What you will see unfurling below you, in a spectacular display of autism and geeky pride, is the result of MONTHS of research a couple years ago …
I’ll give you the background.
One of my geek credentials is Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the “Anne of Green Gables” series, and many many more, all wonderful books. I have them all. Have read them all multiple times. Over the past 10 years, volumes of her journals have been published – which was like, for me, being a kid in a candy store.
There are 4 volumes altogether. They are addictive. There is so much to say about her, her life, her writing …
I came up with an idea for a project – which hasn’t come to fruition yet, so I will not divulge it here. Dont’ want anyone to steal my great idea.
But once the idea came, I went on a rampage of research. And when I say rampage, I mean rampage.
I kept notes, I kept a filing cabinet, I color-coded my notes, I filed them in different folders – it was completely autistic and obsessive. I get SO MUCH DONE when I am motivated. My research led me onto tangents, which led me onto further tangents – until the project was completely out of control. I gave myself the assignment to read all of her favorite books – which I did.
At least the ones I could get my hands on.
LM Montgomery was born in the 1880s, and died in the early 1940s. She published 42 best-selling books, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories. Her first novel was Anne of Green Gables which was a runaway best-seller, and spawned many many many sequels. 8 in all. The need for “more” about Anne never ended. She describes getting a pleading letter from a Muslim girls in India, saying, “When will there be another book about Anne??” That’s just one example. She was bombarded with letters, throughout her career, asking for “more, more, more”.
I admire her so much. She did not have a particularly happy life. She married badly. She had a love in her girlhood which – ended tragically – and she never recovered. 60 years later, she describes driving her car by the town where this youthful romance had once happened, and feeling her heart pulling up out of her chest, aching for him.
It’s crazy.
BUT – and here’s why I admire her – she had an extremely unhappy marriage. And yet – because of her wild passion in her early 20s for this other man – she was a romantic, at heart – and ALL of that stuff, all of that repressed stuff went into her books. I think that’s why girls love her books so much. They are so romantic, without being mushy. No, LM Montgomery, strict upstanding Presbyterian, couldn’t be mushy. But she does believe in love, and she was quite militant about her belief in the happy ending. That there is no “shame” in a happy ending.
Until I read her journals, I had no idea what a courageous outlook that really was.
I thought she was just optimistic.
But when I read her diaries, I realized: Wow. Her life has given her nothing but grief. It gets worse and worse and worse. And what kept her alive, what kept her heart going, was her writing.
And NOBODY writes a happy ending like Lucy Maud Montgomery.
She usually delays the happy ending until the very last page. You read the entire book, thinking, “Oh my God, I hope these two hook up … I hope they get together…” and not until the last paragraph, does she give you what you want.
Again, until I read her journals, I thought that it was just a literary style, something that stamped a book as “hers”. When I read about her life, the thwarted love, the broken heart, the terrible marriage to a man who went mad almost directly following their marriage – she had had no idea he had a history of mental illness (who the hell talked about such things in 1901??) – and so there she was, saddled with a mental invalid for the next 35 years …
So of COURSE her books would be filled with pain, and loss … unresolved until the very last page.
She HAD to have happy endings. It was the only thing that would get her through each moment, the belief that sometimes, somewhere, things work out, and people are happy.
Back to my project:
I kept EXTENSIVE files on her. She was a voracious reader, and she kept notes of what she read in her journals.
I’m posting a TON of them below, for any of you literature-freaks, or critics out there. I’ve read a lot of them now – because of this project. I read “Decline and Fall of the Goddamn Roman Empire” because Lucy Maud loved it so much. I read the poetry of Tennyson for the first time. I read Washington Irving (one of her favorites). I read freakin’ “Pilgrims Progress”, for God’s sake.
I’m insane, I know, and I know I’m geeky – but I’m sure there are some literature and language-hounds out there who will like to read these words.
The woman certainly knows how to turn a phrase.
I put an Amazon link to every book in question at the bottom of each post (when I could locate the books … Many of them are so obscure and out-of-print you could never find them.)
And so now: here is the Geek-Parade.
red, I am overwhelmed. Speechless, in fact.
Leave this thread open until we mere mortals catch up with you.
Nice work, kid.
Well, there goes my night.
An etext (free) version of Anne of Green Gables is available for download here. Small file. This page lists a total of eleven L. M. Montgomery books available at this particular site. If you’ve never checked out etexts, you should take a look.
Red, there are times when you scare me just a tiny bit.
However, nice job once again.
Y’know, friends have called me all sorts of things ranging from anal to obsessed just because I chose to enter all 3000+ books in my personal library into a spreadsheet. (What can I say, I needed a pocket-sized printout I could bring along on my bookhunts)
Anyway, nice to see someone else shares the same gene.
you my dear
are vastly cementing your position
as the literary intellectual of blog world
more power to you mama
i likes me a smart babe
p.s. i read in front of a crowd last night
and honey
i was nervous
my friends said no one could tell
but im pretty sure my knees were knocking
that shit is scary
Mike R: I made a comment in that long-ass Humphrey Bogart post that men tend to find me “too much”. And they tell me so. “You’re awesome, but you’re just a bit much.”
You have discovered that redheaded-reality.
El Capitan:
I know!! It is nice to know that there are others out there who are, quite frankly, terrifying in their obsessions.
My good friend Ann and I were so obsessed with the entire collection of LM Montgomery books that we always talked, in a desultory way, about creating a “database” of characters, cross-referenced, etc.
We were quite serious.
I may read this posted further on, but I wanted to add my favorite quote:
“Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.”
I wish I could remember the source, but I know it is a LMM quote. I have never forgotten it. (Sorry, Red, if this repeats what will be found later here.)
Noggie –
That quote (forgive me) comes from the chapter in “Anne of the Island”, when she stays up all night, praying at her window that Gilbert (her childhood love) will recover from pneumonia.
WOW….just…Wow! I’m a huge LMM fan as well and I can’t wait to read all this. I just had no idea…. Wow!
Kel –
Enjoy! LMM fans, unite!
Red – I did put emphasis on “tiny”. The passion with which you throw yourself into these things is really quite endearing. I’ll take that over an inert lump of indifference any day of the week. ;-)
Speaking of obsessions: I need to post 5,000 things about Casablanca now, since I’ve seen it 3 times this week.
Obsession. Run amok. :)
It’s good to have a blog, because I can inflict my obsessions on others – and hopefully others will say: “Hey man, I love that too.”
Like El Capitan up there, with his crazy database of book titles! Love it!!
for the love of god, sheila….how much room can one person have in their brain?! you absolutely astonish me. you also scare me….just a little. just reading this will take up an entire day. what i want to know is….how long did it take you to do this?! looking forward to tomorrow.
Allison – let us get the hell out of dodge. Can’t wait myself.
Well, all of this stuff is the fruition of a summer of research and note-taking mania.
It’s all just been sitting on this floppy disc for a couple of years. So I just cut and paste.
Then I got a little wacked out with the Amazon links … but all in all, it didn’t take me too long.
Never fear.
no, i’m sorry. i fear
Allison – how bout I bring my bags and bags of notes on our trip this weekend, and spread them out around the room – so you can REALLY be scared.
It’s like I’m John Nash – with his crazy collages over the walls.
go right ahead, but i’m taking pictures.
red,
I am enjoying these little gems more than I could ever imagine. They are like small treats, not to be devoured all at once, but each one relished at leisure. I hope you’ll keep them handy for your readers. In appreciation, Rebecca West is on her way to you.
Thanks.
spd rdr:
TOUCHED! I am so touched! Thank you – it was my pleasure to post these for everyone. Truly.
I can’t wait to get my hands on Rebecca West … she’s the best.
Thank you. :)
Anne Shirley and Squeaky Fromme..thats my Sheila!!!
I Love a Parade
Everyone keeps, somewhere in his body, an obsessive organ; everyone keeps, somewhere in the secret cabinets of her heart, a cherished love that endures despite the world’s unending rush to
I happened upon LMM in my very late teens and became totally enchanted by her.
I always love finding another “kindred spirit” out here in the blogosphere.