Carrie at Reading to Know is sponsoring a third annual Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge. The idea is to read anything of Montgomery’s and/or watch any program based on one of her works sometime between now and when the challenge ends Jan. 28. Carrie has a post up today where we can log our intentions and will have a post up Jan. 28 to wrap it up, and of course we can share on our own blogs our thoughts about our reading and watching along the way. And she’s also sprinkling a few prizes throughout the month!

I read through all six Anne books as well as Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside and a couple of collections of her short stories just after the Anne of Green Gables movie first came out. I had never heard of Anne or LMM before and was enthralled! I think I have reread them at least once since then and wanted to revisit them again, and doing so with other people increases the enjoyment. Last year I reread Anne of Green Gables for this challenge, and this year I am going to be very open-ended and just plan to read the next ones in the series until the month is over. I’d like to at least read Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, but I don’t want to plan much beyond that in case I decide I want to read something else this month as well. Eventually, some year, after I work through these first eight books again I want to go on and explore some of LMM’s other books. I also rediscovered on my shelf Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L. M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic, a biography of LMM. I haven’t read it yet and can’t deicde whether to try to this month or wait til I’ve read all six Anne books.

So, those are my plans. I look forward to a cozy visit with these old friends, perfect for cold winter days.