I don't think I've ever seen that collection.

It's also published in a slightly different version as "The Blythes Are Quoted." It's probably still in copyright, since it was first published in the seventies. The introduction to the edition that I got from the library says that the manuscript was found by Montgomery's son among her papers, and

The original manuscript was divided into two parts, each part composed of a narrative introduction describing an evening in the Blythe household when the family would sit around the fireside and listen to poems and stories. For the purposes of this book, which we have titled The Road to Yesterday, all but one of the poems have been deleted, and the sequence of the stories has been reorganized.

In the edition published as "The Blythes Are Quoted," they left in the poems, I think.

I am a product of my time--I find it hard to fathom how Anne goes from being this driven student, ambitious for success and fame, to being a housewife and mother, with no cognitive dissonance at all. Like, she just... stops writing, period. I'm happy that she's happy, but...

Me too. It seems like she's still more involved in academic stuff than a lot of the other women -- I remember some mentions of other women telling people to go to Mrs. Dr. Blythe with questions about anything, since she's a B.A. and reads and goes to lectures all the time, but I did want her to keep on writing.

I've been bingeing on LMM on my Kindle, since so many of the books are free, except I was really annoyed to discover that I couldn't get "Anne of Windy Poplars" on Kindle, because it was written out of order with the rest, and is still in copyright. Bah!

Not too much happens in that one, anyway. Anne of Windy Poplars and Anne of Ingleside both seem like they were written more just to have something written than because there was any story to tell.

Also -- this happened much more in the Emily books, but I've noticed it at least once in this collection -- I'm noticing how, in the stories set in the twenties, young people say "It's so Victorian" to mean "It's so old-fashioned." Which does make sense for the time period, but it seems like there are more layers of meaning to "Victorian" there than just old-fashioned. Something like sentimental, maybe. In the Emily books, Emily's teacher tells her that she uses far too many italics in her writing, and it's a Victorian affectation that she must avoid, and Emily, age 14 or so at the time, just doesn't know how she can convey just how deeply she feels about something if she can't do with italics. And later on, when Emily is getting married, and her elderly aunt kisses her on the cheek and says something like, "May happiness follow you," Emily comments, "It was very mid-Victorian, but I liked it." (Emily and her friends don't just call things Victorian, but early-Victorian and mid-Victorian and late-Victorian. I'm not certain exactly when the Emily books are set, but given the fashions and technology described, and the lack of any mention of anyone going off to war, I'm going to guess the twenties.)

I really wish there were a Montgomery wiki somewhere. These stories keep using characters or references from others of her books or stories, and I can never keep them straight.

Emily, age 14 or so at the time, just doesn't know how she can convey just how deeply she feels about something if she can't do with italics

Ah ... life before emoticons.

I really wish there were a Montgomery wiki somewhere.

Oh, yeah, that would be useful.

Just saw on Twitter that L.A. Banks (Leslie Esdaile) passed away this morning. I wrote copy for a bunch of her Sasha Trudeau books. Sad.

Hey Amy, I was just coming in to post that. There's a fund for her daughter, and to help pay the medical bills. I have the information, if anyone wants, I can pass it or post it.

Theatre turned into a library.

gasp! you have to go to Buenos Aires to visit.

Wow, my editor just told me that William Sleator died.

(I googled but haven't found an official story or obit yet, but she read an announcement from his publisher, so I'm assuming it's true.)

I haven't read him in ages but used to adore him, especially Oddballs, his collection of stories about his family that I always assumed was an autobiography, though Wikipedia calls it a "semi-autobiographical story collection." Anyway, it's a great book, and I totally idealized Sleator and his weirdo parents and siblings. Sad to know that he's now gone.