Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Nov 21, 2011 Tracey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, 1901-1950, canada, islanders

I explore Anne of Green Gables a bit more on my blog. This review is from my first listen, read from November 21 to 25, 2011

I don't think I trust anyone who doesn't love Anne. Female, at least; many males have the innate can't-read-a-book-about-a-girl block that sort of excuses them. I just feel sorry for the boys, having been thus deprived.

I don't remember exactly when I first read Anne of Green Gables. My original copy is a lovely jacketless hardcover with an olive green cover (I somehow u ...more

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Aug 17, 2008 Tracey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1901-1950, fiction, canada, islanders

Anne is a gentle, indispensable book, wise and lovely, with the mores of another time that make me feel like an uncivilized slatternly fishwife every time I swear or fail to make my bed… It's a perfect book for making one feel better about the human race, a literary oasis that refresh and strengthen the spirit. This is one of a handful of books I can't live without. ...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Liesl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: series, young-adult, adapted-for-film, adapted-for-tv, ebook, 2016, kindle, physical-copy, overdue, ssr

In a single word: WONDERFUL. How have I gone so long without reading this book? I watched the CBC miniseries on PBS as a child when it originally aired, so I was already familiar with Anne and the story, yet I resisted picking up the source material for decades despite owning a box set of the entire series. Oh, how I have cheated myself! Anne Shirley is one of literature's most memorable characters with the unbeatable combination of a vivid imagination, sheer determination and an enthusiastic na ...more

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Jan 06, 2014 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-for-book-club

Re-reading for Book Club!

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Jul 08, 2013 Liesl rated it it was amazing

I don't remember when my mum gave me the first three Anne of Green Gables books, but I adored them. L.M. Montgomery’s books became dear friends that I returned to frequently, Prince Edward Island a place I could return to whenever my own life was not what I wanted it to be. I loved and reread the entire series, which takes readers from the shelter of Green Gables to the tragedy of World War I. Spring of my freshman year of high school, my mum and I visited Prince Edward Island in the off season I don't remember when my mum gave me the first three Anne of Green Gables books, but I adored them. L.M. Montgomery’s books became dear friends that I returned to frequently, Prince Edward Island a place I could return to whenever my own life was not what I wanted it to be. I loved and reread the entire series, which takes readers from the shelter of Green Gables to the tragedy of World War I. Spring of my freshman year of high school, my mum and I visited Prince Edward Island in the off season and met a descendant of Montgomery’s who told us “she wasn’t a very nice woman.”
Readers first enter the world of the small village of Avonlea, P.E.I., Canada through the eyes of the town gossip. They quickly learn that a brother and sister, who have cared for their family’s farm their whole lives, have decided to adopt an orphaned boy in order to help them keep up the farm as they get older. Marilla is a stern woman and her brother Matthew is a gentle and soft-spoken man. When Matthew finds a little red-headed girl waiting for him at the train station, he is as dumbfounded by the mistake as he is by the child’s constant chatter. He finds himself enjoying her flights of fancy and they quickly become “kindred spirits.” Marilla is not as taken by Anne as Matthew is, but she finds herself unwilling to give up the girl to an unpleasant alternative home. As a woman with strong feelings about how children should behave and be brought up, Marilla finds her patience, and indeed her wits, tried by Anne’s ability to get into scrapes. Anne is ruled by her imagination, which distracts her from mundane tasks and leads her into unexpected trouble. She also has a temper that leads to problems. Anne seems to give voice to the fancies of a young child that most children would not be able to put to words.
Amazon says the first book is recommended for third to seventh graders, aged eight to twelve. I think third grade is a bit early for dealing with some of the tragedies of the book, even if a young reader could handle the Lexile. I will probably wait until my boys are in fifth grade to introduce this series. ...more

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