Anne and Spongebob

I've been enjoying L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Windy Poplars, and thought I'd share a few quotes that I loved, or had me cracking a smile:

"I knew I would love the room...the very name 'tower room' thrilled me."

"I fell in love with it at once. You know there are houses which impress themselves upon you at first sight for some reason you can hardly define. Windy Poplars is like that."

"I can be alone up here when I want to be. You know it's lovely to be alone once in a while. The winds will be my friends. They'll wail and sigh and croon around my tower...the white winds of winter...the green winds of spring...the blue winds of summer...the crimson winds of autumn...and the wilds winds of all seasons..."

"And they like me...even Dusty Miller likes me, though he sometimes disapproves of me and shows it by deliberately sitting with his back towards me, occasionally cocking a golden eye over his shoulder at me to see how I'm taking it."

"I've never seen Rebecca Dew cry before. But when I tried tactfully to find out what was wrong she pettishly wanted to know if a body couldn't enjoy a cry when she felt like it. So I folded my tent and stole away, leaving her to her enjoyment."

"Little Elizabeth made saucer eyes at me over the rim of her glass. I felt that I was being weighed in some secret spiritual balance and presently I realized thankfully that I had not been found wanting."

I am finding this book to be such a nice surprise, filled with such wonderfulness. Don't get me wrong, I still am not much of a fan of the well loved Anne. She is just not my favorite character. I will probably not pick up any books earlier in this series, as I definitely prefer her without the obnoxiousness of her younger self. In this book, that seems to have mellowed out, but she is still not really a realistic character to me. To be honest, she very much reminds me of SpongeBob Squarepants, in the way that she is always so endlessly seeing the world as a glass half full. Everything is beautiful and wonderful, and if something bad comes her way, she sidesteps it with her positive attitude and continues on. It is quite magical to read, as I have always thought SpongeBob's innocence to be quite endearing. But it isn't a realistic character, or plot for that matter, that is making me love this book, because lets be honest, this plot is not really that intriguingly wonderful, Anne living in a town that seems to be filled with brats. But what I love about the book is that I think it is truly a piece that allows Montgomery to shine through. Miss. Montgomery must have had such an outstanding view of the beautiful world around her. From houses, to people, to nature. She can describe anything around Miss Shirley with such color, I am left in awe. Whether she is talking about the winds, a house, the children in her class, the unhelpful parents, the two elderly Aunts...it is so colorful to read. I love that she creates a story that does not just have magic in our world, but relays it in such a way that shows our world is magic. I am thinking that having such an exaggerated character and a plot that is shy of being really engaging, it allows all of Montgomery's beautifully creative descriptions to be the star, which I absolutely am adoring. This is probably the first book I have read in a really long time that has me in awe by the author's approach, and smiling! How wonderful!