Going back to Green Gables over the last few weeks has been like visiting an old friend. I was so delighted when Sarah Shott’s kicked off her Venture Book Club with such a favorite. I didn’t see her post until close to the “deadline,” but I knew I could finish it quickly so I ran out to the library and picked up a copy. Not that I felt pressured to read it all to join in on the fun.
The list of books I have re-read is a short one, but one that includes The Anne series. I think my last re-read before this was in 2005. Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, plus a number of other works by Jane Austen, the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Awakening, and The Hobbit complete the list (I don’t think I’m forgetting any, although I’m not counting poetry or short stories).
Check out Sarah’s recap post and then see what she has in store for the next “Venture” here. I know she would love to have you join in!
Sarah was kind enough to throw out some discussion starters so I’ll jump right into those:
1. What kind of everyday adventures do you see in Anne’s life?
Anne takes pleasure in pretty much everything or, at the very least, tries to imagine some pleasure into ordinary, mundane things. Making a playhouse out in the woods with chipped tea cups and other things that would normally be thrown out is one example. Another instance that comes to mind is how she finds a friend in her reflection in a pane of glass on a bookcase, proof that nothing is too ordinary for our Anne.
2. How can we use Anne’s outlook to bring extra excitement and meaning to our everyday lives?
I, for one, could do with taking a page from Anne’s book when it comes to mornings. “‘I’m so glad my window looks east into the sunrising,’ said Anne, going over to Diana. ‘It’s so splendid to see the morning coming up over those long hills and glowing through those sharp fir tops. It’s new every morning, and I feel as if I washed my very soul in that bath of earliest sunshine.'”
Can you imagine being that excited about waking up in the same room every day? I do love to see the sunrise, but it is always the furthest thing from my mind upon being roused early in the morning by a toddler.
3. What was your favorite part?
It is truly a difficult thing to choose just one favorite part, but I think Anne & Diana’s tea party (although not the disastrous result) or the Lady of Shallot bit would take top billing in my opinion.
I think if it weren’t for a new book on the horizon for the Venture Book Club (and the rest of the Anne Series to be read and watched), I would be in the “depths of despair” over leaving Green Gables!
I am linking up to Sarah’s post for the Venture Book Club. Be sure to check it out and enter her giveaway for a super cute Anne of Green Gables quote print from Carrot Top Paper Shop.