Kindred Spirits Book Club

Youthful idealism, the horror of war, the power of propaganda, and the unbreakable bond between a young man and his faithful dog – that’s right, we are discussing brave Jem Blythe and loyal Dog Monday on Kindred Spirits Book Club. And because it’s the perfect time of year to do it, we also tell the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914. We can’t promise you won’t cry, but we are here for you with tissues!  Inspired by: Kelly is inspired by some incredible fanfic that imagines some of the letters the older Blythes write to each other throughout the war.  It’s called Dispatches by elizasky over on Archive Of Our Own.  And, you guys, it’s so good. Ragon is inspired by Doctors Without Borders and International Rescue Committee, both organizations that help victims of wars and disasters. You can support the pod by shopping through our Bookshop link for any books we’ve recommended!   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe are a love story for the ages, but what does that love story look like 24 years later? Today's episode is all about the challenges of parenting teen and young adult children in a time of crisis, and Anne and Gilbert's shared commitment to their values and to each other. Digressions include a Muppet Anne of Green Gables and our foolproof holiday gifts.   Inspired by: Ragon is inspired by the parenting books The Emotional Lives of Teenagers by Lisa Damour and Hello Cruel World by Melinda Wenner Moyer.  And for teen approved holiday gifts, her daughter and friends recommend super fuzzy blankets and oversized sweatshirts. Kelly is inspired by the party game, Wavelength and for some holiday spirit she recommends helping others by adopting a family in need through a local organization or doing an Angel Tree gift in your community.   You can support the pod by shopping through our Bookshop link for any books we’ve recommended!   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

The final part of our Rilla Blythe character arc is here! We can’t wait for you to join us in this wide-ranging conversation about Rilla’s moral growth arc in Rilla of Ingleside. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome back the phenomenal Dr. Laura Robinson—a celebrated L.M. Montgomery expert and professor—whose unparalleled insights bring Rilla's sacrifices and moral courage to life.  If you want to know more about what Laura is doing, you can check out the L.M. Montgomery Institute for all sorts of amazing resources! Inspired by: Laura is inspired by the wartime cake recipe that was a Canadian specialty during WWI and is sharing it here! Recipe for Wartime Cake, straight from the Robinson family archives! 2 cups white sugar 4 tbsp margarine (butter?) 1 cup chopped dates 1lb raisins 2 tsp cinnamon 2 tsp cloves and allspice (I put one of each) 2 cups boiling water 1 tsp salt 3 cups whole wheat flour 2 tsp soda (so Mum was notoriously bad at recording recipes, so I actually use 2 tsp of baking powder and ½ of salt and ½ of soda, as per a banana cake recipe I have) Boil for 10 min, sugar, dates, raisins, water. When cool, add salt flour and soda. Mix well. Makes one ring cake or two loaves. Bake one hour in slow oven 300degrees or until done. Kelly is inspired by Rilla’s coalition building with the Junior Reds so she recommends getting to know your neighbors and community, especially those you might not otherwise have anything in common with.   Ragon is inspired by Rilla making change close to home and recommends fostering kittens through the ASPCA or local animal rescues. You can support the pod by shopping through our Bookshop link for any books we’ve recommended!   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram.   

Rilla’s character arc continues in our episode about how cleverness can take many forms, and we are redefining “geeking out” by framing our conversation with Dungeons and Dragons! Rilla’s intelligence, wisdom, and charisma may not take an academic bent, but she’s brilliant and capable in her own way. Come for the LM Montgomery deep dive, stay for the dragons. You can check us out on the Swoon-worthy Podcast to hear our fun conversation about why the 1985 Anne of Green Gables mini-series is the perfect nostalgic period piece! Inspired by: Ragon is inspired by the brain game Rush Hour, fun for all ages. Kelly is inspired by the logic games at Murdle online and the Murdle books for pen and paper puzzle solving. You can support the pod by shopping through our Bookshop link for any books we’ve recommended!   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

We are launching into Rilla of Ingleside with one of our signature character studies! Rilla Blythe is the family beauty, and she knows it. But what good is being pretty and popular in the midst of a terrible war? We’re discussing parties and weddings, courtships and crushes, and the way World War I changed everything. We’re also comparing Rilla to a similar heroine – Jane Austen’s Emma.   Inspired by: Kelly recommends war romances like The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje and the Survivor’s Club series by Mary Balogh, the first one is The Proposal. Ragon recommends the Nyx Smushy Soft Matte Lip Balm for a blurred lip moment. You can support the pod by shopping through our Bookshop link for any books we’ve recommended!   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Join us for a deep dive into Rilla of Ingleside, the final book in the Anne of Green Gables series! We're recapping Rilla Blythe's coming-of-age journey on the Canadian homefront of World War I, and discussing how Rilla, Anne, and the Blythe family handle love, loss, and adversity, all while finding moments of joy and heroism. This episode is a great place to catch up on the book and sets the stage for the deeper discussions of themes and characters in the episodes to come! No inspired bys this week but you can check out our interview on Culture Study for a behind the scenes peek into the pod! If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Hey there Kindred Spirits, we’re back in your feed and ready for a brand new season! On today’s episode, we share our favorite summer reads and summer essentials, reflect on the unexpected pleasures of starting a niche Anne of Green Gables podcast, and preview our season to come.  Big News!  We were featured on our favorite substack, Culture Study so go read our Interview for a behind the scenes look at the pod!   What we’ve read: Kelly has read: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Great Big Beautiful Life  by Emily Henry, These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean and Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. Ragon has read: Emily Wilde's Map Of The Otherlands by Heather Fawcett , Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews, An Enchantment of Ravens by Maggie Rogerson and When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson.  She also saw Sarah Beth Durst talk about her new book The Enchanted Greenhouse and Sangu Mandana talk about her new book A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping. Inspired by: Kelly is inspired by summer beach days with the Sun Ninja beach shade.   Ragon is inspired by the best popsicle ever:  Smitten Kitchen’s Peach Melba Popsicles. If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

We're popping in to let you know that we are hard at work on season 5!  We are giving you a sneak peek to the season ahead so you can get to reading!  

It's the last episode of Season 4 and we’re back from the Stratford Festival and diving headfirst into Anne of Green Gables—the play! We dive into everything we loved, from the production’s inventive stagecraft to the standout performances. And of course we share the moments that made us laugh, cry, and geek out with other Kindred Spirits. Whether you’ve seen the show or just wish you had, this episode is your front-row seat.  And we wrap up this final episode of Season 4 with our recommendations for summer reading!   Inspired by:   We are inspired by summer reading! Kelly recommends:  Rilla of Ingleside to get a jump on our 5th season!  Also, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore for a juicy, thrilling read, James by Percival Everett for a beautiful and heartbreaking reimagining of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective, and Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz for a book within a book twisty mystery. Ragon recommends: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst for a cozy fantasy world, Kills Well With Others by Deanna Raybourn for the adventures of retired female assassins, and Buried Deep by Naomi Novik for a collection of wildly diverse fantasy short stories by one of our favorite fantasy writers. If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

It’s the penultimate episode of this season and we are geeking out about Anne of Green Gables with Briana Corr Scott, whose gorgeous illustrations bring Anne to life in a new book for children - on shelves now! We discuss Briana’s work as an artist, collaborating with a descriptive writer like LM Montgomery, and  how we use art and literature to understand our own lives. KSBC and Briana are also joining forces for a giveaway - be sure to check us out on Kindred Spirits Book Club Instagram to enter! Inspired by: Ragon is inspired by the book vases at Biblio Bloom to hold all your summer flowers. Kelly is inspired by the Handwritten Classics edition of Anne of Green Gables by Barbara Heller with hand-folded letters tucked inside! Briana is inspired by vintage shopping and WE are inspired by her gorgeous art that you can find on her website.  Check it out to buy her beautiful prints, cards and other items.  You can also find her illustrated books at Nimbus Publishing, and look for her new illustrated Young Readers edition of Anne, as well as the beautiful bind-ups of Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea and Anne of the Island/Windy Poplars. You can also follow Briana on Instagram at BrianaCorrScott to see more of her lovely work!   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Felicity King in The Golden Road inspired today’s episode about unlikeable girls in L.M. Montgomery’s fiction. We talk about what makes these girls and young women challenging, why we often end up liking them anyway, and what we think Montgomery was doing by including depictions of girlhood that break the mold.  Inspired by: Kelly is inspired by the podcast Novel Pairings and their current read along of Emma, by Jane Austen. Ragon is inspired by the new musical Clueless currently on the West End in London.  But if you can’t get there, you should rewatch the 90’s classic Clueless the movie.   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Curtains up, Kindred Spirits! We went to the prestigious Stratford Festival to attend the opening of the new stage adaptation of Anne of Green Gables and had a magical time. Join us to hear about our whirlwind trip, our first impressions and review of Anne of Green Gables (spoiler-free), and our interview with a true Kindred Spirit: Caroline Toal, who plays Anne in the new production. Caroline is thoughtful, funny, and truly understands Anne, and we can’t wait to introduce you to her.   See Anne of Green Gables at the Stratford Festival for yourself! If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

While many of L.M. Montgomery’s novels depict romanticized childhoods, perhaps no book is more wistfully nostalgic about a childhood on Prince Edward Island than The Golden Road. We discuss the characters' transition from childhood to adulthood, the ways their childhood was captured in real time and in memory, and our own nostalgia for golden moments of youth. Inspired by: Kelly is inspired by: the old-fashioned art of flower pressing!  You can use a kit or go old-school and just use a heavy book! Ragon is inspired by: the show The Residence on Netflix for some quirky detective hijinks. If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Picking up where The Story Girl left off, The Golden Road continues the story of the King cousins and their friends as they begin to grow up, and slowly grow apart. Today we are recapping the final book in the duology, with its many moments of humor, sweetness, and heartache.  Inspired by: Kelly’s fancy cookie jar. Kelly is inspired by: Poor Cecily’s hair woes and recommends  Angel Rinse by Kevin Murphy for seriously deep conditioning that doesn’t weigh down fine hair. Ragon is inspired by: The Solar Smart Birdfeeder by Evergreen for watching bird friends! If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

A new Anne of Green Gables is coming to the stage! We are delighted to present our interview with Kat Sandler, the playwright behind a new theatrical adaptation of Anne, premiering at the Stratford Festival this month. Kat, Ragon, and Kelly talk about the challenges and delights of adaptations, updating beloved stories, and giving yourself permission to “go full cheese” after spending time with Anne.  Go check out Anne of Green Gables at the Stratford Festival!   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Faith and Una Meredith, Mary Vance, Sara Stanley, Felicity and Cecily King – all of these girls have different relationships with housekeeping and cooking, and PhD candidate Ariel Little is here to tell us all about it! We speculate about how the characters might show up on social media, the way that housekeeping reflects power and authority in Montgomery’s work, and why cleanliness was so important to the Victorians.  If you want to read some of Ariel Little’s writing, she’s published this article, Under the Moon's Healing Influence: George MacDonald's Literary Re-envisioning of Women's Health  and also has a chapter in this new book, Beyond Little Women, edited by Lauren Hehmeyer.   Inspired by: Ragon is inspired by: Fourteen Talks By Age Fourteen by Michelle Icard and Finding The Magic In Middle School by Chris Balme. Kelly is inspired by: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Ariel is inspired by:  The Sanitary Arts:  Aesthetic Culture and the Victorian Cleanliness Campaign by Eileen Cleere and Architecture in the Family Way by Annmarie Adams, as well as The House Of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones. If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

 Whether they are giving their own church sermons or looking at a picture of God, whether trying not to giggle in church or debating the ethics of prayer, the kids of The Story Girl engage with religion and morality constantly. Today we get into why religion figures so prominently in their lives, and also discuss the invention of Sunday schools. Digressions include prayer to lesser known saints and our recent experience with a one day choir! Inspired by: Kelly is inspired by the Belief-O-Matic quiz which could possibly helped Peter with his Methodist vs. Presbyterian dilemma. Ragon is inspired by the One Day Choir at the Gaia Music Collective for a spiritual musical experience.   If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Adolescent identity and values take center stage in this episode. The themes beautiful, clever, and good reappear in The Story Girl as archetypal girls. We talk about beautiful Felicity, good Cecily, and the brilliant Story Girl in today’s episode, and why these girls feel like they can only be one of those things.  Inspired by: Kelly is inspired by the late lamented Bath and Body Works Juniper Breeze and recommends its sophisticated modern counterpart Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt scent. Ragon’s signature middle school scent was Love’s Baby Soft Rain and so recommends Clean and Clean Rain by Clean Beauty Collective if you want the same vibe. Ragon also recommends tubing mascaras including Thrive Causemetics Lash Extensions mascara, Milani Highly Rated Lash Extensions mascara, and e.l.f. Lash XTNDR mascara.   Alice recommends Trader Joe’s Brazil Nut Body Butter but you’ll have to find it in stores in the summer!  Sorry to folks who don’t have a Trader Joe’s! If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

The Story Girl is one of L.M. Montgomery’s most charming books, full of witty dialogue, playful antics, and wistful nostalgia. We are kicking off our discussion of The Story Girl with a recap of all the characters, hijinks, and stories that make this book shine. We also discuss the LA fires, which had a huge impact on the podcast, and recommend some ways to support the girls who inspire us.       Inspired by:   Ragon is inspired by Girl Scouts!  Buy cookies whenever you see a Girl Scout selling them or you can donate to Girl Scouts as an organization. Kelly is inspired by Altadena Girls, a girl-led program to support girls affected by the Eaton Fire.  If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram. 

Kelly and Ragon welcome L.M. Montgomery scholar and curator Emily Woster, PhD to the pod!  Emily tells us all about L.M. Montgomery’s reading life–what books she loved growing up, what influenced her books, her active reading style and her unique writing process.  And in true kindred spirit fashion we nerd out about our influential reads and Emily’s family legacy of Anne fandom!   The Anne Manuscript for high quality scans of LMM’s original handwritten manuscript and notes. The L.M. Montgomery Bookshelf  where you can find scans of books from LMM’s library including some of her own notations in the books and Emily’s information and notes about history and context of these books!  An amazing resource!   And you can follow Emily on bluesky for updates about her work. Inspired by: Kelly is inspired by: Graphic bookends from the Container Store. Ragon is inspired by: Dragon Bookplates and Personalized Library Stamps . Emily is inspired by: Wonderworks: Literary Invention and the Science of Stories by Angus Fletcher and  Story or Die: How to Use Brain Science to Engage, Persuade, and Change Minds in Business and in Life by Lisa Cron.  And a bonus of the Library Kit from Knock Knock.  If you want to get a free logo sticker from us, either leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or share your love for the pod on social media!  Send us a photo of your share or review at either our email: kindredspirits.bookclub@gmail.com or on our KindredSpirits.BookClub Instagram.