#MicroblogMondays: "The Blue Castle" -- on stage!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will know of my longstanding (almost lifelong) love for all things Lucy Maud Montgomery -- and that my favourite novel written by her is not the most famous, "Anne of Green Gables," but a toss up between "Rilla of Ingleside" (set on the World War I homefront in PEI, featuring Anne's teenaged daughter Rilla) -- and "The Blue Castle," a standalone book published in 1926 and notable for being the only Montgomery novel set entirely outside of Prince Edward Island, in the Ontario area of Muskoka (known today as "cottage country").  I first read "The Blue Castle" when I was about 12, and have re-read it many times since then (and reviewed it on my blog, here, here, here and here). .

So when I heard that that a theatrical version of "The Blue Castle" -- and a musical, to boot! -- would be performed over two weekends in July in Leaskdale, Ontario, where Montgomery lived from 1911 to 1926 (about an hour away from where I live),  at the church where her husband was once minister, I knew I HAD to see it. Happily, dh agreed to indulge me :)  and I ordered tickets for a Sunday afternoon (yesterday) matinee (preceded by an afternoon tea in the church basement).  

I first visited Leaskdale in June 1984 with my parents, en route back to Manitoba from attending my convocation at the University of Western Ontario in London, and visiting my future dh and his family in Toronto. We were actually headed to see the small town northeast of the city where my great-grandfather was born in 1871, and where my great x3 grandparents and their youngest daughter are all buried in the cemetery of an old stone church outside of town. En route, I spotted a sign indicating a turnoff ahead that would take us to Leaskdale, where there was a historic plaque marking the one-time home of  L.M. Montgomery.  I begged my dad to make the slight detour -- and happily, he complied. It didn't take us that far out of our way, and I was thrilled.  :)  The house was privately owned then, but there was a plaque by the side of the road. We asked a man cutting the grass outside if he minded if we took a photo of the house (he didn't -- he probably saw visitors like us all the time), and so my album from that trip includes a photo of me, beaming at the camera from in front of the house.  

In the years since then, the house and the nearby church where Montgomery's husband preached were purchased by the L.M.Montgomery Society of Ontario, declared a national historic site, painstakingly restored, and opened to the public. The house is now open for tours during the summer, and by appointment at other times of the year. The church hosts special community and Montgomery-related events throughout the year, and includes a small gift shop in the basement. Dh & I were last there in August 2014, not long after I lost my job, to tour the house and attend a performance of a one-woman show, "Maud of Leaskdale."  I wrote about it here. (And here are a few articles with more information about it: here, here and here.) 

It was lovely to be back in the land of Maud (as she preferred to be called), and to drive through the lush green countryside to get there.  :)  The tea and play were both sellouts, and I was able to say hello to several people I recognized from my L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group, including one who was part of the cast!  I thought the play was an original production, but it was actually written and first produced in 1993 (!). 

Me and Maud :) 
in the lovely garden adjacent to the church in Leaksdale.  

As this article notes, presenting the play in the confines of a church, without wings or a backstage, presented a few challenges, but the director and cast adapted marvellously.  We both enjoyed ourselves hugely, including dh (I explained the main characters and plot points to him in advance).  There were obviously some cuts and tweaks made to adapt the story for a stage environment and compress it into two hours(ish), but the overall story and vibe remained true to the book. And the music and singing was wonderful!  The show is still on this coming weekend, if you happen to be in the Toronto area and can get tickets!  

(Back in 2022, a film adaptation of the novel was announced -- I wrote about it here.  However, I have not heard anything further about it, and I suspect the project is on hold or has been cancelled.)  

Today is our 41st (!) wedding anniversary, so it was like an early anniversary outing/present (especially for me!).  We will go out for dinner later this evening, though. 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here. 

Right now

Right now...* 

*(A (mostly) monthly series/meme.  Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first (similar) "The Current" post, here.)

June finally started feeling like summer!  We had a few hot/humid spells, especially earlier in the month, and at the very end, and a few days with some strong winds, but for the most part, it's been just pleasantly warm.  

Some of the things I/we did this month include: 

• Grocery shopping expeditions to the supermarket (June 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th). 
• Rode the subway downtown (something we don't do too often these days!) to the Art Gallery of Ontario to see the Paul McCartney photography exhibit ("Eyes of the Storm"), which was closing on June 7th. Well worth the trip! I think I had a smile on my face the entire time we were there.  :)  
• Spent a few hours with SIL & LGNephew #2 (June 3rd, 10th & 24th) -- as we did in the past with LGNephew #1 and LGNiece. His mom's mat leave ended and she returned to work on June 1st.  
• He was joined by his big brother (LGNephew #1) when we went there on June 29th. (LGNephew #1 will be there for the rest of the summer, now that school is out until September!) and we enjoyed seeing them both and taking them to the nearby park for a little while. :)  
• (LGNiece recently started attending a daycare/preschool program, where she's thriving, but she may join them occasionally!) 
• Spent the morning at the mall, walking and shopping (June 9th -- first time back in a while! -- June 16th. 23rd & 30th). 
• Bookstore browse (June 12th & 19th), followed by the first gelatos of the season! (June 12th), and a quick stop at the supermarket (June 19th). 
• Had the plumber in (again!) to unclog the kitchen sink & bathroom sink drains (again!), and (finally!) fix the master bathroom shower so that it runs warmer than just mildly lukewarm. (Last referenced in this post -- the boiler issues, diagnosed in January, while we were still in Manitoba, took more than two months to fix!!) (June 18th) 
• Stopped by the drugstore to pick up a prescription, buy some stamps and mail a few cards/letters at the post office counter there, and then went to the supermarket to pick up some takeout rice bowls for dinner. (June 18th) 

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 4 books in June (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2026 books").  Year to date, I've read 14 books,  reached 35% of my Goodreads Challenge goal, and am currently 5 books behind schedule to achieve it by year end.  

Midyear reading challenge checkup coming shortly....!  

• "Evvie Drake Starts Over" by Linda Holmes. (3 stars;  my review.) 
• "The Hacienda" by Isabel Canas (the July book for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club). (3 stars;  my review.) 
• "The Mitford Affair" by Marie Benedict. (4 stars;  my review.) 
• "In Memoriam" by Alice Winn (the August book for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club).  (I previously read and reviewed this one, here;  4-5-5 stars. My most recent review retains those ratings.)  

Current reads: 

• "London Falling" by Patrick Radden Keefe. Finished this morning;  review to come!  
• "Still Glides the Stream" by D.E. Stevenson, with my DES group. We started reading & discussing this book on June 22nd at the suggestion of a group member (who also offered to organize the discussion), and will finish in mid-August It's a book we last covered in 2021 (my reviews here & here). Currently 18% completed. 
• I usually read the book all the way through myself first, and then follow along with our chapter-by-chapter discussion ( = two full reads) -- but since I still remembered this one fairly well, and had other books to read, I decided I'd just follow along with the group this time around. 
• There are still a few other DES books I have not yet read, or read since I was a teenager, and I would have preferred to read one of those for the group instead of a re-read (and a fairly recent one at that) -- but I don't have the time or bandwidth right now to suggest and organize one of those myself, so...!  
• "The Forsyte Saga" by John Galsworthy. After mulling it over (see this post!), I accepted a commenter's suggestion to do a readalong together!  Currently 60% completed. 
• "Childless: A Woman and a Girl in a Man's World" by Fabiana Formica.  This one is beautifully written, but slow going, and I was reading it (or trying to...!) at Mom & Dad's last summer (2025), where there were a lot of distractions. I've put it aside for the moment to focus on other reading priorities, but I've completed 33% to date.
• "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 

Coming up: Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  

• For my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club:  
• "Young Woman and the Sea" by Glenn Stout (September)
• "The Wedding People" by Alison Espach (October). (I previously read and reviewed this one, here;  rated 4-4.5 stars.)
• "The Women" by Kristin Hannah (November)
• For my D.E. Stevenson group:  Future reads to be determined.  
• Footnotes & Tangents slow readalongs for 2026 include:

• "Treacle Walker" by Alan Garner.  (Starts this Friday, July 3rd;  running for three weeks through July 24th. Not sure I'm doing this one...) 
• "The Children’s Book" by A.S. Byatt (September–December) (Planning to take part in this one, as I've never read Byatt and this one sounds interesting.)    

A few recently purchased titles (all in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points): 

• "A Flower Travelled in My Blood" by Haley Cohen Gilliland 
• "The Infamous Gilberts" by Angela Tomaski 
• "Murder Bimbo" by Rebecca Novack
• "Ringo: A Fab Life" by Tom Doyle 
• "Joyful, Anyway" by Kate Bowler 
• "My Friends" by Fredrik Backman 
• "What She Said" by Elizabeth Renzetti 
• "Dispatches From Grief" by Danielle Crittenden 
• "Brassy Bit of Aging Crumpet" by Mary Walsh 
• "The Uncool" by Cameron Crowe 
• "Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!" by Liza Minnelli

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Watching: 

• World Cup games. We're not as into it as some people are (and dh is more interested than I am) -- and the fact that Italy is not in the tournament is a huge disappointment locally (it would have been bonkers in this particular suburb if they had...!)  -- but it's still been fun watching some of the games and the local coverage -- particularly since Toronto is one of the host cities!  AND Canada has been doing so well so far...!  
• Last Saturday morning, I tuned into a Zoom session from the LM. Montgomery Institute's biennial (every two years) conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island -- the keynote address, given by Megan Follows, familiar to many as THE definitive "Anne of Green Gables" n the 1980s mini-series. She and her daughter are doing a documentary about the character of Anne and why she remains so beloved to so many around the world, more than a century after her creation.  Hearing Megan talk about her experiences was a delight, and I will look forward to seeing the documentary someday!  
• I've forgotten to mention this one before, but we've gotten hooked lately on "The Great British Bake-Off," which CBC has been showing (in reruns) from 5 to 6 PM on weekday afternoons. (All the seasons are available to stream on CBC Gem.) We recently saw (I think?) season 15 (from 2024?), and a really fun Christmastime episode featuring British soap opera stars from "Emmerdale," East Enders" and (my Mom's longtime favourite when I was growing up) "Coronation Street." (I  just checked, and it is still on CBC every night (!), as well as on CBC Gem!)  
• None of the GBBO  hosts/judges were familiar to me -- and the accents can occasionally be a little indecipherable ;)  -- but we've been enjoying it hugely.  :)  
• (My guess was that Noel Fielding is an aging rock star from the 1970s -- he certainly looks the part, lol.  Close -- he's an actor!)  
• They also show the Canadian version from time to time in the same time slot, and sometimes one of Jamie Oliver's cooking shows as well.  

Playing:  

• Heardle Decades: (as of June 30th):  
• Heardle 60s: 74.2% (950/1281, 385 on first guess), up 0.1%. since May 31st. Max streak: 21. 
• Heardle 70s: 75.0% (770/1027, 433 on first guess), up 0.3% from May 31st. Max streak: 18. 
• Heardle 80s:  41.3% (363/878, 141 on first guess), down 0.1% from May 31st. Max. streak: 6 (up from 5 in May).
• Heardle 90s: 32.9% (322/979, 83 on first guess), down 0.2% from May 31st. Max. streak: 9. 
• NYT Connections: 
• By May 31st, I had completed 654 games, won 89% of them (unchanged since Dec. 31st), including 352 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, and 20 where I got the most difficult/purple category first (an increase of 2 since Dec. 31st). Maximum winning streak:  45 (unchanged since June 30th, 2025).  Current streak:4.  
• As of June 30th, I'd played 684 games and won 90% of them (a gain of 1%! since Dec. 31st), including 370 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, and 20 where I got the most difficult/purple category first (unchanged since May 31st). Maximum winning streak: 45 (unchanged since June 30th, 2025). Current streak: 9.. 

Listening:  

Following:  . 

Eating/Drinking:  

• Over the past 18-24 months, we've been trying to eat healthier and lower our cholesterol -- and avoid having to take (more) medication -- since some less-than-stellar bloodwork results for both of us in fall 2024 and then again (for me) last November (2025, as mentioned in November's Right Now post). 
• I ended June 1.8 pounds less than when the month started.  Overall, I'm down almost 16 pounds since late October 2024 -- close to my lowest weight in more than a decade -- and almost 28 pounds from my heaviest-ever weight  (in August 2021). 
• (Dh is down almost 18 pounds overall since fall 2024.)
• Takeout meals included the usual pizza slices, soup and teriyaki rice bowls from the supermarket, thin-crust wood oven pizza and rotisserie chicken. (It's gotten a little boring lately, to be honest -- but it's not easy finding takeout meals that are (a) cheap-ish (b) not too horrible in terms of cholesterol and (c) something dh & I can agree on...!)  

Wearing:  With the advent of consistently warmer, sometimes humid weather, shorts and tank tops have been added to the wardrobe roster, along with short sleeves, capris & sandals. :) 

Buying (besides books, lol):   Plane tickets to visit my dad (again) in mid/late July. The house sale will have closed by then. We'll celebrate his 87th birthday while we're there. 

Irresistible summer clothes for the great-niblings and Little Princess #3.  :)  Lots of bargains right now!  

A cute red & white summery sundress, on sale at Suzy (AKA Suzy Shier, which has been around since I was in university, maybe even high school??). I hadn't been in a Suzy store in years, but spotted it on a rack as I was walking by at the mall, went in and tried it on). $20 plus tax (Canadian)!  (Score!!) 

Noticing/Appreciating:  The longer days and increased daylight... although, of course, we're now past summer solstice and the days are gradually starting to get shorter again...

Hoping:  That the a/c holds out in the heat wave we're having right now!  :p  (Temperatures in the 30sC;  humidex readings well into the 40sC. For reference, 30C = 86F, 35C = 95C, 40C = 104F and 45C = 113F.  Yuck!)  

Prioritizing:  Staying cool...!

Loving:  The days this month when the weather has been nice enough that I could sit outside on the balcony with a drink and a book for an hour or two. 

Trying:  To put down the phone/laptop more often and read more books this summer.  

Wondering:  Whether I'll get through my mental to-do list before we leave for Dad's again. (I suspect not...! -- certainly not all the items...) 

Wanting: To get back to the local art gallery where I have a membership soon... they have some new exhibits as well as a few that are closing soon that I'd like to see. 

                        

Feeling: Relieved to have the shower issue (and other plumbing issues) fixed. Happy to be spending time with Little Great-Nephew #2 (and looking forward to spending more time with his older brother too, now that school is out!). 

Coming up in July/Anticipating: Canada Day (which is actually today!) & Fourth of July 250 (U.S.) hoopla... Mom & Dad's house sale closing (also today, July 1st)...  our 41st wedding anniversary... spending some time with both the LGNephews at SIL's this summer... SIL & BIL's birthdays (which we'll miss out on celebrating with the family, because -- see next item!);  another trip to Manitoba to see my dad and celebrate his 87th (!) birthday. 

Odds & ends

• Not ALI/CNBC related, but y'all know I am a huge fan of L.M. Montgomery -- and Modern Mrs. Darcy recently pointed her readers to a Substack post that ranked the men in Montgomery's novels. (Guess who tops the list?)  
• I wouldn't argue with her choices, although it's been many years since I last (re)read "Kilmeny of the Orchard" and now I want to find myself a copy...! 
• Ali Hall cross-posted this Substack post from Nadia Huq through her own Substack, Life Without Children -- "How I Grew to Love The Single, Childfree Me." Even if you're partnered and consider yourself childless vs childfree, as I do, I think you will probably find a few things here you can relate to! 
• Also on Life Without Children, Ali ponders why parents can talk about their children while childless/free people are expected to shut up about their different life experiences ("Being Childfree Is Not My ‘Whole Personality’ but Here’s Why I Need to Talk About It"). 

The double standard and irony of it all is that, in my experience, often, those beating their drums the loudest about us childfree people talking about being childfree are usually the ones who have made parenting their whole personality and have “mom of boys” or “proud mumma bear” in their bios.

And that’s ok.

But why do they get to build their world around having children and expect those of us who don’t have them to be silent?

• Rosalyn at NoMo Book Club describes the comfort that can be found in books that encompass the worlds of other childless/free women ("Sharing sanctuary"). 
• Carrie Hauskens at Blooming With Care wrote about her childless holidays -- and her Bonne Maman advent calendar tradition (yum!).  
• Further on the New York Times magazine story of the 65-year-old woman who can't stop/won't stop having babies (gift link included in this post), Sara Petersen at In Pursuit of Clean Countertops invites former fundamentalist wife Tia Levings to muse about how "It's Easy To Want Babies:  It's Harder To Raise Them." 
• American journalist Kirsten Powers (who has no children) writes about the panic attacks she's been experiencing as the holiday season approaches ("When Grief Take You Out"). After reading about what her year has been like, you'll understand why...!   
• I've been mulling over an "I hate November" rant these last few days (feeling sick and sorry for myself...) -- and Anne Helen Petersen just posted about "fall regression" on her Culture Study Patreon, and the comments section is filled with people venting about season depression and grief. My comment begins with the words, "You all are my people,"  lol    
• (Unfortunately, the piece is paywalled, but here's a preview link.) 
• Lyz Lenz's list of Sunday links on her Men Yell at Me Patreon included this one (from McSweeney's, a humor site), and I couldn't help but think about infertility as soon as I saw the headline: "When It Happens."  

It’s impossible to say when IT will HAPPEN. But it can’t be too long until IT HAPPENS. Looking at the data (age, high-stress job, cardiac history), it is statistically plausible that IT will HAPPEN in the next thirty-six months.

More odds & ends

• In a recent Substack post, Jill Filipovic discussed adoption and the still-prevalent (and increasing) existence of maternity homes in the U.S. -- many of them affiliated with the evangelical Christian right -- with journalist T.J. Raphael. Raphael spent two years investigating this subject and has a new podcast called "Liberty Lost," about one such maternity home on the campus of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.
• Many of Filipovic's posts are paywalled for subscribers, but this one seems to be public (so far!). 
• Also on Substack, Ali Hall muses on "Why We Need To Abolish the Phrase ‘As a Mother…’" (and absolutely NAILS it!).  (Hear, hear!!) 
• I'm ALREADY seeing back-to-school posts (from the U.S.) in my social media feeds!!  And here in the Toronto area, the CNE/Canadian National Exhibition -- think state fair -- started today and runs through Labout Day -- a sure sign that summer is almost over!  
• On a related note: Dr. Loree Johnson offers some advice on "Coping with Back-to-school When Facing Infertility or Loss."  (Or childlessness!) 
• Sue Fagalde Lick is winding down her Childless by Marriage blog. (It will still be around;  she's just not going to write anything new for it -- but you can still find her writing on Substack as well as her other blogs.)  You don't have to be "childless by marriage" to appreciate her penultimate post, "Your Childless by Marriage Survival Guide," in which she offers tips on navigating some of the most common scenarios facing childless women. 
• At "The Auntie Bulletin," Lisa Sibbett chats with Ragon and Kelly of the Kindred Spirits Book Club podcast about the the role of aunties and alloparents and "found family" in Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic novel "Anne of Green Gables."  As you all know I am a huge, lifelong Montgomery fan, but this discussion still gave me a few new points to think about!  Well done!  

"Anne of Windy Poplars" by L.M. Montgomery (re-read)

My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group just finished reading "Anne of Windy Poplars" by L.M. Montgomery together (we started on Jan. 15th). The book is called "Anne of Windy Willows" in the U.K., with some text variations (which we explored during our group read, and which were fascinating to learn about).  I originally read this one years ago as a kid in the early 1970s, when I was exploring the "Anne" books for the first time, and revisited it for the first time in many years back in December 2023 (review here). 

Chronologically, this is #5 in the "Anne of Green Gables" series -- although it was written much later than most of the other books (in 1936), in response to readers' (and Montgomery's publishers') demands for "more Anne." Storywise, it fills in the three-year gap between Anne's graduation from college ("Anne of the Island," 1915) and her marriage to Gilbert Blythe ("Anne's House of Dreams," 1917). 

In this book, Gilbert is away at medical school, while Anne becomes principal of the high school in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, where she finds a new home as a boarder at Windy Poplars with "the widows" -- "Aunt Kate" and "Aunt Chatty" -- and their feisty housekeeper, Rebecca Dew.  She makes new friends -- and enemies (the entire Pringle clan) -- and describes her adventures in chatty, detailed letters to Gilbert. 

"Windy Poplars" is generally regarded as a lesser entry in the Anne series -- and some of the material in it is, admittedly, "filler," and derivative of character types and vignettes from previous Anne books. But (as usual with LMM) the characters are amusing and well drawn, and some of the episodes are truly funny. (Among my favourites: dinner at Tomgallon House with a hostess who regales Anne non-stop with luridly hilarious tales of her family curse and its victims.)  And I found myself misty-eyed at the end, as Anne says goodbye to Windy Poplars and this in-between time in her life, and receives a memorable send-off from Rebecca Dew.  

My original rating of 4 stars still stand. 

Sadly, this may be our last Readathon book, after five years of great Montgomery reading and conversation. It began as a diversion in the early days of the pandemic, and has continued far longer than the original organizers envisioned.  Our group keader, a Montgomery scholar, has other projects to pursue, and I'm sure this has consumed an enormous amount of her time, even with assistance from volunteers. It's unclear whether anyone else is going to pick up the reins to continue the group.  At any rate, I've hugely enjoyed taking part, chatting with and learning from other Montgomery fans, and I'm going to miss it, if this is indeed the end!   

This was Book #16 read to date in 2025 (and Book #3 finished in May), bringing me to 36% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 2 books behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

"Magic for Marigold" by L.M. Montgomery (re-read)

My L.M.   Readathon Facebook group just finished reading and discussing "Magic for Marigold," one of her lesser-known books, first published in 1929. (I read through the book on my own first, prior to when our discussions started on July 1st, and posted my original review here.) 

"Marigold" is six-year-old Marigold Lesley, who lives with her young widowed mother, Lorraine, her "Young Grandmother" and "Old Grandmother" at the Lesley family home, Cloud of Spruce (a Montgomery-esque name if I ever heard one!), on Prince Edward Island.  

Many elements of this story will be familiar to fans of Montgomery's other novels: beautiful descriptions of nature; witty dialogue and a sharp sense of humour; absent/dead parents; large, judgmental extended families headed by domineering women;  imaginary friends;  beloved cats;  faithful family servants... 

But -- I'll admit I (still, upon second reading) just don't find Marigold as "int'resting" (one of her favourite phrases) as many of Montgomery's other heroines. Perhaps because she's a child? (She's 12 by the time the book ends.)  There's not a lot going on, plot-wise, but there are some funny stories about Marigold's youthful scrapes and mishaps. There are also some wince-inducing episodes as Marigold navigates childhood and her "tween" years (facing fears, the cruelty of other girls, the adults who just don't understand...). 

Content warning:  Some dated attitudes and language here (regarding French-Canadians, for example). Also -- and I forgot to mention this in my previous review -- there's an episode concerning Marigold's terrifying encounter with a woman who has "not been in her right mind" since the death of her young daughter/only child a year ago (ugh!!). 

My initial rating of 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 stars on Goodreads, remains unchanged.   

(Next Readathon book TBA.)

This was Book #27 read to date in 2024 (and Book #3 finished in September), bringing me to 60%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 6 (!) books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."    

"Magic for Marigold" by L.M. Montgomery

My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group will begin reading and discussing one of Montgomery's lesser-known novels on/around July 1st: "Magic for Marigold," originally published in 1929.  As I usually do, I began reading the book on my own before our group read & discussion began. (And I'll count it as a re-read when we're done.)  

Our heroine is Marigold Lesley, the 6-year-old daughter of Leander, who died shortly before she was born, and the timid, "put upon" Lorraine, who continues to live under the thumb of her late husband's family, including Marigold's "Old Grandmother" and "Young Grandmother" at the Lesley family home, Cloud of Spruce, near Harmony Harbour on Prince Edward Island.  

I know I read "Marigold" once before, when I was a kid and devouring every Montgomery novel I could lay my hands on, in the wake of "Anne of Green Gables."  But I don't think I've read it again in the (*cough!*) many years since then, and I had very few memories of what the novel was about -- although a few of them came back to me as I started reading -- perhaps most memorably, the family conclave at the beginning of the book to decide what to name Lorraine's baby. (Several relatives decided that "Harriet Ellen Louise Lesley," after three fourth cousins who were all "foreign missionaries," would be just the thing -- until Old Grandmother, who had a wicked sense of humour, pointed out what those initials would spell!).  

Reading the book again now, as an adult -- dare I say, (near?) senior citizen?? -- I can see why I haven't been in a rush to pick it up again in recent years. On the plus side, there's a lot here that will ring familiar to readers of other LMM novels:  rapturous descriptions of PEI (and nature generally); witty dialogue; absent/dead parents; large, judgmental extended families (the Murrays of New Moon, the Stirlings of Deerwood), domineering matriarchs (Grandmother in Jane of Lantern Hill, Marilla Cuthbert, Aunt Elizabeth Murray);  imaginary friends (a la Katie Maurice in Anne of Green Gables);  beloved cats;  faithful family servants (Salome  & Lazarre here; Susan Baker in the Anne books, Judy Plum in the Pat novels).  I liked Marigold's (childless!) Aunt Marigold -- the female (!) doctor who saved her life as an infant and after whom she was ultimately named -- and Uncle Klon (first name "Horace" (!), but nicknamed "Klon," after his youthful exploits in the Klondike). There's a nice scene at the very end of the book:  

Aunt Marigold coming out, noted Marigold's face and sat down beside her. Aunt Marigold, who had never had any children of her own, knew more mothercraft than many women who had. She had not only the seeing eye but the understanding heart as well. In a short time, she had the whole story. If she smiled over it Marigold did not see it. 

On the other side of the scale, I have to admit that I just don't find Marigold as "int'resting" as many of Montgomery's other title heroines. Maybe because she's a child (she ages from 6 to 12 here). In many ways, this is a brutally honest portrayal of childhood (the terrors, the petty jealousies, the "mean girls" at school, the unsympathetic adults...) -- which is, perhaps, why I'm not as fond of it as this book as others? (brings back some cringeworthy memories...!).   

A few reader reviews described this as a "collection of stories" about Marigold and her family. Some of the material in the book was, in fact, repurposed from LMM's earlier magazine stories -- and we do go from one episode to another to another without much of an overall story arc. Many of the vignettes revolve around Marigold's visits to relatives, where she meets and makes friends with the local children and gets into various scrapes. 

Also (and, **content warning** here), the book is also, in some ways (as many older novels are), an uncomfortable reflection of the times it was written in. For example: Young Grandmother notes there was a "half-wit" in Marigold's mother's family (!), and Salome tells Marigold that their hired "boy" (he's married with children!) Lazarre will not go to heaven because he's French-Canadian (!). (Young Grandmother concedes that French-Canadians can, in fact, go to heaven, so long as they're good -- but her tone reflects her doubt that this is possible...!) The very last line of the book also seems both dated and somewhat sexist, and made me roll my eyes.   

After some thought and mixed feelings, I'm rating this one 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 stars on Goodreads.  If you're an LMM uber-fan/completist, you will want to read "Magic for Marigold" -- but there are many other books of hers worth reading first. You can probably safely skip this one (or move it further down in your TBR pile) without feeling like you missed out on much. 

This was Book #19 read to date in 2024 (and Book #2 finished in June), bringing me to 42%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book behind schedule to meet my goal. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."    

"Anne's House of Dreams" by L.M. Montgomery (re-read)

(**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**) 

My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group just finished our chapter-by-chapter group reading and discussion of  "Anne's House of Dreams," the 5th novel in the "Anne of Green Gables" series, originally published in 1917.  (I read the book back in January before we began our group readalong, and you can find my original review here.) 

Newlyweds Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe -- now a newly graduated doctor -- set up housekeeping and a medical practice in a small rented white house near Four Winds Harbour, 60 miles from Green Gables and Avonlea.  Marilla, Mrs. Lynde and other Avonlea folk we've come to know and love make brief appearances throughout the book, but we're also introduced to a whole new cast of memorable characters, including retired sea captain Jim Boyd, keeper of the Four Winds lighthouse and teller of wonderful stories;  sharp-tongued spinster with a heart of gold Miss Cornelia Bryant;  and Anne's closest neighbour, the beautiful, mysterious Leslie Moore, whose wariness guards a tragic story. 

ALI alert/spoiler:  Anne also experiences tragedy of a different sort in this story -- the death of her firstborn child, a daughter named Joy -- a loss Montgomery herself experienced in 1914 (as have I, and many of you reading this blog).  25+ years after my loss, and more than a century after this book was written, this chapter still packs a powerful punch. (Have kleenex handy.) 

(Another alert/spoiler:  There IS a "rainbow baby" too!)   

Overall, I love this book.  It's one of my favourites in the series.

My original rating of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on Goodreads, still stands. 

This was Book #17 read to date in 2024 (and Book #3 finished in May), bringing me to 38%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book behind schedule to meet my goal. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."    

"Anne's House of Dreams" by L.M. Montgomery

(**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**) 

The next novel under discussion by my L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group, starting Jan. 15th, is "Anne's House of Dreams" (originally published in 1917).  The book opens with the long-awaited wedding of Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe at Green Gables. He's a newly graduated doctor, taking over his great-uncle's practice in the small seaside community of Glen St. Mary, and he and Anne set up housekeeping in a small white house in nearby Four Winds Harbour.  There's a memorable cast of neighbours, many of whom turn out to be "kindred spirits" -- including Captain Jim Boyd, retired sailor, storyteller and keeper of the Four Winds lighthouse;  Miss Cornelia Bryant, sharp-tongued spinster with a heart of gold;  and the beautiful, mysterious, prickly, tragic Leslie Moore. 

I hadn't read AHOD in many years when my Katie was stillborn (in 1998) -- and I had forgotten -- until someone reminded me -- that Anne & Gilbert lose their first baby here, a girl they name Joyce (Joy for short), shortly after birth.  (Montgomery herself was a loss mother:  the second of her three sons, Hugh Alexander, was stillborn in 1914.)  25+ years after my loss, more than a century after it was written, this chapter still packs a powerful punch.  Anne's emotions, post-loss, are completely relatable to any mother who has lost a child. And anyone who has longed for a child they fear they will never have will relate to Leslie's jealousy and bitterness, when Anne first tells her she's pregnant. Anne's fear during her subsequent pregnancy (briefly mentioned) also rings true. 

There might be a few points I could quibble about:  for example, Miss Cornelia's dislike of men and Methodists -- voiced multiple times throughout the book -- doesn't seem quite so funny as it did when I was younger (although Miss Cornelia remains one of my favourite secondary characters in the series).  And there's a subplot involving Leslie's husband that's kind of a cliche/trope. But overall, I love this book, and it's one of my favourite entries in the series. (Have kleenex handy.)  

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.   

I will count this book as a re-read when our group finishes its chapter-by-chapter group read and discussion, later this spring. 

This was Book #2 read to date in 2024 (and Book #2 finished in January), bringing me to 4% (!) of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books." 

*** *** *** 

A related (and timely) anecdote: In Chapter 16, Anne, Gilbert and some of their friends spend a memorable New Year's Eve at the lighthouse, where Captain Jim opens the door just before the stroke of midnight to "let the new year in."  I first read this book when I was about 11-12 years old, and -- Anne-like -- thought this sounded SO romantic!  

At the time (early 1970s), it was traditional for my sister & I to spend New Year's Eve having a sleepover with the three sisters who lived across the street from us, while our parents attended the dance at the local community hall together.  Most of us had read all the "Anne" books, and after playing cards, listening to records (Partridge Family, Osmonds...!) and staying awake until midnight, we decided to open the front door of our house and "let the new year in," a la Captain Jim.  

Unfortunately for us, we didn't quite close the door properly. It was a VERY cold (well below zero degrees, Celsius OR Fahrenheit!)  and blustery night, and our parents arrived home to find the door blown wide open. Not only that -- one sister had taken offense at something another sister had said, and stomped off to sleep in another room -- so when our parents took a head count, only four sleeping girls could be seen. AND -- one of the neighbour sisters was known to sleepwalk.  

Their panic was, thankfully, short-lived -- but our parents imposed a moratorium on sleepovers for several months after that!  Happily, some or all five of us went on to spend many more New Year's Eves together, even after my family moved away in 1974 -- right through university, up until we all started getting married in the early/mid-1980s and I moved further afield.  

I told this story to the Readathon group on Facebook when someone posted a meme with Captain Jim's quote about letting in the new year, a couple of New Years ago.  Everyone thought it was hilarious!! -- although, obviously, it wasn't very funny at the time...!  I also got to speak to one of the sisters during the Christmas holidays and reminded her not to leave the door open if she let the new year in, lol. After we both stopped laughing (!),  I told her about the group's reaction to the story when I told it there. She'd totally forgotten the connection to the Anne novel! 

2023 Reading Year in Review

I started doing a specific "Reading Year in Review" post in 2020. I figured that since I was doing an overall year in review post (which includes some book information anyway), and a blogging year in review post -- and since keeping track of my books is a big thing I normally do on my blog -- my reading life deserved its own year-end wrap-up post too.  :)  

(Note:  I have not linked to all the books mentioned here, but they are all reviewed on this blog.)  

• I increased my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal from 36 books in 2021 to 45 books in 2022, and kept that goal for 2023.  I reached it by Dec. 7th, and wound up with 48 books to my credit by year end -- 3 books more than my goal, or 107%. (I was secretly hoping to do better -- perhaps equal or exceed 2021's total of 59 books -- but, still not a bad showing!) All books read were reviewed on this blog and tagged "2023 books."  
• My Goodreads 2023 Year in Review report tells me I read 48 books with 16,980 pages (versus 50 books with 17,047 pages in 2022). 
• The shortest book I read was "Mothering Sunday" by Graham Swift (208 pages); the longest was "The Cruellest Month" by Louise Penny (849 pages). 
• Average book length was 353 pages. 
• The most popular book I read ( = shelved by Goodreads readers) was "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid (5.1 million readers);  the least popular was "Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day (387 readers).   
• The highest-rated book I read was "In Memoriam" by Alice Winn (4.5 stars). 
• My average Goodreads rating in 2023 was 4.2 stars (same as last year).  
• In 2021, I also started tracking books on The StoryGraph (which Brooke told me about), which provides slightly different stats (and even more, with a paid subscription -- although I don't have one of those!). 
• The "moods" of my books were overwhelmingly "emotional" and "reflective," followed by "mysterious," "lighthearted" and "funny."   
• The majority of my books were medium-paced (60%). 23% were slow and 17% fast. 
• 56% of my 2023 books were 300-499 pages;  38% were less than 300 pages and just 6% were over 500 pages. 
• 79% of my 2023 books were fiction;  21% non-fiction. This is a big change from recent years! (I credit the many book clubs I take part in, which mostly focus on fiction.)
• My most-read genre in 2023 was historical, followed by mystery and literary.    
• StoryGraph also tracks the format of your books, but selects print as the default. I think this is the first year that most of my books read were recorded as digital -- 71%! (and just 29% print).  This is more accurate than previous years, but may still not be entirely correct:  some books do not have a "digital" option, in which case I choose print. 
• Most-read authors in 2023:  D.E. Stevenson (6 books), followed by L.M. Montgomery and Louise Penny (5 books each), and Richard Osman (2). 
• Average rating 4.11 stars. (Unlike Goodreads, The StoryGraph allows fractional star ratings.) 
• Once again this year, fiction choices outnumbered non-fiction (many of them re-reads, but still...!):  38 fiction, 10 non-fiction.
• Re-reads -- which I started counting as books read in 2020 -- accounted for a good chunk of my 2023 total. It's difficult to make a firm calculation as to just how many, because some were books that I read on my own and then immediately afterward as part of a group readalong/discussion, while others were books that I've read in the past.  
• My library book club held its last meeting in late February 2020 -- just before the pandemic hit -- and the "Clever Name" online book club hasn't operated since summer 2021.  But, online, the Gateway/Lighthouse Women/Childless Collective Nomo book club (I'm now one of the hosts!), D.E. Stevenson fan group, L.M. Montgomery Readathon on Facebook, Notes From Three Pines Readalong on Substack (which has gone silent in recent months), and Men Yell at Me book club hosted by Lyz Lenz on Substack, helped boost my 2023 reading totals and provided me with a lot of reading/discussion pleasure.   
• My book groups were responsible for 23 of the 48 books I read in 2023 -- almost half!  I read 9 books for GW/LW/CC (including Jody Day's "Living the Life Unexpected"), 6 for DES (3 different books, each counted twice as re-reads), 5 for the L.M. Montgomery Readathon (2 different books, including 1 -- "Anne of the Island" -- counted twice this year as a re-read, plus two -- "Anne of Avonlea" and "Anne of Windy Poplars"-- read on my own), 2 for Lyz Lenz's "Men Yell at Me" book club, and one -- Lois Lowry's "The Giver" -- for a Zoom book discussion led by Lori Lavender Luz and her podcast co-hosts. 
• I also read 5 of Louise Penny's Three Pines/Inspector Gamache mysteries (which would make 28 out of 48 books for book groups!), initially to keep up with a Substack readalong -- but there haven't been any new posts there since June. I've continued to read on my own anyway! 
• As noted above, I reached my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal of 45 books by Dec. 7th, and ended the year with 48 books read -- but I didn't equal my 2021/best-recorded total of 59 books (when my goal was 36).  For 2024, I've decided to maintain my goal of 45 books ( = 3.75 books per month on average)(and hope to do better...!) -- which seems realistic for me right now. 
• I've read more than 45 books in four of the past five years (2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023), and almost 45 -- 43 -- in 2020 -- so that seems very do-able.  But I'm hoping I'll be able to improve on 2023's total, too!  
• While I'm grateful for my book groups and the boost they give to my reading totals, and while I intend to keep up with them in 2024, I'm hoping to be able to read more of my own choices this coming year too.  :)   

• It's always very hard for me to pick a single book as "the best." I read some really, really good books this year -- very few disappointments or "meh" choices -- and I gave lots/most of them four and five-star reviews on Goodreads. (4.2 stars was my average Goodreads rating this year.)  A few of my favourites, in no particular order (I haven't linked to them here, but they're all reviewed on Goodreads, StoryGraph and this blog): 
• "In Memoriam" by Alice Winn 
• "Tom Lake" by Ann Patchett 
• "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus
• "The Last Devil to Die" by Richard Osman 
• "Surrender:  40 Songs, One Story" by Bono 
• "Spare" by Prince Harry 
• "Wintering" by Katherine May

Did you meet your reading goals for 2023 (if you set any)? What great books did you read this past year? 

(2023 Blogging Year in Review coming up. Still working on an overall Year in Review post, and finding it hard going... that may have to wait until the actual new year!)