L.M. Montgomery Wrap Up

On December 26th I finished the last of L.M. Montgomery's 32 books.  I started the year of with the Story Girl in January and finished with At the Altar at the end of December.

Favorite Series: The Story Girl and The Golden Road.  This is the story of the King family and what the Disney series Avonlea was very loosely based on.  The characters are wonderful and flawed all at the same time.  The chapters of the first book use the title of the story that The Story Girl (otherwise known as Sara Stanley) tells during the chapter.  This is one of her best books and would be a fabulous read aloud book for a younger child.

Least Favorite Series: Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat.  I disliked both of these books intensely.  The character development was minimal at best.  Nothing actually happened except Pat wandering around complaining about change way past the point of healthy.  I was very very glad this series only took 2 books.

Favorite Stand Alone Book: The Blue Castle.  The main character in this book is an adult which is nice.  I liked Valancy and I loved watching her find her own identity.

Favorite Short Story Collection: Against the Odds. While I loved most of the short story collections the story of people overcoming adversities and ending up with the happiness they needed was very nice to read.

Book I'm Most Likely to Recommend: Rilla of Ingleside.  To me this book provided a look at life on the home front during World War 1 which is very rare.  I sobbed like a baby through most of the book but there is an interesting developed story here that I think even many of the Anne books are missing.

Montgomery is still one of my favorite authors even though that Pat series almost made me through in the towel.  All the dreaminess can get tedious but that makes characters like Jane and Valancy from Jane of Lantern Hill and The Blue Castle respectively all the more refreshing.  For the most part all of her books and short stories are nice old fashioned stories where good hard working people are justly rewarded in the end.  While that might not be the most exciting praise it makes for some nice reading.