Welcome to Litsy!

@LeahBergen @Sarah83 I‘m behind in sharing a picture of my copy. I haven‘t had a chance to start on the next 15 chapters (I was really tempted to just keep going but had to stop to read a book for my IRL book clubs). 😊

Good gracious! Not enjoyable books! Anything but enjoyable books! 😂

I'm totally blaming this one on @LeahBergen
It's so good!

Well, isn‘t that a fun little coincidence? 😄

I‘m just about to start this one (a buddy read with @Sarah83 and @rubyslippersreads ).

💙💙💙

I am back at home. So @rubyslippersreads and @LeahBergen should we start our buddyread? My edition consists of 45 chapters and 363 pages. How should we part it? #thebluecastle

Anyway are the others interested in my other bookish items I bought in Italy? 😍

My first L.M. Montgomery book, so I didn't know what to expect. I liked it, but didn't love it. I found the ending too far-fetched.

March 2019 stats: 18 books read. Fave book: The Blue Castle 💙 Binged on public-domain ebooks (4) and audiobooks (2...for me that's a binge 😂).

Also, after watching The Ribos Operation this weekend, I think Valancy on the cover of The Blue Castle looks a bit like Romana (Mary Tamm).

I went also bookshopping with my bestie. 😍 I love this edition 😍

I devoured this in an afternoon. Loved seeing Valancy assert herself and get the great life she deserved. It was perfect.

Some writers and their novels age well, like Agatha Christie or Georgette Heyer, some on the other hand show their age. Blue Castle was more the latter. Not a bad read, but the first half was mostly Valancy bemoaning her lot in life. Considering the time period though, there weren‘t a lot of options for women other than marriage. Predictable and a bit slow, but Valancy takes charge of her own life and gets her happy ever after.

#hoopla

"Aunt Isabel prided herself on saying what she thought, but didn't like it so well when other people said what THEY thought to HER."

I'm already at the silver anniversary dinner scene and loving this book so far ?

“Days of clear brilliance. Evenings that were like cups of glamour - the purest vintage of winter's wine. Nights with their fire of stars. Cold, exquisite winter sunrises. Lovely ferns of #ice all over the windows of the Blue Castle...Ice-grey twilights, broken by snow-squalls, when their cosy living-room, with its goblins of firelight and inscrutable cats, seemed cosier than ever. Every hour brought a new revelation and wonder.” #QuotsyJan19

I love this book so, so, so much. I love the atmosphere and the description and the characters and the friendship. I love it, I love it, I love it. I think I may have read this one as a kid, and it didn‘t really make much of an impression on me. Now, it is what I always knew Montgomery could write. After rereading the Anne series, and then being disappointed with some of her other books, I am so happy to have read this. I enjoyed every moment.

All my 5 star reads for 2018!

“Good-evening, Miss Stirling."
Nothing could be more commonplace and conventional.
Any one might have said it. But Barney Snaith had a way of saying things that gave them poignancy. When he said good-evening you felt that it was a good evening and it was partly his doing that it was. Also, you felt that some of the #credit was yours. #QuotsyDec18

I swoon.

Took a sick day-slash-mental health day and am nearly done re-reading an old favorite.

I mean, I have pretty good eyesight but I'm not sure I want to read an entire novel at what looks like 7 point font...

I‘ve been in a major book slump the last couple weeks... despite all the shiny new graphic novels (and other fun stuff) I‘ve been getting from the library lately I can‘t seem to get into anything.

Here‘s hoping a tried and true old time favorite breaks the slump. Elliot implores us all to ignore the tragically misleading cover. 😹

#bookslumpsucks
#catsoflitsy

Valancy won‘t use the #broom until she needs to. #newhogwartsadventure

This story made me cry. Also it is Number 106 on my #MountTBRchallenge.

I had never heard of this book until someone else mentioned it. It is sad, sweet and wonderful all at the same time. If you like Lucy Maud Montgomery‘s other books, this one will captivate your heart.

Each day for 7 days, post the cover of one of your favorite books. No words. No explanations.

#7favesin7days / day 1

Post a book you love each day for 7 days, without review or comment, using the hashtag #7favesin7days in your post so we can keep it going.

Day 3

#7favesin7days
7/7

Thank you for a fun challenge @lauren.lerner 💙

Wow. The beginning has been pretty triggering but I‘m very invested in seeing Valancy throw off all these horrid manipulative ignorant narcissists and live a little. Depending on how it turns out, I may start handing this book out to every cowed young person I meet🔥

Bedtime reading. #justonemorechapter

One of my top five favorite books. It‘s witty, sad, quirky, and tragic all at the same time. The heroine is a lady who is a scared daughter totally under her mothers thumb and blooms into a free and independent woman. Highly highly recommend!

Okay, I was a little slow in putting together my collage but I am super excited to read these!! These 11 titles will all be new to me. Since some of these are graphic novels, I might be able to manage some re-reads from @Eyelit ‘s list (I‘ll probably laugh at this statement at the end of April). #FreakyFriday

Probably my favorite L.M. Montgomery novel

Ahh, good ol‘ 1925 think.

Reading the first of four “castle” books I plan on reading in the upcoming days/weeks.

DEBBIE. They came! Thank you so much! 💕 I‘m always surprised when people can surprise me with books I‘ve never heard of. 👌🏻 I‘m excited to read a few of your favorites! 😽 #bookmail

My sister @erista and I started the Jolabokaflod book exchange this year. I believe this is the start of a wonderful tradition. Now, what to read?? #jolabokaflod #merrychristmas

This is especially hard when you only have three different letters in your name!

B - Blue Castle (L.M. Montgomery)
A - Animal Dreams (Barbara Kingsolver)
R - Red Suitcase (Naomi Shihab Nye)
B - Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson)
A - Anne of Green Gables (L.M.
Montgomery)
R - Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
A - At the Back of the North Wind (George
MacDonald)

Favorite covers of books I read this year. #allthebooksof2017

Valancy is certainly out of place in her family much like a partridge in a pear tree but I chose her more because this is a book I return to over and over again when I need a comfort read. So I thought of my most read book for the most repeated line. #12daysofchristmas

Apparently, I lead a dangerous life😜

Twenty L.M. Montgomery paperbacks.
#twenty #novemberbythenumbers @JoeStalksBeck @Tiffy_Reads

Still counting down to the next #readathon 😃

A #blue book on my tbr that may be a good one for the readathon.

#30daysofreadathon

Anne of Green Gables was my absolute favorite book when I was a kid. I'm excited to read The Blue Castle and revisit LM Montgomery's writing as an adult. Like seeing an old friend again after 30 years apart!

This was one of the loveliest books I've read in a long time. Started and finished within 2 days and thoroughly enjoyable throughout. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This beautiful story is both Bildungsroman & romance, yet deftly defies each genre. Valancy Stirling is an "old maid" who has lived her 29 years as a perpetual child under the definitive judgment of an overbearing family. She is young at heart, though she scarcely knows it until an unexpected diagnosis inspires her to destroy the façade & live as her true self. Montgomery's description, storytelling, and characterization are as vivid as ever.

"Don't worry, Mother," said Valancy, lightly but quite respectfully. "It isn't likely I'll do anything very terrible. But I mean to have a little fun."

"Fun!" Mrs. Frederick uttered the word as if Valancy had said she was going to have a little tuberculosis.

It's an unfortunate #FamilyAffair for our protagonist, Valancy. Considered to be a child at age 29 and scolded for idleness and solitude, she lives perpetually under the condescending scrutiny of her mother and cousin.

I'm just taking the time to get into this book, but I can already tell it is a gem. Montgomery's subtle humor and poetic descriptions breathe so much life into yet another wonderfully complex heroine.

#AugustGrrrl

What a dear, sweet little novel! Valancy is one of the funniest characters I've read. I would have loved being seated next to her at family dinners just to hear her witty observations. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 #20BooksofSummer 13/20
*The biographical note at the end of this edition said that Montgomery had a difficult time being a minister's wife, and suffered bouts of depression and may have committed suicide. 😢