Hi all,
I recently finished my second reading of Anne of Green Gables. I first read it in my teens. It was one of the many books that made me fall in love with reading. Fast forward almost two decades, two kids later and life getting busy, I had stopped reading as much as I used to. Maybe one or two books a year if lucky. This year, I made myself a promise to get back to reading so I started with this book. It honestly transported me back to my teens when I would spend hours just reading, immersing myself in the world of the author, getting emotionally attached to everyone in it. So my question is: can you please suggest something similar? Something descriptive in nature. While light, also has depth to it.
Thanks!
by greenisthesky
9 Comments
Not quite the same, but have you read [A Tree Grows in Brooklyn](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/dc5de2f5-b132-4c4c-8e49-8bf46005d5da) by Betty Smith? I connected to the main character in that in the same way I did with Anne, and it’s a really beautiful book.
Did you read the entire series? If not, start there.
Second *Tree*
others: *A Little Princess*
*Little Women* and *An Old Fashioned Girl*
*The Railway Children*
*Pollyanna*
Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter.
It may be available as a download on gutenberg.org.
I second the suggestion of reading the whole series (also, check out Emily of the New Moon)
Said that, you might want to read the only book for adults that Montgomery wrote: The Blue Castle. Kind of “romance”, lovely story, somehow with an Anne vibe…
Then, try books by other authors: Little Women (all four books!), Little House on the Prairie series, that should keep you busy for a while. Enjoy!
The Betsy-Tacy series (Maud Hart Lovelace). It follows the main character’s life from childhood to early adulthood, and it’s kind of an American version of AoGG.
I’ll be honest, AoGG is better, but Betsy-Tacy is pretty good too. Similar time period, similar emphasis on family and friends.
Totally agree with everyone recommending the sequels to AoGG– they just keep getting better (until Anne’s House to Dreams which I personally hated). Another lovely old fashioned book I really enjoy is the Shoes books by Noel Straetfield. You can start with any of them, I remember especially loving Ballet Shoes. I also agree with Little Women and especially The Secret Garden.
Look into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin. It’s like Anne of Green Gables but American.
You might like Twopence to Cross the Mersey, different era and country but similar vibe
You might like The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett. It’s a retelling of Anne of Green Gables. The main character is very true to Anne, but she’s a young orphaned witch who wants to be mentored by the witch from Hansel and Gretel (I don’t think the story is named, but the influence is clear). It has a lot of similarities to AoGG, but it’s different enough to feel like a fresh story.