Always a Good Read - IWSG June 2025

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to June co-hosts: PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis. For a list and links to all contributors, click here.

Optional question for June - What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

Last fall, my local library started a new book group. While working, I could never make the existing morning group, but this one met after hours, so I signed up. The focus was “gentle” reads and while the selected books varied in their “gentleness,” they were all stories I may have never encountered, except for one.  

Don’t laugh, but the choice for May was Anne of Green Gables. Readers of this blog may not be surprised that this story remains one of my all-time favorites. I’ve probably read it twenty times since eighth grade.

But while "Anne with an E" is so well known, folks may not know that the author, Lucy Montgomery, wrote seven sequels to Anne. Early in our marriage, my dear husband did some research and bought me the eight-book series as a Christmas present. I’ve purged a lot off my shelves, but those books will never go. Every several years I start the first book and I have to plan accordingly because nothing can stop me from binging on the rest. 

For those of you who don’t know, Anne of Green Gables is about a lonely orphan from Nova Scotia who uses her imagination to help her through the toils of her early life. She mistakenly lands with Matthew and Marilla, an elderly brother and sister who think they’re adopting a boy to help on their farm. Ultimately, they decide to keep her. Anne’s imagination gets her into a lot of trouble, but through her antics, she stimulates humanity in the stern couple, both of whom learn to love her as much as she ends up loving them. All sweet, all endearing, and the bonus is stunning description that makes me yearn to get to Prince Edward Island. It’s definitely a gentle read.

But Anne of Green Gables for an adult book group? Well. I guess? I mean, I was happy enough to read it again, but what about the other twenty  group members?

So there I was in our last meeting, defending Anne as other readers projected today’s diagnoses on her. “She must have had ADD,” one person said. "She definitely needed counseling," said another. Ugh, I thought. She’s fiction. How can you label a character from the late 1800’s with today’s manifestations?  In my opinion, she's just how she was written, adorable, trouble-prone, creative, imaginative Anne. But regardless of my thoughts, there was some hearty discussion and it ended like this. After each meeting, we score the book from one to five, with five being the best. The members of the book group are mixed in age and gender. Everyone with the exception of one person scored it five. It was by far the highest and most consistent rating of any book we read.

And, in case you are wondering, yes, I kept reading. (I can do this now! I’m retired!) I rocketed through the eight books this time, and was particularly touched by the last book, the story of Anne’s youngest daughter, a spoiled, happy-go-lucky teenager who matures during the painful years of WWI. I tell you. Anne of Green Gables and its sequels stand the test of time.

Spoiler alert. After our early May gathering, the librarian who ran the Gentle Reads Book Group retired with no replacement. Anne ended up being our last book.

What book from your past do you re-read?