Little Women. A classic book read by millions of women over 150 years. Read and reread. Loved and passed down.
Inspiring women to live boldly. To be all they can be.
- How many times have you read Little Women? Have you ever said to yourself, “I want to be Jo March!”
- Have you ever wondered about the woman who wrote Little Women, the woman who is Jo March, and more?
- And have you ever wanted to meet others just as interested in Louisa May Alcott as you?
That’s what Louisa May Alcott is My Passion is all about.
Here’s the place where you can indulge in your passion!
- Subscribe to this blog simply by clicking on “Sign Me Up” in the left hand column after the menu.
- Or write to louisamayalcottismypassion@gmail.com to be put on the mailing list. You will receive notification each time I update this blog.
Passionate about Louisa
I am passionate about Louisa May Alcott’s life, works and legacy. I devote my time to reading, writing and study. I spend time in nearby Concord (home of Orchard House), Houghton Library at Harvard University and libraries in my area.
All this so I can share my passion with you.
I have created a community of Alcott enthusiasts where together we freely discuss Louisa’s fascinating life, read and analyze her books, and participate in the many community activities that take place in honor of Little Women and its author.
Join our community and share your love of Louisa.
- Subscribe by clicking on “Join the Email List.”
Meeting others who are passionate about Louisa
We have all kinds of fans in our community: scholars, published authors, and enthusiasts just like you. This blog has afforded me the pleasure of meeting several prominent Alcott authors and scholars:
- John Matteson (Eden’s Outcasts, The Lives of Margaret Fuller, The Annotated Little Women)
- Harriet Reisen (Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind Little Women)
- Susan Cheever (American Bloomsbury, Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography)
- Daniel Shealy (The Journals of Louisa May Alcott and The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott, with Joel Myerson and Madeleine Stern; Alcott in Her Own Time, Little Women Abroad)
- Martha Saxton (Louisa May A Modern Biography)
- Richard Francis (Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia)
- Gabrielle Donnelly (Little Women Letters)
- Jeannine Atkins (Becoming Little Women)
- Julie Dunlap (Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau’s Flute¸ with Marybeth Lorbiecki and Mary Azarian)
- Jan Turnquist, Executive Director of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House
You, however, don’t need to be a scholar or an author. Just being a fan is enough. You, as a fan, will have a wellspring of knowledge and opinions to share, and we want to hear them!
Who am I?
I am an author, blogger, speaker and musician. I have authored two books, Louisa May Alcott Illuminated by The Message (exploring the spiritual nature of Alcott’s works) and a spiritual memoir, River of Grace Creative Passages Through Difficult Times. I am also a contributor to the Catholicmom Prayer Companion devotional.
Along with blogging about the life and writings of Louisa May Alcott and family members, I am currently working on a biography of Elizabeth Sewall Alcott (the real life Beth March from Little Women). As a result of my research I often provide glimpses into intimate family letters and journal entries never before published. Plenty of meat for scholars, teachers, students; informative and fun for fans.
Along with reading and writing, I enjoy the outdoors (especially birding and kayaking), playing the guitar and singing, and spending time with her family which includes my husband of 37 years and two grown children.
My faith is an integral part of my life and she enjoys learning about Louisa’s beliefs. She also shares Louisa’s “inordinate love of cats!”
I actively support Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House and the Louisa May Alcott Society through my memberships.
Join our community
Ready to join us?
- Subscribe by by clicking on “Join the Email List.”
You can also catch me on Facebook and Twitter where there is also a page known as, you guessed it, Louisa May Alcott is My Passion.
I look forward to meeting you!
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 
Hello,
I found myself loving Little Women. Our book group has done something over the years, we pair a classic piece of literature with a book based on that same story. For example, Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours. I’ve loved doing this combination. Last month we read Little Women, coupled with Little Women Letters. The author will attend our book group, tonight!
I think what I love about Little Women is this quality of striving to be “good” and yet, I know it drove some of the members in our book group crazy. Saying, “it’s so unrealistic”. While I certainly wouldn’t disagree, I think it represents a wish to have that kind of wholesome loving relationship, with ourselves and with one another. I have wondered how the works of the Pilgrim influenced Ms. Alcott’s writing? As well as what I have read that she was quite wanting to write the opposite, as a way of pleasing her father. I’ll search around on your site, favorite and read more. Because, to my surprise, I was quite taken with this work.
Thank you,
Mary Shaffer
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Pilgrim’s Progress definitely influenced Little Women (many of the chapter titles are taken from that book). Pilgrim’s Progress was Bronson Alcott’s favorite book – it directed his entire life.
How cool that Gabrielle Donnelly is coming to your book group! She and I have become friends through this blog and met in Concord during the Fall – she is delightful (and you know that now, since she came to your group yesterday :-))
Thank you for visiting my blog!
So glad Jillian introduced me to you!
I look forward to getting to know you better (as well as LMA) through your blog:)
Blessings!
Me too! Welcome.
Oh My God!!! How lucky that I found this blog! 🙂 I am going to read this blog from start to end, Little Women was/is/always would be my most favorite book on planet earth! Wonderful to meet you in the internet! 🙂
I’m really glad you found this blog. Happy reading!
Hello. Delighted to have found this blog through Facebook. I’m a 20 year old girl from Sri Lanka, and have been reading LMA for the most part of my life. My favourite book is Rose in Bloom, I loved it much more than Little Women and any of the others. I read your article on Eight Cousins – absolutely loved it, it was a real eye-opener, and look forward to forthcoming reviews.
Welcome, so glad you’re enjoying the blog.
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I’ve nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award! https://novellaandbanannabelle.wordpress.com/2017/02/05/mystery-blogger-award/
I think you have some great posts. Don’t feel like you have to participate unless you want to 🙂 .
Thank you, I’m honored!
Thank you for telling me about your blog. As a new fan to the worlds of Alcott, I appreciate all your information on this blog. Now that I’ve read ‘A Long Fatal Love Chase’ and ‘The Inheritance,’ I will definitely be finding more to read. ‘Little Women’ for sure as well as your recommendation on ‘Hospital Sketches.’ Congrats as well on being a successful author! When I have the financial means, I will definitely purchase them to review on my blog!
Thanks! And welcome to the wonderful world of Alcott!
Hey Susan! I was just reading This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald & had to come tell you that the main character (Amory Blaine) reads Little Women twice. 🙂 It’s in a paragraph within the first chapter, where he’s describing his current reads. He also read G.A. Henty and the murder stories of Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Wow, how cool is that!
Yes, pretty cool! The protagonist Amory is a fifteen year old boy at the time, with a cocky sense of his own intelligence, & he gives Little Women not one, but two reads. Just goes to show that the book was popular with men/boys 100 years ago. I believe it was a favorite of President Theodore Roosevelt as well. I wonder what happened between then & now to make men disinclined to read it? Whenever I mention the book to any man he looks uncomfortable. But I’d be willing to guess F. Scott Fitzgerald read & liked it.
You’re right about Teddy Roosevelt. It is gratifying to see men reading and enjoying Little Women. Anne Boyd Rioux’s book has a chapter about encouraging boys to read the story.
Yes, I’ve read Rioux’s book. She & I discussed why it may be that so many men/boys turn up their noses at LW when she read my blog post (written forever ago!) about the experience I’d had in Georgia with a guy claiming he’d never let his son read Little Women if it was assigned in the classroom. I found her response on THAT topic within her book MOST INTERESTING. 🙂 I’ve seen a handful of our lovely male book bloggers read & embrace Little Women, however, which is LOVELY. I like what one of them said (I forget which) about how Little Women gives HOPE. I like that he focused on the theme of the book whether than worrying about whether it was by a man or a woman.
That is AWESOME!
* Sorry for typos. I wrote that last comment on the WordPress dropdown while on another page & didn’t notice. 😛
I probably should not admit this but I have never read ” Little Women”. I do have a reason – I am 75 and when I saw the movie with Katherine Hepburn I did not care for her portrayal of Jo so much I had no desire to get to know her any better if at all. But I would like to share that I have read “An Old Fashion Girl ” more times than I can count. It is a marvelous story. Have you all read it? I always was fascinated with LMA as I also am with LM Montgomery. I bought an older copy of Little Women and it came today. I am expecting to see someone different than what I pictured when I was so young. Happy Reading to you all
Yes and I enjoyed it very much too except for the last chapter when the author gave the ending away! :-). Have you read Eight Cousins or Rose in Bloom? Those are very charming. I have written about many of these on the blog. That’s funny how Katharine Hepburn threw you off on Little Women. Maybe you’ll like it better now.