Continuing my Anne re-read and apparently I have forgotten just how much I *love* Anne of the Island!! I love Anne going to college, and I really enjoyed how independent and education-minded these girls were, especially because it was a time that most people just didn’t see the value in women going to college and getting degrees. Many characters said that kind of thing to Anne throughout the book: “I don’t agree with girls getting their BA” or “Girls just don’t need to study mathematics” or “She’s only going to college to catch a man.” These are intelligent, social, witty, and beautiful women who not only study, but excel, and several of them happen to also fall in love with men and get engaged and married.

And the trips home to Avonlea were nostalgic and beautiful. We got new friends at Redmond College and kept up with the old friends in Avonlea. I cried (seriously, I sobbed) when a character died. My heart fluttered when Gilbert would look at Anne just *so*. Anne is so real to me (I’ve known her for close to 40 years, after all), so I still feel everything intensely.

It’s just all so great and I can’t wait to pick up the next book.