The title of Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery is taken from an area where the Blythe children play which they named. In this seventh of LMM’s Anne series, the action picks up just after the place where it left off in Anne of Ingleside. Anne’s four older children are joined in the valley by four new children from the manse. The Presbyterian church has got a new minister, but they hadn’t known beforehand that he was a widower. He in an excellent preacher, but is a bit absent-minded, easily lost in his thoughts or a good book to the point of forgetting to keep tabs on his children. That causes a series of scrapes and misunderstandings, mostly comical though some are scandalous to the town and especially the congregation.

It’s an interesting story in itself, but, for being in the Anne series, there is very little of Anne in it and even less of Gilbert. Anne seems to be the voice of reason and balance, seeing the humor in the various situations that come up and defending the children. Anne’s children are best friends with the manse children and interact with them often through the book, but still the focus seems to be on the latter. I’m curious as to why Montgomery focused on the manse family in this book — whether the Blythe children were not likely to get into some of the situations the manse children were, or whether perhaps as a pastor’s wife she wanted to shed a bit of light on how a pastor’s family, particularly the children, can feel with the watching eyes of the church and community on them and how the most innocent of actions can be blown into a major scandal by gossip and a lack of charitableness. If any of you have read of the background behind this one, I’d love to hear it.

I thought Rosemary West’s story was very sad and sweet, and I loved the glimpses into Mr. Meredith’s (the pastor’s) thinking and struggles when he was “awake,” as one of the children’s friend’s called it when he was focused. There’s foreshadowing of the coming war. I’ve read this series before, but I can’t remember which of Anne’s sons goes off to war in the next book (don’t tell me — I want to find out in the book). I wonder whether there will be any romances between the Blythe children and the manse children as they grow up (if so, perhaps that’s another reason for the focus on the manse children here.)

I’d have to say this isn’t my favorite of the Anne series, but it is still very good.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read.

Wow — I totally forgot about this until I saw it pop up on others’ blogs!

But here is what I finished since last time:

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room by Nancy Guthrie, read with Jesse. I had read it privately last year.

Belonging by Robin Lee Hatcher, reviewed here.

Serenity by Harry Kraus, M. D., reviewed here.

Anne’s House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery, reviewed here.

Anne of Ingleside, reviewed here.

I’m currently reading:

Practical Happiness: A Young Man’s Guide to a Contented Life by Bob Schultz, with my youngest son, Jesse.

Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery.

I’m currently listening to:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I’m loving the story, but I’m dismayed by a smattering of bad language in it, particularly taking the Lord’s name in vain. 😦  I didn’t think about that when I got it, but I should have.

Up next:

I’d really like to read Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery to finish out the Anne series for Carrie‘s L. M. Montgomery Challenge so next year I can start on others of her writings. We’ll see how it goes!

I’m hosting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge in February, so naturally much of my reading will be in connection with her next month. I’ll have more to say about that on Feb. 1, the first day of the challenge. (I invite you to join us!)

I’m definitely addicted to audiobooks now. Once I finish The Help, I think next I’ll listen to Silas Marner. I’ve actually had a CD for that for years, but never got to it. I’ve often wondered about it since one character mentioned it on the Little House on the Prairie TV show a few years ago — and I think I may have seen a version of it on Wishbone when my kids used to watch that (hey, you’ve gotta take your culture where you can find it sometimes. 🙂 )

What’s on your nightstand?

Anne of Ingleside takes up several years after Anne’s House of Dreams. Anne is a busy mother of five children now with another soon on the way. The book starts with a visit back to Avonlea for Gilbert’s father’s funeral. Anne and Diana have an afternoon to get away and visit all their old haunts, and we have a glimpse of Marilla and Mrs. Lynde and all the old scenes we love from the previous books. But as Anne heads back to Glen St. Mary, first she reflects on all she loves in Avonlea, but then her thoughts turn toward her waiting family, and she wonders how she could have been happy for a week without them. A joyous reunion introduces us to her little ones.

Many of the chapters are from the viewpoints of the children as they encounter various trials, tribulations, adventures, and misunderstandings. It’s so easy to forget how things can look to a child and how they might process them.

It’s sweet to see Anne’s motherly wisdom with her children and to see that though she has matured, she hasn’t lost her vivacity and imagination.  But lest we think she’s too perfect, she has her own misunderstanding with attendant negative feelings before it all works out in the end.

One of Anne’s trials in this book is a visit from Gilbert’s Aunt Mary Maria. Well, it’s supposed to be a visit, but it begins to look like she’s planning to stay indefinitely. She’s so unpleasant that little Jem asked, after he met her, whether they could laugh while she was there. There were so many little things that offended, so little Anne feels she shouldn’t complain, “and yet…it’s the little things that fret the holes in life…like moths…and ruin it” (p. 67). Yet they can’t ask her to leave for fear of causing great offense. The situation is finally resolved a bit comically though with the best intentions.

Perhaps the besetting sin of many women in LMM’s books is gossip, and my least favorite chapter was a record of the gossip shared during a Ladies’ Aid quilting session. I’ve actually known some people who avoided her books for that reason. But she doesn’t present gossip as acceptable: it’s often comical or tragic or at the very least a thorn in someone’s side, and the characters who are meant to be exemplary don’t engage in it.

Favorite quotes from the book:

“This is no common day, Mrs. Dr. Dear,” [Susan] said solemnly.

“Oh, Susan, there is no such thing as a common day. Every day has something about it no other day has” (p. 17).

From Rebecca Dew: “While we should not forget the Higher Things of Life good food is a pleasant thing in moderation” (p. 62).

While Anne and Jem are planting bulbs one fall day: “Isn’t it nice to be preparing for spring when you know you’ve got to face winter?” (p. 155).

While Anne was reflecting on the children growing and the changes happening and yet to come: “Well, that was life. Gladness and pain…hope and fear…and change. Always change! You could not help it. You had to let the old go and take the new to your heart…learn to love it and then let it go in turn. Spring, lovely as it was, must yield to summer and summer lose itself in autumn” (p. 214).

To a small daughter disappointed when reality was less than her imagination and who decides never to imagine again: “My dear foolish dear, don’t say that. An imagination is a wonderful thing to have…but like every gift we must posses it and not let it posses us” (p. 244).

Reflecting on the coming winter: “What would matter drifting snow and biting wind when love burned clear and bright, with spring beyond? And all the little sweetnesses of life sprinkling the road” (p. 277).

I enjoyed reading about Anne at this stage of her life.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)