Brian E’s Comments (group member since Dec 08, 2021)

Brian E’s comments from the Reading Through The Year With L. M. Montgomery (2022-23) group.

I finished this today and enjoyed it very much. I often found myself wanting to read further rather than moving on to one of my other books. This is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Tracey wrote: "I love Elizabeth Gaskell and am interested in the name of the story you mention..."

It's The Grey Woman one of her Gothic short story/novellas, but one that's more of a real-life suspense thriller rather than a supernatural/eerie one like The Old Nurse's Story. Both were Halloween reads for me this year.

I have a Kindle of this and plan to read this more mid-month. I thought it would be interesting after previously reading Anne to try a more adult oriented book. I was not aware it was set in Ontario so that interests me in the book even more.
I like seeing how authors operate outside their usual settings. I just read an Elizabeth Gaskell short story which she (successfully IMO) set it in Germany and France rather than England. This change of setting from one Canadian province to another shouldn't be quite so challenging for LM, but still piques my interest.

Tracey wrote: "I also love the opening of Anne with an E. Very beautiful and very catchy. How do the later series compare to the first one?.."

I have to correct myself because I'm actually only at the middle/end episodes of season 2 not Season 3. My wife liked it at first but she is the one that thinks the actress playing Anne is a bit grating. She doesn't want to watch it as often as I do.
Anne With an E is best the first year when its fresh. As the series goes on to the second year, they also have to invent more storylines for a same-age Anne, some of which are a bit weaker than others. Her relations with the other female students are the weaker scenes for me. Her friend Diana is a bit sappy. I looked at the IMDb ratings and some of the upcoming episodes get better ratings so that's good.

Of course you can copy the age grid - I got it off of Wikipedia anyway, although I added my own headings and other edits.
As I had read the first two books, I know Anne with an E diverted from the books. The 1985 TV film with Megan Follows is considered by many as the best - but if you want to stick to the book you have to do it in a movie rather than a series. To get 20 to 30 episodes out of what actually is not quite one book, all the series have to add events to the original material.
My favorite part of the Anne With an E series may be the opening credits, which are very creative and are accompanied by "Ahead By A Century" a song by Canadian band The Tragically Hip and their leader Gord Downie, who tragically died of brain cancer in 2017.
I remember these events because I was hearing about Downie's experience while my brother was going through the same thing: my brother learned of his glioblastoma in April of 2016 and died in March of 2017 and Downie announced his glioblastoma in May of 2016 and died in October of 2017.

I am currently in the middle of Season 2 of the Netflix series Anne With an E. I liked it very much at the beginning although I must admit Anne does get a bit grating with too much exposure.
I have not seen other depictions of Anne so:
1) What do people think of the TV and Movie depictions of Anne they have seen; and
2) Do most of them deal with only the youthful Anne of the the first Green Gables book or do any depict the more grown up Anne?
(My biggest revelation when reading the first two books several years ago was how quickly Anne grew up in the stories, which are concerned with Anne at the following ages):

Book / Date Published / Anne's Age
1 Anne of Green Gables 1908 (11–16)
2 Anne of Avonlea 1909 (16–18)
3 Anne of the Island 1915 (18–22)
4 Anne of Windy Poplars 1936 (22–25) (Anne of Windy Willows in UK and Australia)
5 Anne's House of Dreams 1917 (25–27)
6 Anne of Ingleside 1939 (34–40)
-- And Ones That Focus More On Anne's Children
7 Rainbow Valley 1919 (41–43)
8 Rilla of Ingleside 1921 (49–53)
9 The Blythes Are Quoted 2009 (40–75)