Diana Barry is the ultimate kindred spirit, the yin to Anne of Green Gables' yang, a true blue pal for the ages. But who played her best? Was it Schuyler Grant from 1985's Anne of Green Gables, or Dalila Bela, from the recent Netflix/CBC Anne With an E? Let's talk Diana, shall we? Some … [Read more...]
Will Diana Barry’s Awful Parents Finally Get a Grip?: Review of Episode 4 of “Anne with an E”
Oy. I could get behind last season of Anne with an E, even with its off-book shenanigans, but this season is more challenging. I know many of you find it challenging, too. "I mean, you're watching and the actors are so incredible and it's Anne, and Gilbert, and Matthew and Marilla and … [Read more...]
There’s Fool’s Gold in Avonlea’s Hills: Anne with an E Episode 2 Review
Oooh boy. This new season of Anne with an E is testing my love, to be sure. If the last episode of the second season was 90% off book, this one was 95% off book. It's almost as if creator Moira Walley Beckett has created a ten-part fan fiction of Anne of Green Gables! Or at least, looking at it … [Read more...]
Review of “Anne with an E” 2 Episode 1: Welcome Back to Alternative Avonlea
Last we left them, our Cuthberts were grappling with a Green Gables in trouble--up to the hilt in debt and Matthew too sick to work. Gilbert went off to sea, but not before a tender goodbye from Anne. Jerry, the Cuthbert's French farm boy, was beaten in an alley in Charlottetown by a couple of … [Read more...]
Premise Crush: 11 Fall Books that Hooked Me at Hello
Ahh, there's nothing like a tantalizing book premise, is there? I spent four years after college as a "marketing writer" at a publishing house, where I learned to write "blurbs"--you know, the enticing stuff on the back of the book. Ever since, I've been a fan of good hooks, those premises that … [Read more...]