# So, fellow Anne Shirley addicts, there's another movie to worry about... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302 "2008-03-30T19:31:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/61 "2008-04-03T19:43:37Z")
OK, this sounds like fun. Let’s say we reconvene somewhere around May 1. I will make a note in my calendar to start the thread. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/62 "2008-04-03T19:53:36Z")
**Eureka** – keep going. I had the same problem at first. Despite knowing better, I couldn’t shake the feeling that _Blue Castle_ was copying _my_ _Ladies of Massalonghi_. Farther in, the books diverged more. I’ll see you all back her in about a month, OK? I have to read _Atonement_ before Tuesday (and see the movie) for my IRL book club, then a mystery (can’t remember the name of it) for my other IRL book club the following Tuesday. Plus I had already started Mary Roach’s latest (_Bonk_, about sex research – very good) and stopped reading 3 chapters in to read _Blue Castle_. AND, I’ve got the latest Dresden Files book, which I haven’t even looked at the book jacket for, since I know I’d drop all the rest of this stuff and read it if I did. So a month is just about right! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/63 "2008-04-03T21:31:34Z")
OK, sounds good. I’ll keep my copies of each book until then. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/64 "2008-04-03T21:41:14Z")
I lost the thread of the, uh, thread somewhere, but I’m intrigued and would like to subscribe to your…book thread. 😉 Which two books are we talking about here? [The Blue Castle](http://books.google.com/books?id=yGoxgtO0HNoC&dq=blue+castle&pg=PP1&ots=hXkTzrstpa&sig=g6bLqLpMmJUW-6RZcFcLhr-qTOo&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=Blue+Castle&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail) and… ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/65 "2008-04-03T21:41:54Z")
In the new issue of\* Beaver\*, the Canadian history magazine, there is an interesting article about Lucy Maud Montgomery and the creation of Anne Shirley. I have to go get the gassoons at school, but if I have time later I’ll post a bit about it. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/66 "2008-04-03T21:48:53Z")
WhyNot, the other book is The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. Sorry, can’t link to it now, as I’m on my BB. Discussion regards the similarities between the two an whether McCullough ripped Montgomery off. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/67 "2008-04-03T21:50:41Z")
Oh, and relative merits of each, of course. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/68 "2008-04-03T21:57:51Z")
Ah, thank you! I’ll try to find them this weekend. I love a book group with snark! ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/69 "2008-04-03T22:01:24Z")
Maybe I should start a thread announcing the plan…we may find more interested parties. Will do it once I get back to a real computer. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/70 "2008-04-05T18:14:34Z")
[Margaret Atwood speculates about Anne’s alternate history.](http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=8448dd90-ae66-4a1d-bef9-9803049f1594) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/71 "2008-04-05T20:42:21Z")
[QUOTE=vison] [Margaret Atwood speculates about Anne’s alternate history.](http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=8448dd90-ae66-4a1d-bef9-9803049f1594) [/QUOTE] Wow. That’s pretty much the definition of pessimism, isn’t it? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/72 "2008-04-05T20:57:49Z")
I heart Margaret Atwood. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302/73 "2008-04-06T03:40:48Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Wow. That’s pretty much the definition of pessimism, isn’t it? :eek: [/QUOTE] I thought it was interesting. And, to be honest, there is a certain amount of sense in her speculation! How _did_ Anne become Anne? Lucy Maud Montgomery had a miserable childhood herself. And she did not grow up to be as happy and contented as Anne did - her married life was a long, dreary battle to maintain a home and family in the face of her husband’s depression. Neither did she end up as Atwood thinks Anne might have “in real life”, though. Luckily for us, who love her books! (Not that Montgomery’s childhood was as awful as the one she created for Anne.) I like Margaret Atwood, too. But my love and reverence, literararily speaking, is reserved for Alice Munro. Alice Munro is, IMHO, the greatest living writer in English. Nothing less. ( I have definite opinions, obviously. 🆒 Don’t mean to derail the thread, though.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fellow-anne-shirley-addicts-theres-another-movie-to-worry-about/443302.md?page=3)