"Anne of the Island" by L.M. Montgomery (re-read)

My L.M. Montgomery Readathon group on Facebook is just wrapping up its chapter-by-chapter reading and discussion of "Anne of the Island," the third book in the "Anne of Green Gables" series, first published in 1915.  I read the book on my own back in January, before our discussions began, and reviewed it here.   

This installment of the AOGG saga covers Anne's four years at Redmond College in Kingsport (read: Dalhousie University in Halifax, which LMM herself attended for a year in 1895-96).  Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane from Avonlea are there too, as well as Anne's friends from her days at Queen's Academy (teachers college), Priscilla Grant and Stella Maynard. Together with a new friend, the effervescent Philippa Gordon (from Anne's birthplace, Bollingbroke, Nova Scotia), the girls rent a cozy cottage near the college -- "Patty's Place" -- and set up housekeeping together.  

During the summers, Anne returns to Avonlea, where many of her old friends are getting married and starting families of their own. Anne herself fends off several suitors -- including Gilbert -- until at last she meets the man who embodies all of her childhood dreams of romance --tall, dark, handsome, melancholy (and rich!) Royal Gardner. 

But she can't stop thinking about Gilbert...   

Our group had some wonderful discussions while going through this book, particularly about higher education for women and their living arrangements (the consensus being that all of us wanted to live at Patty's Place too, lol -- but such an arrangement, while common now, would have been highly unusual at the time, even with the presence of Stella's affable Aunt Jamesina as ostensible chaperone). 

I still think (as I mentioned in my original review) some of the Avonlea sections between school terms seem a bit trivial/superfluous -- but our group discussions helped me to see how so much of this book is a meditation on the different forms love, romance and marriage can take, and the importance of choosing the right life partner. All of Montgomery's writing has had a profound impact on my life and how I see things, but it was a revelation to realize just how much this particular book has influenced my attitudes about education, friendship, romance and more. 

My original rating of 4.5 stars stands, but this time around, I've rounded it up to 5 on Goodreads. 

Our next LMM Readathon book:  TBA...! 

This was Book #21 read to date in 2023 (and Book #4 finished in May), bringing me to 47% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2023 tagged as "2023 books."