Anne vs. Emily and other things we can have fun arguing about !

If you feel a groan about to come forth, just say to yourself, "She could be talking about religion or politics!" Then smile and relax...

VS

Ok, let me say this first - I've read every single book that Montgomery has written (excepting the Blythes are Quoted which is now sitting on my bookshelf!) Ok? I liked them all. In fact, there hasn't been one that I didn't like. Some are definitely better than others and naturally I have a preference. But people. Emily and Anne?


Shocking statement coming . . . avert your eyes if you must!

Anne and Emily were penned by the same person!

Read that last sentence again. I noticed during the Montgomery Challenge that Emily fans are really big into the fact that they are Emily Fans. Do not let them be confused as anything else! Oh no!

There are certainly things worth arguing about in life. But arguing over who is better - Anne or Emily? Are we really doing this? (I don't think Anne would approve. Just sayin'...)

You might remember that I reviewed the Emily of New Moon television series (well, the half of the first season which I managed to make it through) over at 5 Minutes for Books. As it sometimes happens, people find old posts and suddenly everyone and their neighbor start commenting on something that you said awhile back and have likely forgotten about. (I get lets of "nice" comments on my review of The Shack around here as well. It's kinda fun!)

(Come on! You've gotta admit that the expression on Emily's face here is just...a bit much, don'tcha think? ;)

The comments Emily-or-Death fans write up admittedly make me laugh. I find them to be positively hysterical (I say this all in good fun, you have to realize) and this is how it's making me want to characterize various Montgomery fans.

I would characterize them as follows:

If you like Anne you:

* Think the world is a beautiful place in which to live.
* Everything is magical.
* You have no brain. . .
* Because everything is just magical and so you need to put any real thought aside to fully accept the magic that is life.

If you like Emily you:

* Are realistic and have a good head on your shoulders.
* Meet life boldly and fiercely.
* Are reliable as a human being. . ,
* Because you have a good, realistic head on your shoulders.

The argument sounds like an endless stream of talk from Charlie Brown's teacher to me:

*Wahwahwahwahwahwahwahwahwah*

For the record, it is realized that Montgomery put herself into everything that she wrote, right? When you write - anything at all! - parts of you show up. Truths about yourself and the way that you think are revealed. (Side note: that's why we should be discerning about what and who we read. No one is neutral. Everyone has a worldview and, oh, it will come out!) You can't write and hide yourself and if you can, then I think you are one horribly scary individual (and I don't mean that in a good way.) So Lucy Maud Montgomery is in Anne. And yes, Lucy Maud Montgomery is in Emily.

I should probably put way more thought into this post but then I wonder why I'm even typing it up at all. It's almost giving in to the banter to hit "publish."

But I started smiling which turned into a snicker and now....well, here I am!

(P.S. It's ok to have a preference in Montgomery characters around here. And for the record, I don't demand that you like Anne as I do. So chalk this up to Anne fans being more tolerable than Emily ones or something. Just be polite. Like Anne learned to be. *elbow jabbing and snicker, snicker*)

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For more controversial topics (Hey! Who knows?) see my post about the Faith-Based Berenstain Bears which just went up over at 5 Minutes for Books:

Hmmm... 'though I suspect that is more of a religious topic and so maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it.

:D