I would've love if the book contained more narration on Anne's first two years, and move on to the next years from next book, though I guess it's coming from my own selfish need to have a better ending with Matthew. But on the other hand, I guess that inevitable reality of life adds to how the books is imprinted even deeply in one's mind and memory. In any case, the book forever remain one of my all time favorites.
"Diana, wilt thou give me a lock of thy jet-black tresses in parting to treasure forevermore?"
“Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
“Oh, Matthew, isn’t it a wonderful morning?"
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May 21, 2025
‘Dear old world,’ says Anne Shirley, ‘you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.’ Books like this, the long beloved Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, make me feel this sentiment deep in my bones. Despite it all, how can I not love a world and a humanity that brought this into existence. This book is perfectly splendid and I only wish I had read it as a child. Yet, traveling across Canada recently with this book, I was pleased to discover it could still build a bonfire in my adult heart to warm me with joy, still bring a frequent smile to my face and outbursts of gleeful laughter. ‘Anne with an ‘e’’ is an early ADHD icon who’s poetic ‘thoughts rove all over creation’ whom—as the rest of Avonlea soon discovers—is impossible not to love and I saw so much of my younger self in her. A coming-of-age tale wrapped in a sweet innocence that champions being yourself and embracing mistakes as an opportunity to learn and grow, what really brought this novel to heart for me were the ways in which Anne’s offbeat personality cracks the stale and rigid expectations of a community and allows everyone to grow along with her. Community and shared growth are central to this story and this is as much a story about Avonlea as it is the Anne who makes it her home. Still touching hearts young and old since it was first published in 1908, Anne of Green Gables is an endearing and enduring classic.
‘ I shall give life here my best, and I believe it will give its best to me in return.’
There is a lot to love about Anne of Green Gables, but also a lot of messages to take to heart. An aspect I am particularly fond of in literature aimed at children is how the most successful ones can distill important themes in accessible ways that can enter our hearts to bathe us in pure shining light that always feels so pleasantly positive and empowering. There's multitudes to learn from Anne. For instance:
—Always embrace and learn from mistakes: ‘Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.’
—Find the good and fun in everything: ‘Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.’
—A positive attitude makes a big difference: ‘It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.’
—Pay attention to the small joys and details in life: ‘All things great are wound up with all things little.’
—Give people a chance: ‘Miss Barry was a kindred spirit after all…you wouldn't think so to look at her, but she is.’
—Always prepare for setbacks: ‘There is always another bend in the road.’
—Start over fresh and don’t let setbacks get you down: ‘Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.’
There are many more, such as the importance of friendship, admitting faults and embracing imagination not just for oneself but to help it flourish in others. Going through these got me thinking how delightfully quotable and altogether memorable this novel is and it is no surprise this novel has continuously been endeared as an enduring classic. Even those who haven’t read the novel are likely familiar with certain scenes or lines, like the often quoted ‘I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers,’ which happens to arrive at the start of the same chapter in which the famous scene occurs where Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk on currant wine thinking she is serving raspberry cordial. The novel plays out in rather episodic moments such as this (which lends itself to the many tv series adaptations both animated and live action) with fairly contained action-consequence-resolution formats that build on each other to follow the course of Anne’s childhood into young adulthood. And it is a joy to watch Anne grow up.
Diana and Anne drink currant wine in the 2017 Netflix adaptation Anne With an E
What makes this book truly great are the characters. Anne, of course, but Marilla and Matthew are just as charming and engaging. I love Marilla who is struggling but earnest about trying to understand Anne and comes to really love her. As Matthew tells her, raising Anne won't be difficult 'if you only get her to love you,' and watching the relationship grow between her and Anne is so heartwarming. While sometimes she just wants Anne to shut up and stop being weird she can't help but privately enjoy how offbeat she is. I suspect this is a novel where those who read it in youth will identify with Anne but those who read it as adults (and especially as parents) will have a real appreciation for Marilla much like how everyone talks about which daughter from Little Women they are until they reread it as an adult and realize how much Marmee speaks to them. That was the case for me at least. But also wow did Anne speak to my heart and remind me of my pre-teen self.
'There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting.'
The fictional town of Avonlea is nestled upon Prince Edward Island in Canada, which was also the birthplace and childhood home of author Lucy Maud Montgomery. While not an orphan as Anne was, Maud lost her mother at the age of two and when her father remarried she was sent to live with her grandparents. So one can see a twinkle of inspiration for the young Anne who (for those who don’t know the story), due to a misunderstanding, is sent to be adopted by aging siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. ‘She’s been a blessing to us,’ they learn, ‘and there never was a luckier mistake.’ Maud was fond of reading as a child and, like Anne, loved poetry. ‘Don't you just love poetry that gives you a crinkly feeling up and down your back,’ Anne states, and in Anne we find quite the poet as well with long rambling chatter that moves ‘from safe concrete to dubious paths of abstraction.’ In an essay Montgomery discusses how novels were banned in her grandparents house but she had access to all the poetry she liked, and in her own writing there is certainly an impressive and delightful sense of the poetic. Montgomery pops off with excellent consonance quite frequently with phrases like ‘the waif of the world,’ but her vibrant imagery is certainly pure poetry. A favorite moment occurs right from the start with the images of Avonlea in bloom with an enraptured Anne finally rendered speechless. It is a critical image because it is in Avonlea that Anne is also able to bloom into the amazing person she becomes.
Prince Edward Island
‘What good would she be to us?’ Matthew asks Marilla when she questions keeping Anne, reminding her ‘we might be some good to her.’ This idea permeates the text and we see how community is so important. ‘True friends are always together in spirit,’ Anne teaches us and there are few more lovely friendships in fiction than Anne and her ‘bosom friend’ Diana. To watch Anne grow up is also to watch Diana grow up and to watch them love and support each other (I quite agree with the more recent adaptations, such as the modern-setting graphic novel Anne that portray them as a sapphic romance, besides *nose in air*I don’t think Gilbert is good enough for my Anne). Anne also comes to think of others as ‘kindred spirits’—such as Aunt Josephine who essentially becomes her benefactor after taking a liking to Anne while she apologizes for jumping onto her in bed by accident—and that we can find kindred spirits everywhere if we are willing to get to know people.
‘Evidently she did not like talking about her experiences in a world that had not wanted her.’
Friends are also important to Anne as she never had them before, unless you count Katie Maurice (her reflection) or Violetta (her echo). Her attachment to them is rather telling because not only was it a sign of her strong imagination but also because they were simply an extension of herself–Anne only had herself and coming to Avonlea. But we also see how Anne struggles at concepts like religion, which Marilla realizes is not due to irreverence but rather how can Anne comprehend divine love if she’d never experienced love from another before (though her distaste for God for having given her red hair—a constant struggle that leads to a very humorous scene about dying her hair and also is a point of contention where Gilbert calling her “carrot” cuts far too deep—is quite amusing). Anne had to learn community in general. Over the novel we see she thrives at this due to her imagination, something she says is easy ‘if you’d only cultivate it.’ Anne perfects how to bring out the imagination in others, something that—following in the footsteps of her mentor, Miss Stacy—makes her career as a schoolteacher a perfect fit to utilize such abilities. Sure, sometimes imagination can backfire like when she becomes afraid of the haunted woods, but it is also a path through that fear.
‘Ever since I came to Green Gables I’ve been making mistakes, and each mistake has helped to cure me of some great shortcoming.’
Though one of the greatest lessons in this book, I think, is the rather optimistic approach to embracing mistakes and learning from them. Each moment of growth comes from something initially thought of as an error (getting Diana drunk, almost drowning in the river) and finding it to be a teachable moment for the self. Though this extends beyond Anne too, as some of the friction Anne comes up against in the community becomes an opportunity for growth for them as well, or even with the Cuthberts who quickly learn that adopting a child is more about the child being an asset to the farm but a person to help grow and cultivate love, and be loved in return.
‘We ought always to try to influence others for good.’
This is such a lovely novel, one that encourages imagination, friendship, love, and appreciation of the world around us. For Anne, simply being out in nature and basking in the light of life is enough to ‘feel a prayer’ and in our encounters with Anne we too can feel it within ourselves. Though this is also a story of hard work, finding joy in simply learning and not having to always be the best, and also the importance of persistence. Anne of Green Gables is a marvelous story for readers both young and old, and I greatly enjoyed my time in Avonlea.
5/5
I also really love this edition of the book.
‘ I shall give life here my best, and I believe it will give its best to me in return.’
There is a lot to love about Anne of Green Gables, but also a lot of messages to take to heart. An aspect I am particularly fond of in literature aimed at children is how the most successful ones can distill important themes in accessible ways that can enter our hearts to bathe us in pure shining light that always feels so pleasantly positive and empowering. There's multitudes to learn from Anne. For instance:
—Always embrace and learn from mistakes: ‘Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.’
—Find the good and fun in everything: ‘Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.’
—A positive attitude makes a big difference: ‘It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.’
—Pay attention to the small joys and details in life: ‘All things great are wound up with all things little.’
—Give people a chance: ‘Miss Barry was a kindred spirit after all…you wouldn't think so to look at her, but she is.’
—Always prepare for setbacks: ‘There is always another bend in the road.’
—Start over fresh and don’t let setbacks get you down: ‘Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.’
There are many more, such as the importance of friendship, admitting faults and embracing imagination not just for oneself but to help it flourish in others. Going through these got me thinking how delightfully quotable and altogether memorable this novel is and it is no surprise this novel has continuously been endeared as an enduring classic. Even those who haven’t read the novel are likely familiar with certain scenes or lines, like the often quoted ‘I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers,’ which happens to arrive at the start of the same chapter in which the famous scene occurs where Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk on currant wine thinking she is serving raspberry cordial. The novel plays out in rather episodic moments such as this (which lends itself to the many tv series adaptations both animated and live action) with fairly contained action-consequence-resolution formats that build on each other to follow the course of Anne’s childhood into young adulthood. And it is a joy to watch Anne grow up.
Diana and Anne drink currant wine in the 2017 Netflix adaptation Anne With an E
What makes this book truly great are the characters. Anne, of course, but Marilla and Matthew are just as charming and engaging. I love Marilla who is struggling but earnest about trying to understand Anne and comes to really love her. As Matthew tells her, raising Anne won't be difficult 'if you only get her to love you,' and watching the relationship grow between her and Anne is so heartwarming. While sometimes she just wants Anne to shut up and stop being weird she can't help but privately enjoy how offbeat she is. I suspect this is a novel where those who read it in youth will identify with Anne but those who read it as adults (and especially as parents) will have a real appreciation for Marilla much like how everyone talks about which daughter from Little Women they are until they reread it as an adult and realize how much Marmee speaks to them. That was the case for me at least. But also wow did Anne speak to my heart and remind me of my pre-teen self.
'There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting.'
The fictional town of Avonlea is nestled upon Prince Edward Island in Canada, which was also the birthplace and childhood home of author Lucy Maud Montgomery. While not an orphan as Anne was, Maud lost her mother at the age of two and when her father remarried she was sent to live with her grandparents. So one can see a twinkle of inspiration for the young Anne who (for those who don’t know the story), due to a misunderstanding, is sent to be adopted by aging siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. ‘She’s been a blessing to us,’ they learn, ‘and there never was a luckier mistake.’ Maud was fond of reading as a child and, like Anne, loved poetry. ‘Don't you just love poetry that gives you a crinkly feeling up and down your back,’ Anne states, and in Anne we find quite the poet as well with long rambling chatter that moves ‘from safe concrete to dubious paths of abstraction.’ In an essay Montgomery discusses how novels were banned in her grandparents house but she had access to all the poetry she liked, and in her own writing there is certainly an impressive and delightful sense of the poetic. Montgomery pops off with excellent consonance quite frequently with phrases like ‘the waif of the world,’ but her vibrant imagery is certainly pure poetry. A favorite moment occurs right from the start with the images of Avonlea in bloom with an enraptured Anne finally rendered speechless. It is a critical image because it is in Avonlea that Anne is also able to bloom into the amazing person she becomes.
Prince Edward Island
‘What good would she be to us?’ Matthew asks Marilla when she questions keeping Anne, reminding her ‘we might be some good to her.’ This idea permeates the text and we see how community is so important. ‘True friends are always together in spirit,’ Anne teaches us and there are few more lovely friendships in fiction than Anne and her ‘bosom friend’ Diana. To watch Anne grow up is also to watch Diana grow up and to watch them love and support each other (I quite agree with the more recent adaptations, such as the modern-setting graphic novel Anne that portray them as a sapphic romance, besides *nose in air*I don’t think Gilbert is good enough for my Anne). Anne also comes to think of others as ‘kindred spirits’—such as Aunt Josephine who essentially becomes her benefactor after taking a liking to Anne while she apologizes for jumping onto her in bed by accident—and that we can find kindred spirits everywhere if we are willing to get to know people.
‘Evidently she did not like talking about her experiences in a world that had not wanted her.’
Friends are also important to Anne as she never had them before, unless you count Katie Maurice (her reflection) or Violetta (her echo). Her attachment to them is rather telling because not only was it a sign of her strong imagination but also because they were simply an extension of herself–Anne only had herself and coming to Avonlea. But we also see how Anne struggles at concepts like religion, which Marilla realizes is not due to irreverence but rather how can Anne comprehend divine love if she’d never experienced love from another before (though her distaste for God for having given her red hair—a constant struggle that leads to a very humorous scene about dying her hair and also is a point of contention where Gilbert calling her “carrot” cuts far too deep—is quite amusing). Anne had to learn community in general. Over the novel we see she thrives at this due to her imagination, something she says is easy ‘if you’d only cultivate it.’ Anne perfects how to bring out the imagination in others, something that—following in the footsteps of her mentor, Miss Stacy—makes her career as a schoolteacher a perfect fit to utilize such abilities. Sure, sometimes imagination can backfire like when she becomes afraid of the haunted woods, but it is also a path through that fear.
‘Ever since I came to Green Gables I’ve been making mistakes, and each mistake has helped to cure me of some great shortcoming.’
Though one of the greatest lessons in this book, I think, is the rather optimistic approach to embracing mistakes and learning from them. Each moment of growth comes from something initially thought of as an error (getting Diana drunk, almost drowning in the river) and finding it to be a teachable moment for the self. Though this extends beyond Anne too, as some of the friction Anne comes up against in the community becomes an opportunity for growth for them as well, or even with the Cuthberts who quickly learn that adopting a child is more about the child being an asset to the farm but a person to help grow and cultivate love, and be loved in return.
‘We ought always to try to influence others for good.’
This is such a lovely novel, one that encourages imagination, friendship, love, and appreciation of the world around us. For Anne, simply being out in nature and basking in the light of life is enough to ‘feel a prayer’ and in our encounters with Anne we too can feel it within ourselves. Though this is also a story of hard work, finding joy in simply learning and not having to always be the best, and also the importance of persistence. Anne of Green Gables is a marvelous story for readers both young and old, and I greatly enjoyed my time in Avonlea.
5/5
I also really love this edition of the book.
June 23, 2018
"Excitement hung around Anne like a garment, shone in her eyes, kindled in every feature."
Oh, what sheer pleasure it was to spend just a moment in time with Anne and her delightful companions in this little classic. What pure joy to catch a glimpse of the beauty of Prince Edward Island. I am likely one of the last persons on earth… well, on Goodreads at least… to read this novel. What in the world was I waiting for?! As a child and adolescent, I wrongly assumed that this book would be of no interest to me. I wasn’t a ‘girly girl’ and surely this was written for ‘that sort’ of reader, right? Wrong! By the time I was old enough to know better, I thought I had grown too mature in years to pick this one up. Wrong again. The ‘sort’ of reader that this does appeal to however: one who appreciates exquisite writing and vibrant characters, one who relishes being steeped in another time and place, and one who enjoys an all-out fantastic story. In short, this book should satisfy nearly everyone!
You can’t help but fall in love with Anne. She is the friend you have always longed for, the daughter that will bring that much-needed light in your life, that student that any teacher would be proud to instruct. She is funny, imaginative, bright, and a regular chatterbox. She laments about her red hair, apologizes for being a ‘great trial’ to Marilla, and always manages to see the positive in most everything. However, she does maintain a long-standing rivalry with her peer, Gilbert Blythe. "She was as intense in her hatreds as in her loves." Nothing is ever lukewarm when it comes to Anne’s feelings.
There were moments I wanted to laugh with her and moments when I wanted to cry. When she first arrived at Green Gables, Anne learned that it had all been a mistake. For, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert meant to adopt a young boy to help with the chores. A little girl was not needed. It nearly crushed me when Anne fell in love with Green Gables only to find that she must surely be turned away and carted straight back to the orphanage. "Have you ever noticed what cheerful things brooks are? They’re always laughing… I shall always like to remember that there is a brook at Green Gables even if I never see it again." What transpires after this will melt even the most hardened hearts.
Some might say this book is too wholesome, too charming, and perhaps too unrealistic. I have to say that I don’t believe those are good enough reasons to skip reading this enchanting novel! It didn’t take place just yesterday so I didn’t expect the trials and tribulations of today’s day and age. The events do occur on an idyllic island, so I felt the beautiful scenery I was immersed in was wholly believable. Anne is not a perfect little girl and each character has their share of flaws. Not every story has to be full of doom and gloom to get all the stars! Sometimes one just needs to sit back, relax, and just surrender to the small pleasures in life. We could all use a lesson from Anne’s book of optimism here and there!
"Dear old world, you are lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you."
Oh, what sheer pleasure it was to spend just a moment in time with Anne and her delightful companions in this little classic. What pure joy to catch a glimpse of the beauty of Prince Edward Island. I am likely one of the last persons on earth… well, on Goodreads at least… to read this novel. What in the world was I waiting for?! As a child and adolescent, I wrongly assumed that this book would be of no interest to me. I wasn’t a ‘girly girl’ and surely this was written for ‘that sort’ of reader, right? Wrong! By the time I was old enough to know better, I thought I had grown too mature in years to pick this one up. Wrong again. The ‘sort’ of reader that this does appeal to however: one who appreciates exquisite writing and vibrant characters, one who relishes being steeped in another time and place, and one who enjoys an all-out fantastic story. In short, this book should satisfy nearly everyone!
You can’t help but fall in love with Anne. She is the friend you have always longed for, the daughter that will bring that much-needed light in your life, that student that any teacher would be proud to instruct. She is funny, imaginative, bright, and a regular chatterbox. She laments about her red hair, apologizes for being a ‘great trial’ to Marilla, and always manages to see the positive in most everything. However, she does maintain a long-standing rivalry with her peer, Gilbert Blythe. "She was as intense in her hatreds as in her loves." Nothing is ever lukewarm when it comes to Anne’s feelings.
There were moments I wanted to laugh with her and moments when I wanted to cry. When she first arrived at Green Gables, Anne learned that it had all been a mistake. For, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert meant to adopt a young boy to help with the chores. A little girl was not needed. It nearly crushed me when Anne fell in love with Green Gables only to find that she must surely be turned away and carted straight back to the orphanage. "Have you ever noticed what cheerful things brooks are? They’re always laughing… I shall always like to remember that there is a brook at Green Gables even if I never see it again." What transpires after this will melt even the most hardened hearts.
Some might say this book is too wholesome, too charming, and perhaps too unrealistic. I have to say that I don’t believe those are good enough reasons to skip reading this enchanting novel! It didn’t take place just yesterday so I didn’t expect the trials and tribulations of today’s day and age. The events do occur on an idyllic island, so I felt the beautiful scenery I was immersed in was wholly believable. Anne is not a perfect little girl and each character has their share of flaws. Not every story has to be full of doom and gloom to get all the stars! Sometimes one just needs to sit back, relax, and just surrender to the small pleasures in life. We could all use a lesson from Anne’s book of optimism here and there!
"Dear old world, you are lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you."
July 9, 2020
The beloved classic 1908 novel about an orphan girl who mistakenly comes to the Prince Edward Island home of aging brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who just wanted an orphan boy to help Matthew with chores. After an initial kerfuffle about sending Anne back to the orphanage and getting the boy they had intended, hearts are softened, and Anne proceeds to upend their lives ... in what turns out to be very good ways for everyone involved.
Anne is eleven years old when she first comes to Green Gables, and the novel follows her adventures over the next five years. It’s kind of an episodic novel, with memorable characters. Anne is a chatterbox with a tremendously vivid imagination, passionate and sincere. Marilla and Matthew are drawn so well that I feel like I really know them (though it's disconcerting to realize that Matthew in the book has a long beard. My mind's eye refuses to see him that way, LOL. The miniseries has co-opted my imagination). And then there's Anne’s classmate Gilbert, who lives to regret some initial teasing about Anne's hair.
This novel has a healthy sense of humor that sets it apart from most literature of this period and keeps it from being too sticky sweet. It’s really so charming, with great insights into human nature, and lovely descriptions of P.E.I. It's a feel-good story and a total comfort read!
Anne of Green Gables spawned a slew of sequels and five other related novels, not to mention any number of film and TV adaptations. Not all of the sequels are great reads like this one - they start getting progressively more sappy - but I do recommend the first four books in this series if you liked this one.
January 26, 2018
This story is cute, touching, heart-warming, tear-jerking. In other words, a classic!
The target audience is definitely not me. I would say it would be perfect for a teenage girl living in Canada in the early 1900s. That makes sense, because that is exactly what Anne is! However, the point of this obvious detail is that sometimes it is fun to read a classic and try to put your mind in the mindset of who it was written for at the time. A couple of the storylines seemed silly or to not make sense, but if I stopped and changed my mindset, it would click.
A bit of a history lesson combined with a well written story. If you haven't read this before, give it a shot and maybe you will find your inner early 1900s Canadian teenager!
The target audience is definitely not me. I would say it would be perfect for a teenage girl living in Canada in the early 1900s. That makes sense, because that is exactly what Anne is! However, the point of this obvious detail is that sometimes it is fun to read a classic and try to put your mind in the mindset of who it was written for at the time. A couple of the storylines seemed silly or to not make sense, but if I stopped and changed my mindset, it would click.
A bit of a history lesson combined with a well written story. If you haven't read this before, give it a shot and maybe you will find your inner early 1900s Canadian teenager!
December 16, 2020
Another fantastic reread. Feeling very nostalgic this year, and classics like this are a breath of fresh air! Wonderful.
August 19, 2022
Reread 2022 - I got the first book in this beautiful cover and I hope I can actually like the rest of the series now so I can collect them!
What a lovely little book! There were a million excerpts I wanted to add but maybe at a later date.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
What a lovely little book! There were a million excerpts I wanted to add but maybe at a later date.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
March 26, 2018
4.5 stars
Anne, my lovely, I feel restored.
Full RTC.
Pre-review:
You know what? I've been wanting to reread these books for probably a decade, and I'm still (inexplicably) battling my ever present book funk, so I'm just gonna do it.
Gilbert Blythe, you were my first and best book boyfriend. See you soon ;)
Anne, my lovely, I feel restored.
"Marilla!" Anne sat down on Marilla's gingham lap, took Marilla's lined face between her hands, and looked gravely and tenderly into Marilla's eyes. "I'm not a bit changed—not really. I'm only just pruned down and branched out. The real me—back here—is just the same. It won't make a bit of difference where I go or how much I change outwardly; at heart I shall always be your little Anne, who will love you and Matthew and dear Green Gables more and better every day of her life."
Full RTC.
Pre-review:
You know what? I've been wanting to reread these books for probably a decade, and I'm still (inexplicably) battling my ever present book funk, so I'm just gonna do it.
Gilbert Blythe, you were my first and best book boyfriend. See you soon ;)
January 8, 2016
"I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does."
I cried, I laughed, and I fell in love.
I grew up watching these movies because my mom just absolutely loves them but I've never really been that interested in reading the book. I knew I'd read it someday but it wasn't a top priority at all. I had to read this for my can lit course this semester and boy am I ever glad for that. I absolutely adored this story. Anne is such a darling and she just makes me look at the world differently and want to use my imagination more, she makes me feel like a kid again. I loved all the characters and the writing was fantastic. The ending just made me want to read the rest of the series! LOVED IT!
I cried, I laughed, and I fell in love.
I grew up watching these movies because my mom just absolutely loves them but I've never really been that interested in reading the book. I knew I'd read it someday but it wasn't a top priority at all. I had to read this for my can lit course this semester and boy am I ever glad for that. I absolutely adored this story. Anne is such a darling and she just makes me look at the world differently and want to use my imagination more, she makes me feel like a kid again. I loved all the characters and the writing was fantastic. The ending just made me want to read the rest of the series! LOVED IT!
August 16, 2024
Heart-Warming And Charming But……
Anne of Green Gables has a lot going for it. I read the adorable pink Puffin Classic hardcover version while listening to my *free* audiobook from Audible narrated by none other than Rachel McAdams (the actress from The Notebook).
This book is so good that I picked up a stray reader while listening to the audiobook.
Set in Canada, an elderly couple, Matthew and Marilla, want to adopt a tween orphan boy to help them with chores around the farm. However, due to some miscommunication, the couple receives an opinionated, outspoken, imaginative girl, Anne. The couple quickly becomes smitten with her and decides she can stay.
Montgomery perfectly captures the essence of these formative years where one questions one’s identity. Anne contemplates the exact name she would like to be called and even the spelling.
In 1908, when Anne of Green Gables was first published, strong female characters in literature were not as prevalent. And, of course, I am a sucker for books with strong female leads.
However…
The premise of this story is faulty. In my experience, people on a farm still have work to do. Instead of just being bewitched by Anne’s charm, I wish she would have helped more around the farm and used her imagination to improve things.
There is a thin line between visionary and imagination, and, disappointingly, this line was never explored.
Further, Anne has a friend, Diana, whose path veers from Anne’s. However, her storyline seems to be suddenly dropped. Did she get married? What did she do with her life?
Also, some of the paragraphs were too long. Anne would go on and on, and, while I understand the author wants to convey that Anne is excited and talkative, this point is a bit overdone.
Anne of Green Gables is better than Little House on the Prairie but not quite as good as Little Women.
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
Anne of Green Gables has a lot going for it. I read the adorable pink Puffin Classic hardcover version while listening to my *free* audiobook from Audible narrated by none other than Rachel McAdams (the actress from The Notebook).
This book is so good that I picked up a stray reader while listening to the audiobook.
Set in Canada, an elderly couple, Matthew and Marilla, want to adopt a tween orphan boy to help them with chores around the farm. However, due to some miscommunication, the couple receives an opinionated, outspoken, imaginative girl, Anne. The couple quickly becomes smitten with her and decides she can stay.
Montgomery perfectly captures the essence of these formative years where one questions one’s identity. Anne contemplates the exact name she would like to be called and even the spelling.
In 1908, when Anne of Green Gables was first published, strong female characters in literature were not as prevalent. And, of course, I am a sucker for books with strong female leads.
However…
The premise of this story is faulty. In my experience, people on a farm still have work to do. Instead of just being bewitched by Anne’s charm, I wish she would have helped more around the farm and used her imagination to improve things.
There is a thin line between visionary and imagination, and, disappointingly, this line was never explored.
Further, Anne has a friend, Diana, whose path veers from Anne’s. However, her storyline seems to be suddenly dropped. Did she get married? What did she do with her life?
Also, some of the paragraphs were too long. Anne would go on and on, and, while I understand the author wants to convey that Anne is excited and talkative, this point is a bit overdone.
Anne of Green Gables is better than Little House on the Prairie but not quite as good as Little Women.
2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
March 22, 2024
I do so love this book. Was there ever a lovelier man than Matthew Cuthbert? I get teary just writing that.
December 10, 2016
I never read Anne's story when I was younger, so when I heard that Rachel McAdams was narrating the first in the series I knew I had to give it a go. I'm a sucker for a celebrity-narrated audiobook (if you haven't checked out Maggie Gyllenhaal's reading of The Bell Jar, do that now!).
It's wonderful to read a story that, for the most part, is extremely uplifting. There's hardly anything truly terrible that happens in this story, and that's quite refreshing. Granted, it is a children's novel and from the early 1900's—so it has that moralistic quality to it wherein each incident Anne undergoes resolves itself with a lesson learned. But it was delightful, and Anne's optimism is contagious. Rachel McAdams also does a great job at encapsulating that attitude; I felt like I could hear her smile.
If, like me, you've never given Anne's story a chance, I can highly recommend the audiobook route. And I'm definitely going to continue listening to this series, especially when I'm in need of a pick-me-up.
It's wonderful to read a story that, for the most part, is extremely uplifting. There's hardly anything truly terrible that happens in this story, and that's quite refreshing. Granted, it is a children's novel and from the early 1900's—so it has that moralistic quality to it wherein each incident Anne undergoes resolves itself with a lesson learned. But it was delightful, and Anne's optimism is contagious. Rachel McAdams also does a great job at encapsulating that attitude; I felt like I could hear her smile.
If, like me, you've never given Anne's story a chance, I can highly recommend the audiobook route. And I'm definitely going to continue listening to this series, especially when I'm in need of a pick-me-up.
August 12, 2025
Personal 2025 Challenge: 10 Popular Canadian Books 🇨🇦
Book #6
This is the book that everyone knows regardless if you've ever read it or not. It regularly tops first place on many Canadian Reading Lists. I just came back from a week-long visit to our little gem of a province called, Prince Edward Island. The highlight of my trip was visiting, "Green Gables Heritage Place" which is deemed a National Historic Site 👒
I just adore this book. Anne Shirley is such an endearing character.
"But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne spelled with an E."
Anne Shirley is an Eleven year old orphan who is mistakenly sent to a farm in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. The two elderly siblings named Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert were expecting a boy to help on the farm. The story is all about how Anne manoeuvres through her life with them and school and within the town.
This is a heartwarming story written in 1908 by Lucy Maud Montgomery (credited as L.M. Montgomery.) Translated into more than 36 different languages and sold over 50 million books worldwide. This story is Book 1 of an 8 part series that follows Anne from childhood to motherhood. The first book is by far the most popular. It's been turned into movies, television shows and live theatre productions. It most certainly is a story that is beloved the world over!
*I took my daughter's copy of her childhood book with me to Green Gables. It's very special to me as we read it together when she was quite young. I clutched it lovingly in my hands as I walked around and took many pictures with it. At the end I stamped the book with some special stamps provided by the park. It was a magical moment!
Book #6
This is the book that everyone knows regardless if you've ever read it or not. It regularly tops first place on many Canadian Reading Lists. I just came back from a week-long visit to our little gem of a province called, Prince Edward Island. The highlight of my trip was visiting, "Green Gables Heritage Place" which is deemed a National Historic Site 👒
I just adore this book. Anne Shirley is such an endearing character.
"But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne spelled with an E."
Anne Shirley is an Eleven year old orphan who is mistakenly sent to a farm in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. The two elderly siblings named Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert were expecting a boy to help on the farm. The story is all about how Anne manoeuvres through her life with them and school and within the town.
This is a heartwarming story written in 1908 by Lucy Maud Montgomery (credited as L.M. Montgomery.) Translated into more than 36 different languages and sold over 50 million books worldwide. This story is Book 1 of an 8 part series that follows Anne from childhood to motherhood. The first book is by far the most popular. It's been turned into movies, television shows and live theatre productions. It most certainly is a story that is beloved the world over!
*I took my daughter's copy of her childhood book with me to Green Gables. It's very special to me as we read it together when she was quite young. I clutched it lovingly in my hands as I walked around and took many pictures with it. At the end I stamped the book with some special stamps provided by the park. It was a magical moment!
January 24, 2021
غلطة واحدة غير مقصودة غيرت حياة 3 أشخاص
كل ذلك بدأ عندما طلبت ماريلا كنثبرت من السيدة سبنسر التي نوت إحضار فتاة يتيمة لتتبناها من ملجأ نوفا سكوشيا , ان تحضر معها صبي من ملجأ الأيتام ليعاون ماثيو كنبثرت أخاها الخجول ستيني العمر الذي بدأت عليه علامات التعب والإرهاق ولم يعد يستطع الاهتمام لوحده بالمرتفعات الخضراء الساحرة بجمالها الطبيعي الخلاب
-المرتفعات الخضراء-
عند ذهاب ماثيو لإحضار الصبي من محطة القطارات , صدم صدمة تمنى فيها حضور ماريلا لحل المشكلة التي تواجهه كما اعتادت !!
لكن ما الذي حصل ؟؟
تم إحضار فتاة بدلًا من الصبي !!
وأي فتاة هذه , كثيرة الثرثرة , عميقة الخيال جامحة العواطف وحمراء الشعر مزين وجهها بالنمش الذي كانت تعتبره هذه الفتاة سبب شقاء حياتها هو وشعرها الأحمر الغير معتاد
eبحرف ال anne تلك هي
بالنسبة لشخص خجول مثل ماثيو كان من المتوقع ان يبقى صامتا غير قادر على التصرف ولا الحديث , لكن آن لم تدع فرصة للسكوت وتدارت الموقف . بدأت تبث له مشاعرها وسعادتها بحضوره , و أخيرًا ستحظى بعائلة تتبناها وفي جزيرة الأمير إدوارد ايضًا . يا سلام , بدى وكأن احلام آن بدأت تتحقق بعد تخلصها من ملجأ الأيتام بنوفا سكوشيا أخيرًا
-جزيرة الأمير إدوارد -
لكن لم يقوى ماثيو الحنون العطوف على تحطيم سعادتها وآمالها , ولم يكن من الإنساني تركها في محطة القطار لوحدها عندما بدأت الشمس تغرب مهللة بقدوم القمر , فقرر أخذها ليدع القرار الحاسم في يد أخته ماريلا
لم يكن يعلم ماثيو أن هذه الفتاة في طريق الذهاب للمنزل ستأسره وتزرع في قلبه شيء مشرق وساطع يجعله مسحورًا بها !! ويجعلهما توأما روح للأبد
طريقة تحدثها وإستخدامها للكلمات الكبيرة التي لا تسمع عادة من أطفال في سن ال11 أذهلته ايما إذهال. لكن آن تقول أن الأفكار الكبيرة تحتاج لأن توصف بعبارات كبيرة !
ولا ننسى شغفها بإعطاء كل ماتراه جميل إسم يليق به , مثل درب البهجىة الأبيض , بحيرة المياه البراقة , درب العشاق , شجرة ملكة الثلج
صدمة ماريلا بالمخلوقة الصغيرة الثرثراة كانت عظيمة . إستائت ماريلا بالخطأ الذي أقدمت عليه السيدة سبينسر . ماحاجتها بفتاة ثرثارة ؟
غايتها صبي يساعد ماثيو في تخفيف عبئ اعمال الزراعة والحصاد مع ماثيو
هذه الفتاة لن تعود عليهما بأي نفع ولا فائدة . لكن ماثيو الخجول الصامت حاول ان يقنع ماريلا بكونها قد تفيدهما ببعض الكلمات الخجولة , لكن قرار ماريلا كان حاسمًا لإنها لم تدرك ان قلب ماثيو تعلق بهذه الصغيرة الدرامية
ولكم أن تتخيلوا حالة الإحباط والأسى التي انفجرت بآن بعد هذه الخيبة العظيمة بعدما قطعت كل هذه المسافات !!
حياتها كما تقول , مقبرة للأحلام
ولكن حتى ماريلا ستغير رأيها في آن وستشعر بطعم اللوعة والمرارة عند رحيلها , لم تعد المرتفعات الخضراء هادئة وموحشة كما كانت . أصبحت الحياة تعج والشمس تشرق والنجوم تسطع في المرتفعات الخضراء بعد قدوم آن
في هذه الرواية نشاهد آن الطفلة ذات ال11 عامًا تنمو , تخطأ اخطاء فادحة وتتعلم منها وتجتهد خلال خمس سنوات , من لحظة قدومها للمرتفعات الخضراء الى وصولها لسن ال 16 بعد ان اصبحت تهتم بطموحاتها اكثر من ثرثراتها
في 382 صفحة تعرفنا الكاتبة العظيمة لوسي مونتغمري على تطورات مراحل آن بإحاطة العديد من الشخصيات المحببة للقلب والمضحكة . وبترجمة سكينة إبراهيم الرائعة التي شكلت تحفة أدبية مترجمة
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السيدة ريتشيل ليند من أبرز شخصيات أفونليا , والمعروفة بتداول القيل والقال من مصادر موثوقة وبروزها كعنصر فعال وعملي في أفونليا
وهي التي سخطت على ماريلا عند معرفتها برغبتهما في التبني والتي إستهزأت من شكل آن بجسمها الهزيل ونمشها وشعرها الأحمر فأنفجرت بها الأخيرة لتنمو بعدها بينهما علاقة حلوة تناكد فيها إحادهما الأخرى
ديانا باري الصديقة الصدوقة لآن , التي تعاهدت معها آن على أن تظلا صديقتا الدرب وان يتشاركا الفرح والمرح والخيال والأمآل والأحلام
وابننا الصبي جيلبرت بلايث الذي أثار سخط آن وتصرف بشكل غير مقصود بإثارة حنقها عندما نعتها بالجزرة ليدفعها للحديث , لكن هذا أدى لقطع كل سبل التواصل بينهما خلال 5 سنوات حقدت فيها آن على جيلبرت الذي ندم أشد الندم وماكان قاصدًا سوا مشاكستها , لكن كل ثلج يذوب يومًا ما . فجيلبرت هو الآخر يتميز بالإجتهاد الذي تنافس فيه في أفونليا مع آن لتسابقهما الدائم على إحراز أعلى المراكز حتى مع وجود ولع وحزن مقاطعة آن له .
و لا ننسى طيبة قلب الإخوة الأعزبين ماريلا وماثيو اللذان لم يتقاعسا عن تلبية حاجيات آن وتربيتها بشكل صحيح وتقويمها على الرغم من إنعدام تجاربهما بتربية الأطفال وهما اللذان لم يختارا شريكًا لهذه الحياة ليأتي عطاء الله لهما بآن ويمثلان العديد من الصفات الطيبة والأخلاق والمبادئ الحميدة بحبهما لآن ولتصرفهما معها بالطريقة الصائبة ولفخرهما بها
حقيقة بدون مبالغة , هذه الرواية أروع رواية اقرأها على الإطلاق , وأظن انه من المعيب على دور النشر ان لا تساهم بطباعة وإعادة نشر هذه التحفة التي ستسحر العديد من القلوب
احتاجت الرواية التي نشرت في عام 1908 , 100 عام تقريبًا لتصبح معروفة بين أوساط القراءة على الرغم من غيابها للآن عن معرفة العديد من القراء
هذه الرواية التي تليها مجموعة كتب أخرى تتحدث عن حياة آن وقصصها المشوقة الأخرى تشكل تراث ادبي لكندا , وانا افتخر بوجود كاتبة أنثى مثل لوسي إستطاعت غزل الكلمات كأنها خيوط حرير لتبهج به قلوب القراء وتسحرهم بشخصية آن التي تدفع القراء لمحبتها ولتغير نظرتهم لهذه الحياة التي تبدو من عين آن كأنها الجنة .
ليت لنا القليل من خيالها وتأملاتها الكفيلة بحمل روح ساطعة ومشرقة داخلنا .
آن تعلم الصغار والكبار معنى جمال الشمس بأِشعتها الذهبية وضوء القمر الساحر والأشجار الجميلة والعشب الأخضر وكل ماهو في الحياة , آن تعطينا درسًا بجمال هذه الحياة التي تستحق أن نحلم فيها وأن نسعى ونجتهد ونتأمل في جمال هذا الكون البديع وان لا نخاف ولا نخجل من الغوص بأعماق خيالاتنا التي تسعد أرواحنا
غيرت آن حياة ماريلا وماثيو اللذان ماعادا يطيقان المرتفعات الخضراء بغيابها , سحرتهم بكلامها وثرثراتها الغنية الحالمة المبهجة
لن تكون القراءة الأخيرة للكاتبة الرائعة لوسي مونتغمري ولا القراءة الأخيرة لهذه الرواية التي أرى انها تستحق ان تكون في جميع مكتبات القراء وان تعاد قرائتها لعدة مرات
لا أظن ان أحدًا سيفهم ما اشعر به من بهجة ومحبة إلا عندما يقرأ الرواية بمحبة وتأني ليستمتع مع آن وماثيو وماريلا بتطورات الرواية بأفراحها وأحزانها , فكما هو حال الحياة كلنا سنمر بمواقف حزينة وخسارة تشكل صدمة عميقة علينا , لكن الحياة لا تنتهي ولا جمال الدنيا يزول كما قالت آن
ربما آن شخصية روائية , لكنها أجمل شخصية قد يقرأ عنها احد يومًا , تعيش في قلوب قرائها ومحبيها مذكرةً إياهم بجمال هذه الحياة وبقيمة الخيال الذي انعمه الله علينا
هؤلاء الثلاث غاليين على قلبي بشكل كبير جدًا .
ولأول مرة أقول ان بعض المسلسلات المقتبسة عن روايات لها جمال لا يقل عن روايتها , انصح بمشاهدة المسلسل المقتبس من الرواية بنواحي عديدة حيث شملت أجزاءه الثلاث أحداث الرواية الأولى مع بعض التغييرات وبشكل غير متوقع من شبكة نتفلكس لم يكن فيه لقطات غير محتشمة ليتناسب مع جميع الأعمار ويزرع اخلاق ومبادئ في نفوس المشاهدين
مادامت آن موجودة فكل ماتطل فيه سيكون ناجح ومبهج للقلوب ..
حسنًا , الآن آن بنت صبية جميلة ويافعة لديها احلام كبيرة بعد انهائها الدرجة الأولى هي وجليبرت بمعهد كوين للتدريس لتقرر ان تتخلى عن منحة الجامعة لتنقذ المرتفعات الخضراء بعد المصيبة التي حلت عليهم والأحزان التي مرت بهم
لكن ما زال هنالك الكثير ينتظر آن , لم تنتهي الحكاية هنا
إقتباسات :
كل ذلك بدأ عندما طلبت ماريلا كنثبرت من السيدة سبنسر التي نوت إحضار فتاة يتيمة لتتبناها من ملجأ نوفا سكوشيا , ان تحضر معها صبي من ملجأ الأيتام ليعاون ماثيو كنبثرت أخاها الخجول ستيني العمر الذي بدأت عليه علامات التعب والإرهاق ولم يعد يستطع الاهتمام لوحده بالمرتفعات الخضراء الساحرة بجمالها الطبيعي الخلاب
-المرتفعات الخضراء-
عند ذهاب ماثيو لإحضار الصبي من محطة القطارات , صدم صدمة تمنى فيها حضور ماريلا لحل المشكلة التي تواجهه كما اعتادت !!
لكن ما الذي حصل ؟؟
تم إحضار فتاة بدلًا من الصبي !!
وأي فتاة هذه , كثيرة الثرثرة , عميقة الخيال جامحة العواطف وحمراء الشعر مزين وجهها بالنمش الذي كانت تعتبره هذه الفتاة سبب شقاء حياتها هو وشعرها الأحمر الغير معتاد
eبحرف ال anne تلك هي
بالنسبة لشخص خجول مثل ماثيو كان من المتوقع ان يبقى صامتا غير قادر على التصرف ولا الحديث , لكن آن لم تدع فرصة للسكوت وتدارت الموقف . بدأت تبث له مشاعرها وسعادتها بحضوره , و أخيرًا ستحظى بعائلة تتبناها وفي جزيرة الأمير إدوارد ايضًا . يا سلام , بدى وكأن احلام آن بدأت تتحقق بعد تخلصها من ملجأ الأيتام بنوفا سكوشيا أخيرًا
-جزيرة الأمير إدوارد -
لكن لم يقوى ماثيو الحنون العطوف على تحطيم سعادتها وآمالها , ولم يكن من الإنساني تركها في محطة القطار لوحدها عندما بدأت الشمس تغرب مهللة بقدوم القمر , فقرر أخذها ليدع القرار الحاسم في يد أخته ماريلا
لم يكن يعلم ماثيو أن هذه الفتاة في طريق الذهاب للمنزل ستأسره وتزرع في قلبه شيء مشرق وساطع يجعله مسحورًا بها !! ويجعلهما توأما روح للأبد
طريقة تحدثها وإستخدامها للكلمات الكبيرة التي لا تسمع عادة من أطفال في سن ال11 أذهلته ايما إذهال. لكن آن تقول أن الأفكار الكبيرة تحتاج لأن توصف بعبارات كبيرة !
ولا ننسى شغفها بإعطاء كل ماتراه جميل إسم يليق به , مثل درب البهجىة الأبيض , بحيرة المياه البراقة , درب العشاق , شجرة ملكة الثلج
صدمة ماريلا بالمخلوقة الصغيرة الثرثراة كانت عظيمة . إستائت ماريلا بالخطأ الذي أقدمت عليه السيدة سبينسر . ماحاجتها بفتاة ثرثارة ؟
غايتها صبي يساعد ماثيو في تخفيف عبئ اعمال الزراعة والحصاد مع ماثيو
هذه الفتاة لن تعود عليهما بأي نفع ولا فائدة . لكن ماثيو الخجول الصامت حاول ان يقنع ماريلا بكونها قد تفيدهما ببعض الكلمات الخجولة , لكن قرار ماريلا كان حاسمًا لإنها لم تدرك ان قلب ماثيو تعلق بهذه الصغيرة الدرامية
ولكم أن تتخيلوا حالة الإحباط والأسى التي انفجرت بآن بعد هذه الخيبة العظيمة بعدما قطعت كل هذه المسافات !!
حياتها كما تقول , مقبرة للأحلام
ولكن حتى ماريلا ستغير رأيها في آن وستشعر بطعم اللوعة والمرارة عند رحيلها , لم تعد المرتفعات الخضراء هادئة وموحشة كما كانت . أصبحت الحياة تعج والشمس تشرق والنجوم تسطع في المرتفعات الخضراء بعد قدوم آن
في هذه الرواية نشاهد آن الطفلة ذات ال11 عامًا تنمو , تخطأ اخطاء فادحة وتتعلم منها وتجتهد خلال خمس سنوات , من لحظة قدومها للمرتفعات الخضراء الى وصولها لسن ال 16 بعد ان اصبحت تهتم بطموحاتها اكثر من ثرثراتها
في 382 صفحة تعرفنا الكاتبة العظيمة لوسي مونتغمري على تطورات مراحل آن بإحاطة العديد من الشخصيات المحببة للقلب والمضحكة . وبترجمة سكينة إبراهيم الرائعة التي شكلت تحفة أدبية مترجمة
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السيدة ريتشيل ليند من أبرز شخصيات أفونليا , والمعروفة بتداول القيل والقال من مصادر موثوقة وبروزها كعنصر فعال وعملي في أفونليا
وهي التي سخطت على ماريلا عند معرفتها برغبتهما في التبني والتي إستهزأت من شكل آن بجسمها الهزيل ونمشها وشعرها الأحمر فأنفجرت بها الأخيرة لتنمو بعدها بينهما علاقة حلوة تناكد فيها إحادهما الأخرى
ديانا باري الصديقة الصدوقة لآن , التي تعاهدت معها آن على أن تظلا صديقتا الدرب وان يتشاركا الفرح والمرح والخيال والأمآل والأحلام
وابننا الصبي جيلبرت بلايث الذي أثار سخط آن وتصرف بشكل غير مقصود بإثارة حنقها عندما نعتها بالجزرة ليدفعها للحديث , لكن هذا أدى لقطع كل سبل التواصل بينهما خلال 5 سنوات حقدت فيها آن على جيلبرت الذي ندم أشد الندم وماكان قاصدًا سوا مشاكستها , لكن كل ثلج يذوب يومًا ما . فجيلبرت هو الآخر يتميز بالإجتهاد الذي تنافس فيه في أفونليا مع آن لتسابقهما الدائم على إحراز أعلى المراكز حتى مع وجود ولع وحزن مقاطعة آن له .
و لا ننسى طيبة قلب الإخوة الأعزبين ماريلا وماثيو اللذان لم يتقاعسا عن تلبية حاجيات آن وتربيتها بشكل صحيح وتقويمها على الرغم من إنعدام تجاربهما بتربية الأطفال وهما اللذان لم يختارا شريكًا لهذه الحياة ليأتي عطاء الله لهما بآن ويمثلان العديد من الصفات الطيبة والأخلاق والمبادئ الحميدة بحبهما لآن ولتصرفهما معها بالطريقة الصائبة ولفخرهما بها
حقيقة بدون مبالغة , هذه الرواية أروع رواية اقرأها على الإطلاق , وأظن انه من المعيب على دور النشر ان لا تساهم بطباعة وإعادة نشر هذه التحفة التي ستسحر العديد من القلوب
احتاجت الرواية التي نشرت في عام 1908 , 100 عام تقريبًا لتصبح معروفة بين أوساط القراءة على الرغم من غيابها للآن عن معرفة العديد من القراء
هذه الرواية التي تليها مجموعة كتب أخرى تتحدث عن حياة آن وقصصها المشوقة الأخرى تشكل تراث ادبي لكندا , وانا افتخر بوجود كاتبة أنثى مثل لوسي إستطاعت غزل الكلمات كأنها خيوط حرير لتبهج به قلوب القراء وتسحرهم بشخصية آن التي تدفع القراء لمحبتها ولتغير نظرتهم لهذه الحياة التي تبدو من عين آن كأنها الجنة .
ليت لنا القليل من خيالها وتأملاتها الكفيلة بحمل روح ساطعة ومشرقة داخلنا .
آن تعلم الصغار والكبار معنى جمال الشمس بأِشعتها الذهبية وضوء القمر الساحر والأشجار الجميلة والعشب الأخضر وكل ماهو في الحياة , آن تعطينا درسًا بجمال هذه الحياة التي تستحق أن نحلم فيها وأن نسعى ونجتهد ونتأمل في جمال هذا الكون البديع وان لا نخاف ولا نخجل من الغوص بأعماق خيالاتنا التي تسعد أرواحنا
غيرت آن حياة ماريلا وماثيو اللذان ماعادا يطيقان المرتفعات الخضراء بغيابها , سحرتهم بكلامها وثرثراتها الغنية الحالمة المبهجة
لن تكون القراءة الأخيرة للكاتبة الرائعة لوسي مونتغمري ولا القراءة الأخيرة لهذه الرواية التي أرى انها تستحق ان تكون في جميع مكتبات القراء وان تعاد قرائتها لعدة مرات
لا أظن ان أحدًا سيفهم ما اشعر به من بهجة ومحبة إلا عندما يقرأ الرواية بمحبة وتأني ليستمتع مع آن وماثيو وماريلا بتطورات الرواية بأفراحها وأحزانها , فكما هو حال الحياة كلنا سنمر بمواقف حزينة وخسارة تشكل صدمة عميقة علينا , لكن الحياة لا تنتهي ولا جمال الدنيا يزول كما قالت آن
ربما آن شخصية روائية , لكنها أجمل شخصية قد يقرأ عنها احد يومًا , تعيش في قلوب قرائها ومحبيها مذكرةً إياهم بجمال هذه الحياة وبقيمة الخيال الذي انعمه الله علينا
هؤلاء الثلاث غاليين على قلبي بشكل كبير جدًا .
ولأول مرة أقول ان بعض المسلسلات المقتبسة عن روايات لها جمال لا يقل عن روايتها , انصح بمشاهدة المسلسل المقتبس من الرواية بنواحي عديدة حيث شملت أجزاءه الثلاث أحداث الرواية الأولى مع بعض التغييرات وبشكل غير متوقع من شبكة نتفلكس لم يكن فيه لقطات غير محتشمة ليتناسب مع جميع الأعمار ويزرع اخلاق ومبادئ في نفوس المشاهدين
مادامت آن موجودة فكل ماتطل فيه سيكون ناجح ومبهج للقلوب ..
حسنًا , الآن آن بنت صبية جميلة ويافعة لديها احلام كبيرة بعد انهائها الدرجة الأولى هي وجليبرت بمعهد كوين للتدريس لتقرر ان تتخلى عن منحة الجامعة لتنقذ المرتفعات الخضراء بعد المصيبة التي حلت عليهم والأحزان التي مرت بهم
لكن ما زال هنالك الكثير ينتظر آن , لم تنتهي الحكاية هنا
إقتباسات :
March 3, 2022
Anne of Green Gables is everything. I got interested in reading this book after hearing Ariel gush about it for years. And I initially wanted to save it for October (“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” – duh) but I'm so glad that I didn't. I fell sick in February and was in the mood to read a cute children's book, which is why I picked up this book.
Anne of Green Gables recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl, who is mistakenly sent to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm, Green Gables, in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.
And yes, it's a story suitable for children but I feel like it hits closer to home as an adult. Much of its humor (and believe me, this book is HILARIOUS) would have been lost on me as a child. Also the intricate character dynamic of Anne and her new foster parents. I am really happy that I read it as an adult.
Anne of Green Gables is charming, hilarious, heart-warming, and gut-wrenching at the same time. I didn't expect to laugh out loud (for real, no hyperbole!) every other page. Every single joke landed with me. Montgomery's witty writing style, the banter, Anne's hilarious monologues and Marilla's unsympathetic responses, the little adventures and mishaps that Anne gets herself into on a daily basis – it's all so wonderful.
This book feels like a spring morning, with the first sun in months on your skin, it tastes like your favorite apple pie, it smells like the ocean. I know I'm repeating myself but it is simply wonderful. I didn't expect to fall in love with Green Gables and its inhabitants as much as I did – Anne, Matthew and Marilla will always have a place in my heart. As well as the other inhabitants of Avonlea, most notably Diana (who is a queen), Gilbert (who is everything), Mrs. Rachel Lynde (who is an icon!), and Miss Stacy (who is doing the Lord's work out here). I love all of them more than life itself.
Anne of Green Gables did not only make me laugh in ways I haven't laughed in a long time (at a book), it also made me cry, more like historically sob over the pages, so much so that they're wavy right now. Since I had read through the chapter titles before jumping into the story, I was pretty certain that something would happen at the end of the book that would completely wreck me. And yes, I was right. It happened. And it wrecked me. [I'm really happy that the show, "Anne with an E", took a different approach and didn't include that event in any of their three seasons. I would not have been able to handle it again.]
The only minor criticism I have of this novel is that it could've been 50-70 pages shorter. The first half was AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING – like I said before, literally laughing out loud on every page – but when Anne grew up, I felt like Montgomery could've told her story a little more tighter, as some of Anne's adventures and mishaps just started to feel repetitive and I wanted to see her character growth a bit earlier.
Nonetheless, I still flew through this 400+ pages children's classic in four days – whilst nursing a headache – so it was still a true page-turner for me. I cannot wait to return to the world of Avonlea some day – ya'll have convinced me to give the second and third book in the series a shot. I need to see more of my baby Gilbert!
Favorite/ notable moments: (spoilers ahead!)
– ‘If Marilla had said that Matthew had gone to Bright River to meet a kangaroo from Australia Mrs Rachel could not have been more astonished.’ – from the first chapter on I knew I was going to be in for a fun ride; Montgomery's wit and humor is unmatched and EXACTLY my cup of tea
– ‘She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main.’ – and from her first appearance, I fell in love with Anne Shirley
– Anne telling Matthew: ‘I’ve never belonged to anybody – not really.’
– ‘Will you please call me Cordelia?’ she said eagerly. ‘Call you Cordelia! Is that your name?’ – Marilla was like WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON UP IN HERE???
– ‘I can’t. I’m in the depths of despair.’ – half of the humor is that Anne is so fucking extra, she's the most dramatic of children and her vocabulary is UNMATCHED
– ‘And when people mean to be good to you, you don’t mind very much when they’re not quite – always.’ – I found it really interesting how differently Anne’s past abuse are portrayed in the book vs the show ("Anne with an E"), it's much more explicit in the show due to all the horrifying flashback scenes where we see Anne getting whipped by her former foster parents and bossed around, bullied and assaulted at the orphanage, the book is much less overt
– however, similarly to Harry Potter, it's pretty unrealistic that Anne got out of these horrifying situations without any mental issues or problems, just like Harry, she's basically the purest, most naive and even confident and self-assured child, and whilst I love that for her, it's not a realistic portrayal of how children who are abused/neglected FOR YEARS during their early childhood and teenage years feel and act
– Marilla telling Anne: “I haven’t any use at all for little girls who aren’t neat.” was such a fucking low point, I love Marilla but especially in the beginning of the book she is highly manipulative and emotionally abusive towards Anne (by dangling the threat of not keeping her over her head constantly), it was hard to read
– However, it is worth of note that Marilla is the one shouldering most of the responsibility of Green Gables, therefore, she has to be the practical (harsher) one, whereas Matthew – who comes across as more sympathetic – can allow himself to keep his head in the clouds and indulge Anne's every whim (but only BECAUSE Marilla manages everything)
– ‘I never say any prayers.’ […] Marilla decided that Anne’s religious training must be begun at once. Plainly there was no time to be lost. – Marilla really was like WE BROUGHT A HEATHEN TO THIS HOUSE
– ‘I’d love to call you Aunt Marilla,’ said Anne wistfully. – WHY IS SHE SO PURE?
– After Mrs Rachel calls her ugly: ‘You have hurt mine worse than they were ever hurt before even by Mrs Thomas intoxicated husband. And I’ll never forgive your for it, never, never!’ – first of all, Rachel was an ass for that, but more notably, again, we get some hints at Anne's past abuse but nothing specific ... due to the fact that it's left to the imagination, one imagines the worst, but if Rachel calling her ugly is worse than anything Mr Thomas did, then it couldn't have been as bad as I first imagined (= sexual assault)
– ‘Puffed sleeves are so fashionable now. It would give me such a thrill, Marilla, just to wear a dress with puffed sleeves.’ – I love her more than life itself!
– When Anne and Marilla went to pay the Barrys a visit, so that Anne could be introduced to Diana, Mrs Barry asked: ’How are you?’ And Anne replied: ‘I am well in body although considerably rumpled in spirit, thank you, ma’am,’ said Anne gravely.
– ‘I don’t feel that I could endure the disappointment if anything happened to prevent me from getting to the picnic. I suppose I’d live through it, but I’m certain it would be a lifelong sorrow.’ – ANNE HAS ZERO CHILL
– ‘I believe this child is crazy.’ – same, Marilla, SAME
– After Marilla forbids her to attend the picnic: ‘My heart is broken. You’ll feel remorse of conscience some day, I expect, for breaking it, Marilla, but I forgive you.’
– Anne wishing she’d been the one who nearly drowned during the class trip instead of Jane Andrews – LOL
– Mr Phillips can suck my ass => whipping his students, humiliating them in front of the class, and let's not talk about the Prissy situation (PUKE) ... I love how they showed his true colors in the show!
– Once, when nobody was looking, Gilbert took from his desk a little pink candy heart with a gold motto on it, ‘You are sweet’, and slipped it under the curve of Anne’s arm. (HOW SWEET) Whereupon Anne arose, took the pink heart gingerly between the tips of her fingers, dropped it on the floor, ground it to powder beneath her heel, and resumed her position without deigning to bestow a glance on Gilbert. (CAN SHE CHILL? NO? OH, OKAY.)
– After Diana’s mother forbids her to associate with Anne (due to the wine debacle) and the girls have to say their farewell: ‘Ten minutes isn’t very long to say an eternal farewell. Oh, Diana, will you promise faithfully never to forget me, the friend of your youth, no matter what dearer friends may caress thee?’
– ‘Diana gave me a lock of her hair and I’m going to sew it up in a little bag and wear it around my neck all my life. Please see that it is buried with me, for I don’t believe I’ll live very long. Perhaps when she sees me lying cold and dead before her Mrs Barry may feel remorse for what she has done and will let Diana come to my funeral.’ – I AM TELLING YOU SHE HAS NO CHILL
– ‘Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?’
– Marilla literally being xenophobic, she literally hates all foreigners and only trust Canadians ??? (‘How often have I told you never to let one of those Italians in the house! I don’t believe in encouraging them to come around at all.’ OKAY KAREN)
– In the sudden stab of fear that pierced to her very heart she realized what Anne had come to mean to her. => I really love Marilla's arc (in regards to Anne) though, she started out as this tough "unfeeling" woman and came to love her like her own daughter, BEAUTIFUL!
– ‘I don’t believe I’d really want to be a sensible person, because they are so unromantic. Mrs Lynde says there is no danger of my ever being one…’ – Rachel telling it straight as it is
– AUNT JOSEPHINE ... I loved her in the books already (her asking the girls to sent her more story? HOW PURE) but her take on the show (literally being a lesbian icon) was also refreshing
– Matthew telling Anne: ‘Don’t give up all your romance…’ I AM SOBBING
– ‘That’s the worst of growing up, and I’m beginning to realize it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don’t seem half so wonderful to you when you get them.’ – I didn't remember asking for a therapy session, hello?
– Gilbert had ambitions, she knew, and Ruby Gillis did not seem the sort of person with whom such could be profitably discussed. => Anne, honey, I know you’re jealous but please stop shaming this girl
– ‘Well now, I’d rather have you than a dozen boys, Anne,’ said Matthew patting her hand. ‘Just mind you that – rather than a dozen boys. Well now, I guess it wasn’t a boy that took the Avery scholarship, was it? It was a girl – my girl – my girl that I’m proud of.’ – THESE ARE LITERALLY MATTHEW’S LAST WORDS TO ANNE, I AM NOT OKAY
– “The Reaper whose Name is Death” => As soon as I saw that chapter title I knew I wouldn’t be ready for what’s to come … this was the most painful chapter, I literally SOBBED so much, I can’t remember the last time I cried this hard during a book (…probably when I read a memoir about the Rwandan genocide … yeah, that’s how bad I cried)
– For the first time shy, quiet Matthew Cuthbert was a person of central importance; the white majesty of death had fallen on him and set him apart as one crowned. – STOP STOP STOP, the tears are flowing again!!!
– Anne deciding to stay with Marilla and help her with the farm instead of going away to study at Redmond – I AM SOBBING
– “When I left Queen’s my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend.” – STOP STOP STOP
– Gilbert giving up his teaching position for Anne, + the two of them reconciling at the end of the book – I AM SOFT ... I am only reading the next two books for their relationship tbh, I NEED to see them together!
***
Update 1: For the first time in my life, I got myself a Netflix subscription. Yes, it was for Anne with an E. Just watched the first episode (literally sobbed the whole time). I HAVE ZERO REGRETS. Can't wait to see where this show takes me!
Update 2: It has only taken in a week to watch the entirety of all THREE SEASONS of "Anne with an E" (...and oh boy I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS, not all pleasant, especially when it comes to how trauma-ridden and separated and unresolved the storylines of the Black and indigenous characters were...) and I need more of this world. I can't believe that season 3 basically ends where book 1 ends ... with Anne wanting to go to college. GAAAAAAH. I wanted so desperately to see her in college and SEE her relationship with Gilbert ... guess I'll have to read book 2 and 3 after all. Will place my order shortly lmao.
Anne of Green Gables recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl, who is mistakenly sent to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm, Green Gables, in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.
And yes, it's a story suitable for children but I feel like it hits closer to home as an adult. Much of its humor (and believe me, this book is HILARIOUS) would have been lost on me as a child. Also the intricate character dynamic of Anne and her new foster parents. I am really happy that I read it as an adult.
But really, Marilla, one can’t stay sad very long in such an interesting world, can one?I feel like this book can be truly hit or miss for people, and it all hinges on whether or not you will take to Anne as a character. She's a child, 11 at the beginning of the book, 16 when it ends, so she is definitely annoying af at times, self-centered, oblivious to the problems of other people, she literally won't shut up and I'm positive that her dialogue makes up at least 60% of this novel. ;) So, she's not a character that just everyone will love. But if you do, you will fall head over heels in love with this book.
Anne of Green Gables is charming, hilarious, heart-warming, and gut-wrenching at the same time. I didn't expect to laugh out loud (for real, no hyperbole!) every other page. Every single joke landed with me. Montgomery's witty writing style, the banter, Anne's hilarious monologues and Marilla's unsympathetic responses, the little adventures and mishaps that Anne gets herself into on a daily basis – it's all so wonderful.
This book feels like a spring morning, with the first sun in months on your skin, it tastes like your favorite apple pie, it smells like the ocean. I know I'm repeating myself but it is simply wonderful. I didn't expect to fall in love with Green Gables and its inhabitants as much as I did – Anne, Matthew and Marilla will always have a place in my heart. As well as the other inhabitants of Avonlea, most notably Diana (who is a queen), Gilbert (who is everything), Mrs. Rachel Lynde (who is an icon!), and Miss Stacy (who is doing the Lord's work out here). I love all of them more than life itself.
Anne of Green Gables did not only make me laugh in ways I haven't laughed in a long time (at a book), it also made me cry, more like historically sob over the pages, so much so that they're wavy right now. Since I had read through the chapter titles before jumping into the story, I was pretty certain that something would happen at the end of the book that would completely wreck me. And yes, I was right. It happened. And it wrecked me. [I'm really happy that the show, "Anne with an E", took a different approach and didn't include that event in any of their three seasons. I would not have been able to handle it again.]
The only minor criticism I have of this novel is that it could've been 50-70 pages shorter. The first half was AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING – like I said before, literally laughing out loud on every page – but when Anne grew up, I felt like Montgomery could've told her story a little more tighter, as some of Anne's adventures and mishaps just started to feel repetitive and I wanted to see her character growth a bit earlier.
Nonetheless, I still flew through this 400+ pages children's classic in four days – whilst nursing a headache – so it was still a true page-turner for me. I cannot wait to return to the world of Avonlea some day – ya'll have convinced me to give the second and third book in the series a shot. I need to see more of my baby Gilbert!
Favorite/ notable moments: (spoilers ahead!)
– ‘If Marilla had said that Matthew had gone to Bright River to meet a kangaroo from Australia Mrs Rachel could not have been more astonished.’ – from the first chapter on I knew I was going to be in for a fun ride; Montgomery's wit and humor is unmatched and EXACTLY my cup of tea
– ‘She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main.’ – and from her first appearance, I fell in love with Anne Shirley
– Anne telling Matthew: ‘I’ve never belonged to anybody – not really.’
– ‘Will you please call me Cordelia?’ she said eagerly. ‘Call you Cordelia! Is that your name?’ – Marilla was like WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON UP IN HERE???
– ‘I can’t. I’m in the depths of despair.’ – half of the humor is that Anne is so fucking extra, she's the most dramatic of children and her vocabulary is UNMATCHED
– ‘And when people mean to be good to you, you don’t mind very much when they’re not quite – always.’ – I found it really interesting how differently Anne’s past abuse are portrayed in the book vs the show ("Anne with an E"), it's much more explicit in the show due to all the horrifying flashback scenes where we see Anne getting whipped by her former foster parents and bossed around, bullied and assaulted at the orphanage, the book is much less overt
– however, similarly to Harry Potter, it's pretty unrealistic that Anne got out of these horrifying situations without any mental issues or problems, just like Harry, she's basically the purest, most naive and even confident and self-assured child, and whilst I love that for her, it's not a realistic portrayal of how children who are abused/neglected FOR YEARS during their early childhood and teenage years feel and act
– Marilla telling Anne: “I haven’t any use at all for little girls who aren’t neat.” was such a fucking low point, I love Marilla but especially in the beginning of the book she is highly manipulative and emotionally abusive towards Anne (by dangling the threat of not keeping her over her head constantly), it was hard to read
– However, it is worth of note that Marilla is the one shouldering most of the responsibility of Green Gables, therefore, she has to be the practical (harsher) one, whereas Matthew – who comes across as more sympathetic – can allow himself to keep his head in the clouds and indulge Anne's every whim (but only BECAUSE Marilla manages everything)
– ‘I never say any prayers.’ […] Marilla decided that Anne’s religious training must be begun at once. Plainly there was no time to be lost. – Marilla really was like WE BROUGHT A HEATHEN TO THIS HOUSE
– ‘I’d love to call you Aunt Marilla,’ said Anne wistfully. – WHY IS SHE SO PURE?
– After Mrs Rachel calls her ugly: ‘You have hurt mine worse than they were ever hurt before even by Mrs Thomas intoxicated husband. And I’ll never forgive your for it, never, never!’ – first of all, Rachel was an ass for that, but more notably, again, we get some hints at Anne's past abuse but nothing specific ... due to the fact that it's left to the imagination, one imagines the worst, but if Rachel calling her ugly is worse than anything Mr Thomas did, then it couldn't have been as bad as I first imagined (= sexual assault)
– ‘Puffed sleeves are so fashionable now. It would give me such a thrill, Marilla, just to wear a dress with puffed sleeves.’ – I love her more than life itself!
– When Anne and Marilla went to pay the Barrys a visit, so that Anne could be introduced to Diana, Mrs Barry asked: ’How are you?’ And Anne replied: ‘I am well in body although considerably rumpled in spirit, thank you, ma’am,’ said Anne gravely.
– ‘I don’t feel that I could endure the disappointment if anything happened to prevent me from getting to the picnic. I suppose I’d live through it, but I’m certain it would be a lifelong sorrow.’ – ANNE HAS ZERO CHILL
– ‘I believe this child is crazy.’ – same, Marilla, SAME
– After Marilla forbids her to attend the picnic: ‘My heart is broken. You’ll feel remorse of conscience some day, I expect, for breaking it, Marilla, but I forgive you.’
– Anne wishing she’d been the one who nearly drowned during the class trip instead of Jane Andrews – LOL
– Mr Phillips can suck my ass => whipping his students, humiliating them in front of the class, and let's not talk about the Prissy situation (PUKE) ... I love how they showed his true colors in the show!
– Once, when nobody was looking, Gilbert took from his desk a little pink candy heart with a gold motto on it, ‘You are sweet’, and slipped it under the curve of Anne’s arm. (HOW SWEET) Whereupon Anne arose, took the pink heart gingerly between the tips of her fingers, dropped it on the floor, ground it to powder beneath her heel, and resumed her position without deigning to bestow a glance on Gilbert. (CAN SHE CHILL? NO? OH, OKAY.)
– After Diana’s mother forbids her to associate with Anne (due to the wine debacle) and the girls have to say their farewell: ‘Ten minutes isn’t very long to say an eternal farewell. Oh, Diana, will you promise faithfully never to forget me, the friend of your youth, no matter what dearer friends may caress thee?’
– ‘Diana gave me a lock of her hair and I’m going to sew it up in a little bag and wear it around my neck all my life. Please see that it is buried with me, for I don’t believe I’ll live very long. Perhaps when she sees me lying cold and dead before her Mrs Barry may feel remorse for what she has done and will let Diana come to my funeral.’ – I AM TELLING YOU SHE HAS NO CHILL
– ‘Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?’
– Marilla literally being xenophobic, she literally hates all foreigners and only trust Canadians ??? (‘How often have I told you never to let one of those Italians in the house! I don’t believe in encouraging them to come around at all.’ OKAY KAREN)
– In the sudden stab of fear that pierced to her very heart she realized what Anne had come to mean to her. => I really love Marilla's arc (in regards to Anne) though, she started out as this tough "unfeeling" woman and came to love her like her own daughter, BEAUTIFUL!
– ‘I don’t believe I’d really want to be a sensible person, because they are so unromantic. Mrs Lynde says there is no danger of my ever being one…’ – Rachel telling it straight as it is
– AUNT JOSEPHINE ... I loved her in the books already (her asking the girls to sent her more story? HOW PURE) but her take on the show (literally being a lesbian icon) was also refreshing
– Matthew telling Anne: ‘Don’t give up all your romance…’ I AM SOBBING
– ‘That’s the worst of growing up, and I’m beginning to realize it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don’t seem half so wonderful to you when you get them.’ – I didn't remember asking for a therapy session, hello?
– Gilbert had ambitions, she knew, and Ruby Gillis did not seem the sort of person with whom such could be profitably discussed. => Anne, honey, I know you’re jealous but please stop shaming this girl
– ‘Well now, I’d rather have you than a dozen boys, Anne,’ said Matthew patting her hand. ‘Just mind you that – rather than a dozen boys. Well now, I guess it wasn’t a boy that took the Avery scholarship, was it? It was a girl – my girl – my girl that I’m proud of.’ – THESE ARE LITERALLY MATTHEW’S LAST WORDS TO ANNE, I AM NOT OKAY
– “The Reaper whose Name is Death” => As soon as I saw that chapter title I knew I wouldn’t be ready for what’s to come … this was the most painful chapter, I literally SOBBED so much, I can’t remember the last time I cried this hard during a book (…probably when I read a memoir about the Rwandan genocide … yeah, that’s how bad I cried)
– For the first time shy, quiet Matthew Cuthbert was a person of central importance; the white majesty of death had fallen on him and set him apart as one crowned. – STOP STOP STOP, the tears are flowing again!!!
– Anne deciding to stay with Marilla and help her with the farm instead of going away to study at Redmond – I AM SOBBING
– “When I left Queen’s my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend.” – STOP STOP STOP
– Gilbert giving up his teaching position for Anne, + the two of them reconciling at the end of the book – I AM SOFT ... I am only reading the next two books for their relationship tbh, I NEED to see them together!
***
Update 1: For the first time in my life, I got myself a Netflix subscription. Yes, it was for Anne with an E. Just watched the first episode (literally sobbed the whole time). I HAVE ZERO REGRETS. Can't wait to see where this show takes me!
Update 2: It has only taken in a week to watch the entirety of all THREE SEASONS of "Anne with an E" (...and oh boy I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS, not all pleasant, especially when it comes to how trauma-ridden and separated and unresolved the storylines of the Black and indigenous characters were...) and I need more of this world. I can't believe that season 3 basically ends where book 1 ends ... with Anne wanting to go to college. GAAAAAAH. I wanted so desperately to see her in college and SEE her relationship with Gilbert ... guess I'll have to read book 2 and 3 after all. Will place my order shortly lmao.
January 28, 2019
Which books changed me as a reader?
One would like to answer that Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or Dickens or Lagerlöf or Proust determined my path as a lifelong reader. But I doubt that is the case for most of us. They are more often the effect of falling in love with an entirely different kind of book, a root cause leading all the way to tackling Ulysses.
One of the most inspiring books I read as a young girl was the seemingly endless series of Anne (with an "e"), who has all the odds against her, and yet grows up to be a loving, caring, independent and determined woman who consistently follows the path her heart and brain dictate to her, even or especially when it goes against the narrow conventions of her conservative environment. She doesn't win the hearts of her community by being sweet and subdued and grateful, though. She wins them by showing bravery and creativity!
She taught me to love the poem "The Lady of Shalott", and I learned it by heart with her! She taught me small town prejudice and the value of education to stand above pettiness. She taught me that love can exist in the strangest of places, and I think I loved her in the same way her shy stepfather Matthew did. She taught me that one can be wrong and still get it right.
Lucy Maud Montgomery taught me the power of storytelling to change the hearts of adolescents who are reading and living in the world of fiction. For I have grown up in rural Canada a century ago. Yes, I have, several times! Just like I grew up in an English boarding school with Sarah Crewe, admiring A Little Princess the most when she was starving.
...
On either side the river lie
long fields of barley and of rye
...
One would like to answer that Tolstoy or Dostoevsky or Dickens or Lagerlöf or Proust determined my path as a lifelong reader. But I doubt that is the case for most of us. They are more often the effect of falling in love with an entirely different kind of book, a root cause leading all the way to tackling Ulysses.
One of the most inspiring books I read as a young girl was the seemingly endless series of Anne (with an "e"), who has all the odds against her, and yet grows up to be a loving, caring, independent and determined woman who consistently follows the path her heart and brain dictate to her, even or especially when it goes against the narrow conventions of her conservative environment. She doesn't win the hearts of her community by being sweet and subdued and grateful, though. She wins them by showing bravery and creativity!
She taught me to love the poem "The Lady of Shalott", and I learned it by heart with her! She taught me small town prejudice and the value of education to stand above pettiness. She taught me that love can exist in the strangest of places, and I think I loved her in the same way her shy stepfather Matthew did. She taught me that one can be wrong and still get it right.
Lucy Maud Montgomery taught me the power of storytelling to change the hearts of adolescents who are reading and living in the world of fiction. For I have grown up in rural Canada a century ago. Yes, I have, several times! Just like I grew up in an English boarding school with Sarah Crewe, admiring A Little Princess the most when she was starving.
...
On either side the river lie
long fields of barley and of rye
...
January 12, 2024
Matthew 😭
***
I need some color for the grey winter 💚
***
I need some color for the grey winter 💚
June 14, 2018
One I really should have read when I was younger. 😕
January 26, 2025
✩ 5 stars ✩
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
Back in college, I had a friend who was completely obsessed with this book. She worked it into a shocking amount of conversations and I remember thinking that it really couldn’t be THAT good. A children’s book about an orphan girl in the middle of nowhere? Sounded pretty dull to me, but boy was I wrong! Here to eat crow because I just fell in love with this book. 😍
I’m not sure what I really expected, but I certainly wasn’t expecting Anne. I saw @s.penkevich describe her as an ADHD icon and I think that’s pretty spot on. As a very neurotypical person with a relatively quiet brain, I can’t even fathom processing all her thoughts and emotions, let alone allowing them all to fly out of my mouth in conversation. 😅 I often find that level of chatter exhausting and overstimulating, but there is something so lovable about Anne. She is so resilient despite her circumstances and has such a contagious fervor for life. I want to call her a bright light in a mundane world, but I bet Anne would scold me for calling the world “mundane,” so I’ll settle for saying she is a pure and beautiful soul. ♥️
As much as I adored Anne, I loved Matthew Cuthbert even more. He may just be the sweetest man ever written. 🥹 I loved the juxtaposition of their two personalities and how well suited for each other they were despite their differences. She wasn’t what Marilla and Matthew thought they wanted but she was exactly what they needed. When he commissioned her a dress so she could have puffy sleeves like the other girls… 🥲😭 So adorable!! It seemed clear that he didn’t quite view himself as a father to her or think very highly of his contributions to her upbringing, but all I saw was an excellent dad! ♥️
I was a little disconcerted when I realized the character I identify with most is probably Marilla. 😅 I’m choosing to see it as a positive that I’m sensible and dependable rather than thinking of myself as old and boring. 🤣
By the way… this IS a rivals-to-lovers romance, right?! Someone please tell me I’m not delulu about her and Gilbert because I am totally shipping them. I might have to read on just to see them together.
This is definitely in my top 5 classics now, maybe even top 3! Everyone should read this book! Trust me when I say that you will love it! 💗
✨Favorite Quotes✨
“Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it… yet.”
“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”
“Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them-- that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.”
“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?”
“It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
“That's the worst of growing up, and I'm beginning to realize it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don't seem half so wonderful to you when you get them.”
“Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?But am I talking too much? People are always telling me I do. Would you rather I didn't talk? If you say so I'll stop. I can STOP when I make up my mind to it, although it's difficult.”
“I'm not a bit changed--not really. I'm only just pruned down and branched out. The real ME--back here--is just the same.”
✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼
Pre-read: This has been on my TBR for AGES and I’m so excited to finally be reading it! I’ve heard only great things about this book and my expectations are currently on the moon. 🌕 I honestly think I might cry if this isn’t great. 😂
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
Back in college, I had a friend who was completely obsessed with this book. She worked it into a shocking amount of conversations and I remember thinking that it really couldn’t be THAT good. A children’s book about an orphan girl in the middle of nowhere? Sounded pretty dull to me, but boy was I wrong! Here to eat crow because I just fell in love with this book. 😍
I’m not sure what I really expected, but I certainly wasn’t expecting Anne. I saw @s.penkevich describe her as an ADHD icon and I think that’s pretty spot on. As a very neurotypical person with a relatively quiet brain, I can’t even fathom processing all her thoughts and emotions, let alone allowing them all to fly out of my mouth in conversation. 😅 I often find that level of chatter exhausting and overstimulating, but there is something so lovable about Anne. She is so resilient despite her circumstances and has such a contagious fervor for life. I want to call her a bright light in a mundane world, but I bet Anne would scold me for calling the world “mundane,” so I’ll settle for saying she is a pure and beautiful soul. ♥️
As much as I adored Anne, I loved Matthew Cuthbert even more. He may just be the sweetest man ever written. 🥹 I loved the juxtaposition of their two personalities and how well suited for each other they were despite their differences. She wasn’t what Marilla and Matthew thought they wanted but she was exactly what they needed. When he commissioned her a dress so she could have puffy sleeves like the other girls… 🥲😭 So adorable!! It seemed clear that he didn’t quite view himself as a father to her or think very highly of his contributions to her upbringing, but all I saw was an excellent dad! ♥️
I was a little disconcerted when I realized the character I identify with most is probably Marilla. 😅 I’m choosing to see it as a positive that I’m sensible and dependable rather than thinking of myself as old and boring. 🤣
By the way… this IS a rivals-to-lovers romance, right?! Someone please tell me I’m not delulu about her and Gilbert because I am totally shipping them. I might have to read on just to see them together.
This is definitely in my top 5 classics now, maybe even top 3! Everyone should read this book! Trust me when I say that you will love it! 💗
✨Favorite Quotes✨
“Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it… yet.”
“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”
“Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them-- that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.”
“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?”
“It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
“That's the worst of growing up, and I'm beginning to realize it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don't seem half so wonderful to you when you get them.”
“Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?But am I talking too much? People are always telling me I do. Would you rather I didn't talk? If you say so I'll stop. I can STOP when I make up my mind to it, although it's difficult.”
“I'm not a bit changed--not really. I'm only just pruned down and branched out. The real ME--back here--is just the same.”
✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼
Pre-read: This has been on my TBR for AGES and I’m so excited to finally be reading it! I’ve heard only great things about this book and my expectations are currently on the moon. 🌕 I honestly think I might cry if this isn’t great. 😂
August 6, 2018
A Beautiful Dreamer
As charming as she is Anne of Green Gables makes you fall in love with her not for her wit, but for her wholehearted love of life and the beauty of this world. She hates and loves with intense power for a little girl. I cried and smiled often during this story and I am so glad I finally read it.
As charming as she is Anne of Green Gables makes you fall in love with her not for her wit, but for her wholehearted love of life and the beauty of this world. She hates and loves with intense power for a little girl. I cried and smiled often during this story and I am so glad I finally read it.
July 11, 2023
Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
1. a cousin loaned me her copies of the first three books in this series back when I was only 13-years-old. I remember enjoying them then, but I wanted to refresh my memory before continuing on with the rest of this series;
2. it is available for free on Hoopla; and,
3. July 2023 is my "O' Canada Month"!
Praises:
Author Lucy Maud Montgomery fleshes out her characters in a most heartwarming manner!
MC Anne Shirley - early on in the story, I had to empathize with this spirited young girl's unfortunate upbringing. I wonder if her overactive imagination was a matter of survival during her earlier neglectful years. I found her to be quite endearing with her dramatic, passionate and kindhearted qualities. Her descriptive love of nature and pure meditative joy over the most simple things helped me envision her natural surroundings. Even though adoptive guardian Marilla Cuthbert's sarcasm and criticalness and nosy, busybody neighbor Rachel Lynde's downright rudeness are perfect foils, it was satisfying to see how they were eventually won over by Anne's innocence. And although she held grudges at times, overall, Anne is a most winsome, delightful character!
Overall Thoughts:
Set on Prince Edward Island in the early 1880s, Montgomery used her childhood memories to write this classic. Her descriptive settings made me feel like I was a part of the Avonlea community.
One must be in the right frame of mind before reading this story. Don't expect a strong plot or villains set out to make Anne's life miserable. Written in 1908 with youngsters in mind, it is a lighthearted, pleasant read.
Nostalgia at its finest!
1. a cousin loaned me her copies of the first three books in this series back when I was only 13-years-old. I remember enjoying them then, but I wanted to refresh my memory before continuing on with the rest of this series;
2. it is available for free on Hoopla; and,
3. July 2023 is my "O' Canada Month"!
Praises:
Author Lucy Maud Montgomery fleshes out her characters in a most heartwarming manner!
MC Anne Shirley - early on in the story, I had to empathize with this spirited young girl's unfortunate upbringing. I wonder if her overactive imagination was a matter of survival during her earlier neglectful years. I found her to be quite endearing with her dramatic, passionate and kindhearted qualities. Her descriptive love of nature and pure meditative joy over the most simple things helped me envision her natural surroundings. Even though adoptive guardian Marilla Cuthbert's sarcasm and criticalness and nosy, busybody neighbor Rachel Lynde's downright rudeness are perfect foils, it was satisfying to see how they were eventually won over by Anne's innocence. And although she held grudges at times, overall, Anne is a most winsome, delightful character!
Overall Thoughts:
Set on Prince Edward Island in the early 1880s, Montgomery used her childhood memories to write this classic. Her descriptive settings made me feel like I was a part of the Avonlea community.
One must be in the right frame of mind before reading this story. Don't expect a strong plot or villains set out to make Anne's life miserable. Written in 1908 with youngsters in mind, it is a lighthearted, pleasant read.
Nostalgia at its finest!
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