Anne Shirley. Is there any character more delightful? (Ok Elizabeth Bennett is a close second or tie).
Last week, something kept gnawing on my heart as I half-heartedly plowed through another book... Anne. Anne.
So I made the little trek back to my local library and checked out Anne of Windy Poplars, by L.M. Montgomery. (I'll admit it that the book jacket's description nailed the choice in the series for me, "More than any other 'Anne' books Windy Poplars is the love story of Anne and Gilbert." What can I say, I needed a little oomph in my romantic hopes!)
I love Anne's winsome heart, playful rabbit trails, and delightful diction:
"It's dusk, dearest. (In passing, isn't dusk a lovely word? I like it better than twilight. It sounds so velvety of shadowy and... and... dusky.)"
"Rebecca Dew is 'around forty' and if a tomato had black hair racing away from its forehead, little twinkling eyes, a tiny nose with a knobby end, and a slit of a mouth, it would look exactly like her. Everything about her is too short... arms and legs and neck and nose... everything but her smile. It is long enough to reach ear to ear."
"I wended my way to the graveyard this evening. I think 'wend your way' is a lovely phrase and I work it whenever I can. It sounds funny to say I enjoyed my stroll in the graveyard but I really did. Miss Courteloe's stories were so funny. Comedy and tragedy are so mixed up in life, Gilbert."
What I adore about all the "Anne" series is the permission Anne gives herself to "simply be." Reading this lively character's adventures gives me the courage and gumption to more fully embrace life--all the little dramas, funny characters, life lessons both big and small, and afford myself the grace and dignity to be a learner and observer in the school of life, like Miss Anne Shirley.
To Anne, may we all live a little more with her zest for life and liberty 'to be.'
Cheers!
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