Before Green Gables

I happen to be an Anne of Green Gables addict. I will honestly say that without any qualms. I started reading Montgomery's books when I was about 10 and I have never looked back. I consider them some serious comfort reading. I found Anne on the wonderful PBS channel growing up in Pittsburgh, PA. We would rush home from wherever we happened to be and the entire family would be completely glued to the TV watching the Anne series. I then found out about the books and requested them for Christmas. My grandmother, another avid reader, bought me the whole Anne series and I devoured them all in a very short time and wanted more. Slowly over the years, I have bought nearly everything written by Montgomery, I have reread these books more times than I can count. One of my absolute dream vacations would be to go to PEI; I keep thinking that someday The Girl and I will run on up to the Island and explore to our hearts content. I will need to wait until she is old enough to read the books herself... and then there is no looking back... we will burn rubber out of the driveway! Yes, I am addicted.

Today, I heard of this interesting article that discusses a "new" Anne book. This is a prequel that is authorized by Montgomery's family. L.M. Montgomery herself died during WWII, and so she has no say in the matter, but her family obviously thinks this is a good idea. I, however, do not but I am not making money on it, so take that as you will. I suppose it bothers me because I think Montgomery left enough about Anne's life to have it stand on it's own. In the books, Anne never wanted to discuss her time much before Green Gables though she did on very rare occasions. She did give enough information over time however, that you are able to piece together the basics. I don't believe that this book is necessary... and I don't believe that Montgomery herself would like it much. There is quite a bit to be said for leaving things to the imagination and I would think that Montgomery herself would have enjoyed us imagining all sorts of other endings and beginnings to the lives of her characters. Her characters have such large imaginations that I can't fathom her wanting us to have absolutely everything filled in for us.

All of that being said I will, unfortunately, be purchasing this book. How sad is that?! I know that I will not be able to help myself and I will report to the bookstore to check it out and then I will buy it and will probably not like it. Can I stop myself? I seriously doubt it.

I will post a review here just for all of you. Oh... and if perchance you have not read the L.M. Montgomery books, particularly The Anne series and The Blue Castle and The Story Girl, then run out and get them now. I am not kidding... they are more than worth it. There is a reason that Canada is making an Anne postage stamp to celebrate the 100 year anniversary and an Anne coin etc... etc... You will be missing out if you never read these books and it will be all your fault, cause I warned you right here on my little blog.

Books and Blueberry Wine

I have a feeling that books are going to be a fairly normal feature here on my blog. John, my husband, has even commented that I should make this a children's book review. I am not sure that I want to do that, but I will be posting on books quite a bit.

I read quite a bit, I always have and I am sure I always will. We use a very literature rich curriculum for our homeschool and I pick up books here and there for the kids as well. I have found something interesting happening. I can't always explain what is going on in the book. I found this the other day... We were reading the book Mountain Born and something came up that The Boy didn't actually ask about, but I wondered about... and knew that I couldn't answer. Then I wondered how I would ever go about looking up the information if I wanted to. You see... the book is about a family of sheep farmers in, oh... the late 1800s... I think. I had this question, and I kept thinking about it as I read the one portion to The Boy. The family were leaving the sheep on the hillside all summer. Everynight. It didn't appear in the book as if the sheep were checked on AT ALL the whole summer. Now... how does that work?! Did they actually do that? Did they just ship the sheep on up there and think, "Gee, I hope they don't all get eaten by wolves." I mean... I can see leaving them up there and checking on them daily, or twice daily but leaving them up there and never checking on them just seemed really weird to me, and this is honestly what the book let you believe.

Here is my problem, I don't know anyone that was a sheep farmer back in the late 1800s. I don't even know how I would begin to search that in Google. What would I put in the little box, "sheep left on hillside, do wolves eat?" It just baffled me. Anyhow, this isn't the only book I have had questions about, there are many, and they are all older books and my questions are all concerning things that aren't as easy to find out anymore.

For example, one of my favorite series is the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. She is phenomenal. Once again, this is from about the same time period, the later 1800s. I have heard that the annotated version of Anne of Green Gables is incredible. It tells you all about these things that you wonder about. The references to nature and politics etc. My problem is that for years, I have had a question concerning another of Montgomery's books, Magic for Marigold. This is another sweet book and in it, in one delicious portion, Marigold and a friend open a bottle of Blueberry wine and it goes EVERYWHERE. And the book mentions that they didn't know blueberry wine, or something like that. So... what does that mean?! I don't know of anyone even drinking blueberry wine at all, let alone making their own in the late 1800s?! How does one go about finding out about blueberry wine? Did you have to open it a specific way? Was it too aged? Not aged enough? Did they shake it or something when they brought it up from the cellar? I have no idea. I wonder if I will ever find out.

Maybe I should go ask Jeeves.