The Summer of Lucy Maud

The Summer of Lucy Maud

• Jun 19, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly featured hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic/Top Ten list and invite everyone to share their own answers. I'm so obsessed with lists!

I'm really excited about discovering all the wonderful summertime reads that people list today, but I thought I'd take my list in a slightly different direction. I can almost guarantee that no one else's list will have the books I'm featuring today, and I always like being different.

Anyway, I could easily have come up with ten new & unread books on my summer TBR list because, let's face it, I can always come up with books I'm looking forward to reading. But I'm also doing something different this summer in terms of re-reading, and I thought this would be a fun way to let everyone know what I'll be enjoying at the pool over the next few months.

Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR List

"The Summer of Lucy Maud"

I love Lucy Maud (L.M.) Montgomery, and a big part of the reason why is the fact that she created one of my very favorite heroines, Anne Shirley. I fell in love with Anne in the third grade, and I was hooked on her adventures and daydreams right from the start. However, I also fell in love with my first book boy because of Lucy Maud. His name is Gilbert Blythe. I've spoken of my love for him before, so I won't make you listen to my long list of reasons why he's so awesome again.

But I will tell you that I've had a hankering for my old favorites recently. Getting in to book blogging has been really fun. I've gotten to know some very cool book nerds and found some awesome books to add to my TBR. The only downside is the fact that blogging has made me put pressure on myself to read only new books. I keep buying books based on blogger recommendations (which I don't regret in the least) but that causes my "I hope to re-read this one day" books to get pushed back to the bottom of the book pile. I absolutely love to re-read, but I sometimes have a hard time justifying re-reading old favorites when I own so many new and unread books. 

After a string of lackluster books, I was feeling a little book weary. You know, when you don't even want to pick up a book because you're afraid that it will be disappointing or boring and just plain blah. My typical remedy for this situation is to pick up a book that has been recommended to me by someone I really trust. If they say I'll love it, chances are I will and that often gets me out of the doldrums.

However, this time that just wasn't cutting it. It was like my heart was yearning for something familiar, something I could revisit and that would be new to me in the way that time makes any re-read of a book a new experience.

So I started reading Anne of Green Gables for the thousandth time. And it definitely felt like coming home. After devouring it quickly, I still wanted more. So, I've decided to re-read the whole series this summer, along with some of my other favorites by Lucy Maud. I'm not reading them straight through - that would make me sick of Lucy Maud's writing! Instead, I'll be enjoying one book by Lucy Maud for every two or so TBR books. I'm giving myself little breaks in between so that I don't get sick of her style. And y'all, I am seriously so excited about my plan! It just feels like such a relief to be re-reading again.

Luckily, my list worked out to a perfect ten books because I've already finished re-reading the first two in the Anne series. The picture above shows you what my copies look like - a little dated but a lot loved. In order:

1. Anne of the Island - Anne at Redmond College

2. Anne of Windy Poplars - Anne teaching at Summerside High School & boarding at Windy Poplars

3. Anne's House of Dreams - Anne gets married

4. Anne of Ingleside - Anne as the mother of five

5. Rainbow Valley - Adventures of Anne's six children

6. Rilla of Ingleside - Story of Anne's youngest, Rilla

7. Emily of New Moon - Beginning of a series focusing on Emily Starr, an introverted orphan 

8. Emily Climbs - Emily's off to high school

9. Emily's Quest - Emily decides what she wants for her future

10. The Blue Castle - A standalone where a young woman rebels against her family to find her own happiness

{I'm not including much description or trying to "sell" you on reading the books because I'll be posting my thoughts on each books after I read it. That's when I plan on convening you that L.M. Montgomery writes delightful characters that you need to get to know!}