Yet Another Period Drama Tag

I know I've done period drama tags before but there's another one out there and I'm bound and determined to do it!

What's your favorite period drama movie?

I know it's a mini-series but forever and always the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.

What's your favorite period drama series?

TV series I'm thinking they're meaning? Either Call the Midwife or Lark Rise to Candleford. I love them both. Merlin is also kind of a period drama show though and I love that one too so... Don't make me chose! 

Which period drama do you dislike the most?

It's a tie between the 2005 Pride and Prejudice and the 2007 Mansfield Park. I loathe them pretty equally. 

Anne of Green Gables or Little Dorrit?

An incredibly unfair question! I grew up with Anne of Green Gables and It's always been a part of my life so I have very sentimental feelings for it. However, Little Dorrit I was only introduced to in the last couple years. Nevertheless I think Little Dorrit is the better show. 

Your favorite period drama dresses?

These two! I basically love everything in Molly Gipson's and Elizabeth Bennet's wardrobes. 

Who's your favorite period drama character? (okay pick at least five)

Ladies- Elizabeth Bennet, Molly Gipson, Amy Dorrit, Esther Summers and Anne Shirley. 

Men- Mr. Darcy, Mr. Knightley, Gabriel Oak, Sir Percy Blakeney and Henry Tilney. 

If you could join a royal ball, which dress would you go in? (pick a period drama dress) 

I don't know! There's not any specifically "ball dresses" that stick out to me so I'm going with this one of Molly's from Wives and Daughters. 

What's your favorite Jane Austen movie?

Well obviously as mentioned above the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice but since I've already used that once I'll mention my second favorite which I think would be the 2007 version of Northanger Abbey though I also really enjoy both the 1995 and 2008 versions of Sense and Sensibility. 

Downtown Abbey or Call the Midwife?

As I haven't seen any Downtown Abbey I'll have to go with Call the Midwife. :) 

Sybil Crawley, Jenny Lee, Emma Woodhouse or Marian of Knighton?

Jenny Lee hands down! 

Which couple from a period drama do you like the most? (pick at least four) 

So many! I narrowed it down as best as I can. 

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice

Molly Gibson and Roger Hamley from Wives and Daughters

Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clenham from Little Dorrit

Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables

Alfie and Minnie from Lark Rise to Candleford

Shelagh and Patrick from Call the Midwife (I also love Chummy and Peter but I only wanted to include one of the couples so I sided with Shelagh and Patrick)

At last, which period drama villain do you like the most? 

Probably Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She makes me laugh. 

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Book Review- The Blue Castle

For the Full House reading challenge I read L.M. Montgomery's novel The Blue Castle. It should have counted towards the Mount TBR Pile challenge and the Shelf Love challenge as well but I bought it in February. :(

Synopsis from Goodreads: At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the " forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent, and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

Spoilers follow because I can't help but gush!
This post will probably contain a lot of incoherent sentences and gushing because I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!! The ending was the clincher. Throughout the book I was like yeah this is pretty good and then I got to the end and OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL I ALMOST CRIED AND LOIS DOESN'T CRY!!!!
Focus Lois!
Valancy was a different kind of heroine for Montgomery's books. She's 29 and considered an old maid. That threw me off a little at the beginning but as the book went on you really forgot Valancy was that old and honestly I think it was because during the book she developed a younger personality. She wasn't burdened anymore. I'm not sure how to put that into coherent words but I hope you get my drift. When she goes "nuts" and says what she thinks to everyone it was just too hilarious! Granted some of the things she said weren't the nicest but eh... it's a book. Her family was pretty terrible though but still horribly humorous. You couldn't quite hate them because you were laughing at them. In the end, like Valancy, I think you come to pity them.
Barney was full of mystery and while you liked him you just weren't quite sure about him. At least that's how I felt. Of course he turned out perfectly lovely in the end. :) At the end when he comes to talk to Valancy and says "I want to see my wife" I just gushed! :)
I loved everything about their marriage. Sure it was a little weird and unorthodox but I loved it. The walks they went on together were so sweet. How Barney came to fall in love with Valancy and how Valancy developed a deeper love for him is just so sweet!
And the ending! Did I mention how much I love the ending? It melted my heart! And I was absolutely surprised by Barney being John Foster. It was rather hilarious really though. And the letter going to Valancy instead of the other random right person surprised me too. I had considered it initially but everything seemed to fall into place too well for that to be so. I was desperately trying to figure out though how Valancy was not going to die because she just couldn't! As the story went on I decided that Valancy's healthier life in the outdoors and enjoying herself had cured her heart problem somehow. Yeah that was my desperate solution... take my nursing license away! Thankfully Montgomery actually had a solution.
Overall I just loved this book. I felt like it was more mature than the Anne of Green Gables series but our heroine is older. It still exudes the charm that we love in Montgomery's writing no matter how old our heroine is. I just feel like it isn't something I would hand to my daughter like I would had Anne of Green Gables. I think I 'd wait until she was a little older. I did hand it to my little sister though and while she liked it she didn't LOVE it. Obviously there's something wrong with her. ;)
So read or not? Read obviously!
P.S. How on earth do you pronounce Valancy's name?

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Book Reviews- The Anne of Green Gables Series

I didn't fancy writing a review for each of the Anne of Green Gables books so instead I grouped my reviews for all of the books in this one post. They were all re-reads.

Anne of Green Gables

I listened to a beautiful audiobook version of this narrated by Barbara Caruso. This has been a much re-read book in my past and once again I was blown away by it. The characters are perfect and the story is heart wrenchingly beautiful. Anne, Matthew and Marilla make the story for me and the spicy secondary characters like Mrs. Allen, Miss Stacy, Dianah and of course Mrs. Lynd just make it even better. Listening to this story made me long for my fanciful childhood even more but watching even Anne grow up reminded me that it must happen to us all. Seeing that Anne still kept much of her same imaginative spirit also reminded me that even as grown ups we can still act and think a bit childishly at times. :)

Anne of Avonlea

Once again a lovely audiobook narrated by Barbara Caruso. This second installment in the series brings the introduction of Davy and Dora, twins who Marilla takes charge of. They're a great addition to the story in my opinion and like Anne help Marilla. It's fun to see Anne start teaching a school of her own and develop relationships with her students and begin to make new friends. Mr. Harrison is hilarious and his parrot... love it! :) Some of Anne's odder theology comes out in this but it's still a great book. :)

Anne of the Island

Can I just say Barbara Caruso is an awesome narrator? If possible, she makes the books even better!  Anne of the Island just really frustrates me at times. The whole time I'm just thinking that Anne needs to say yes to Gilbert and it drives me crazy! I just don't think she realizes that she loves him but she has a ton of time to think it out and still she doesn't! Come on Anne! Then, I was so upset with her romance with Roy Gardner. I don't think she led him on exactly, because she honestly thought she liked him and was going to marry him but still she kind of blew it! She was having warning signs for a couple months or so before he proposed to her that maybe she wasn't in love with him and she kept ignoring them! She should have been figuring it out sooner and backing off so Roy didn't have to go through that heartache. However, at the end I was just so happy that Anne and Gilbert got together I kind of forgave her.
I feel like this book was a lot about Anne being brought down if you know what I mean. She had high opinions of her writing and the flowery speeches but then her story got rejected. She had a tall dark and handsome ideal and then she realizes that he really isn't the man she wants to marry. I think she matures a lot in this book through her many mistakes.
Besides that though I loved the whole atmosphere of Patty's Place and Anne's roommates and Aunt Jamesina. I didn't remember this book very well so when Phillipa Gordon popped up I didn't remember who she was or what happened with her and initially I didn't care for her much but by the end we had gotten to know her better and had seen her mature and get married to Jonas and I really loved her. I can see myself a bit in Phillipa.

Anne of Windy Poplars

This book is slightly different from the others in that is told mostly in the form of letters from Anne to Gilbert. It's kind of a space filler in the series. Don't get me wrong, I do like it, but it's just kind of there instead of I feel being especially unique like many of the other books.
One of my disappointments about this book is that it scarcely has Gilbert in it. However, there are once again a variety of new characters that Anne meets that spice up the story beautifully. Overall, it was still a beautiful and fun book full of antics that only Anne could have.

Anne's House of Dreams

They're finally married! I think with Anne we feel her sorrow and joy as she leaves Green Gables for good and moves with her new husband Gilbert to Four Winds Point. Once again new and interesting characters are introduced and Anne attempts to solve the worlds problems. ;) The saddest part of the story is Anne losing her first child Joyce. It's incredibly heartbreaking but I think Montgomery did the right thing in writing it like that... I say that from an author's point of view. Overall, I guess I would have to agree with people that the books kind of start losing their uniqueness and creativity at this point but they're still lots of fun to read. :)

Anne of Ingleside

Now Anne has five children and in the book she gives birth to a sixth and last. In this book we get more of her children's antics but however old Anne is she never stops her own antics. :) Even though as always with the Anne books I loved it, it is probably my least favorite of the Anne books.

Rainbow Valley

This one really just focuses on Anne's children but it's lots of fun. The Meredith children get into trouble that we thought only Anne could achieve. ;) This book is pretty sweet. :)

Rilla of Ingleside

Just a little ways into this book I began to realize that I really related to Rilla. She's a young girl, struggling with being young and learning to growing up and then being sort of forced to grow up in the midst of war and raising a war baby (I'm kind of jealous of that.. the baby not the war). I actually staid up late one night to finish the book... I had half of it left and didn't plan on finishing it that night but I obviously got carried away. Because it was so late and I was tired (that's my excuse here!) I almost cried three times during the book! I don't cry over books so this astonished me! It was a pretty heartbreaking book though. It is one of my very favorites of the series and a beautiful ending to it.

Random thoughts on characters

So as I was finishing up the series I was thinking a lot about Susan, their maid/nanny/cook. Sometimes, I feel that her character is a little forced and that she is supposed to make us laugh but sometimes instead I just feel like her comments are predictable. She's always saying the same kinds of things. Eventually she got on my nerves a little. I actually thought it interesting to compare her to Rebecca Dew from Anne of Windy Poplars as she is somewhat similar to her. However, I always liked Rebecca and she never got on my nerves. I guess I found her more original. Thoughts anyone on these two characters? 

Concluding thoughts

It has been an incredible amount of fun re-reading the Anne of Green Gables series. I don't know how many times I've re-read the books but I think this time was unique as I was reading them as an adult (at least I like to think of myself as an adult) and experiencing them in different formats (audiobooks and real books). I have so much nostalgia built up around those books and the films that I don't think anyone could ever convince me to even think about disliking them. Montgomery created such a variety of fun, quirky, interesting and real characters that I think we can all find someone to relate to when we read them. If you haven't read them, I don't know how you're still living but with your final breaths of life read these books and then re-read them! ;) You won't regret it! 

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