Thread by @lainasparetime

Okay, it's a little earlier than usual but I woke up early today! So now that I've updated things, let's do the #LainaReadsAnne thread for chapter 19!

#LainaReadsAnne It opens with Anne talking about how the nicest days aren't exciting or extra special, but are just regular sweet, happy days. It's very sweet.

It's late August and Anne is having one of those days.

#LainaReadsAnne She and Diana spend the morning at the pond with the twins which, you know, I wouldn't call relaxing but to each their own.

Then, that afternoon, she goes over to visit with Paul Irving. He invites her to stay for tea as his grandmother is away.

#LainaReadsAnne Then we get more French hate as his grandmother says, "the French have to be kept in their place".

YikesTM.

So I wrote this a couple days ago and I feel I should expand on it a bit, especially for americans reading?

#LainaReadsAnne Like I think a lot of Americans on social media especially make fun of France because *gestures* it's RIGHT there, and that's generally harmless, especially considering their very real Islamophobia/racism issues, and I'm not arguing with that at all, tbh.

#LainaReadsAnne Anti-French-Canadians/anti-Quebec sentiments has a complicated history in Canada, to say the least, lol, and if we are looking it in the historical context of the 1890s and early 1900s, I think it's more akin to how the Irish and Italian were treated then.

#LainaReadsAnne Like I'm not going to call it racism or compare it to how Black or First Nations people or other racial minorities were treated in Canada(/are, but historically), but it's a different context and also just... gross?

#LainaReadsAnne "French Canadians are inherently lazy and bad workers who can't be trusted and they should stop thinking they should be allowed to speak French and have culture" is not exactly a GREAT position.

So, just. When I talk about French hate, keep the context in mind.

#LainaReadsAnne Anyways, back to lighter topics - Anne says she'd love to stay for tea and compliments his grandmother's shortbread, but Paul says his grandmother told Mary Joe that "shortcake (...) was too rich for little boys' stomachs."

#LainaReadsAnne I think this is the same "Young Mary Joe" who used to work for the Barrys. She doesn't really understand Paul and basically implied to a friend that he was mentally ill because he "talks dat queer".

#LainaReadsAnne Anne calls her silly and ignorant and no one really comes out looking great in this situation, honestly.

Paul figures it's because "I tell her what I think about things sometimes" which Anne admits can be a "dangerous practice".

#LainaReadsAnne She also tells him anytime he needs to talk, he can come to Green Gables an tell her what he's thinking.

Paul doesn't like Davy XD Davy just like constantly makes faces at Paul, even in church, lol.

#LainaReadsAnne He likes Dora okay, but less since she decided she was going to marry him when they grow up.

The visit is pretty long so I'm going to skim a little here.

Paul is a little worried about the possibility of his father remarrying.

#LainaReadsAnne They have tea and "they talked so much “nonsense” that Mary Joe was quite scandalized and told Veronica the next evening that “de school mees” was as queer as Paul".

Much lol.

#LainaReadsAnne Then Paul takes Anne up to his bedroom.

This part has aged poorly! Imagine a teacher going to a kids house, inviting the kid to theirs, and hanging out in the kid's bedroom for a while. Alone.

That would look weird.

#LainaReadsAnne Paul just wanted to show Anne the picture of his "little mother" (I still hate this) his father sent for his birthday.

...then they cuddle a bit.

Yeaaaah.

#LainaReadsAnne Paul has her sit and he sits at her feet and puts his head in her hap. Okay then.

They talk about fairies and stuff which is fun to read but boring to recap.

#LainaReadsAnne *lap, oops.

When she gets home, Davy is sulky and refuss to say his prayers before bed. He's mad because he thinks Anne likes Paul more.

She says she likes them both equally but differently, like how he likes her differently from Dora.

#LainaReadsAnne Buuuuut could you really blame her for liking Paul more? Though honestly I think I dislike them both equally but differently :P

#LainaReadsAnne After, she goes for a walk and runs into Gilbert. She looks at him and all of sudden she's like, "Oh shit, he's hot."

#LainaReadsAnne She realizes he's a "schoolboy no longer" and thinks about "how manly he looked—the tall, frank-faced fellow, with the clear, straightforward eyes and the broad shoulders."

#LainaReadsAnne She thinks he's " a very handsome lad, even though he didn’t look at all like her ideal man" which I think is cute.

And also I think really fits the "Anne is demisexual" theory well. She's known Gilbert for six or seven years at this point, I believe.

#LainaReadsAnne BUT, while Gilbert has considered Anne a friend basically since they met, since she spent so long thinking he hated her, she's only really seen him as a friend for about a year. And they've become very good friends over that year.

#LainaReadsAnne Basically all the other girls her age have been like, "Yeah Gilbert's cute" since the beginning, but it's only after they've gotten close that Anne is like, "Wtf since when are you hot???"

Demisexual biromantic, fight me!

#LainaReadsAnne But of course his looks totally don't matter because it's not like Anne chooses her friends by their looks, so they're TOTALLY irrelevant.

Uh huh.

#LainaReadsAnne Meanwhile, if "Gilbert had been asked to describe his ideal woman the description would have answered point for point to Anne, even to those seven tiny freckles whose obnoxious presence still continued to vex her soul."

This part is so cute honestly.

#LainaReadsAnne It talks about how when Gilbert dreams about is future, there's "always a girl with big, limpid gray eyes, and a face as fine and delicate as a flower." He has also decded "his future must be worthy of its goddess" which makes me go awww.

#LainaReadsAnne Apparently Gilbert is very popular in White Sands and... the narration says it in a more "moral" way, but the implication is basically that Gilbert could get it.

Amusingly, it just says "the White Sands youth" so everyone is hot for Gilbert XD

#LainaReadsAnne Also it says again how much Gilbert values her friendship and while he'd like there to be romance one day, he finds it more important to be the type of friend she would want to have.

He values her ideals and how she treats others and it's so sweet.

#LainaReadsAnne And he doesn't say any of this TO Anne, as he knows she would "mercilessly and frostily nip all attempts at sentiment in the bud—or laugh at him, which was ten times worse."

Y'all, Gilbert is PINING. And it's too cute XD

#LainaReadsAnne Honestly Gilbert is just so good. Like I love the fact that he legit thought they were friends with a friendly rivalry while Anne was like "I LOATHE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING" and how he obviously has a crush on Anne but he never pressures her.

#LainaReadsAnne He brings up AVIS news - Mr Major Spencer decided to plan some birches on his road, and this likely will inspire through peer pressure lol.

All in all, they've seen a lot of success, minus the hall.

#LainaReadsAnne The only thing not working out is the old house on Levi Boulter's farm. Levi's refusing basically out of pure spite now, they figure, and don't see much use in continuing to try to get rid of it.

#LainaReadsAnne Also, summer break is almost over. School will be starting Monday. Priscilla has decided to go home, but Ruby Gillis is taking over the Carmody school.

Anne is excited to have her home and to be spending time all together with her and Diana and Jane.

#LainaReadsAnne When Anne gets back, Marilla tells her that she and Mrs Rachel will be going to town the next day as Mr Lynde is having a good week.

This works out well for Anne as she has a bunch of chores planned.

#LainaReadsAnne She wants to switch the feathers from her old mattress to the new one, make a cake, finish a paper, do laundry, and sew an apron for Dora.

Marilla predicts she'll be lucky to get half of it done without something else coming up XD

#LainaReadsAnne And that's our chapter!

Normally I would ask you to RT and link my ko-fi, but today is @soveryqueer's BIRTHDAY so how about you all just go say happy birthday to them instead?

That would make me very happy.