Day Two of the Summer Conversational Series featured a fine array of speakers. Kristi Lynn Martin and Duty's Faithful Child Starting off the morning was Kristi Lynn Martin, a doctoral candidate at Boston University. Martin’s many years of experience as a tour guide at Concord’s finest historical homes (The Old Manse, “Bush” (aka the Emerson …
On vacation with Louisa May Alcott: Day One of the Summer Conversational Series – Health, Nature and Reform
Monday’s session of the Summer Conversational Series at Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House was lively, funny and thought-provoking. A fellowship of sisters (and some brothers) gathered to enjoy talks from Gabrielle Donnelly, Kathleen Harsy and Kyoko Amano. Gabrielle Donnelly on Louisa’s health Donnelly, the author of the popular The Little Women Letters, presented “Louisa May …
Little Men: “The Naughty Kitty-mouse:” Goodness Gracious!
“Daisy and Demi were full of these whims, and lived in a world of their own, peopled with lovely or grotesque creatures, to whom they gave the queerest names, and with whom they played the queerest games. One of these nursery inventions was an invisible sprite called "The Naughty Kitty-mouse," whom the children had believed …
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Little Men: Autobiographical elements
Louisa May Alcott often drew from the deep well of memories to craft her stories. Little Men is full of such detail and it’s fun to pick out these autobiographical elements. Highlighting her father For example, Louisa gives us a revealing portrait of her father’s unique ideas about disciplining children in Chapter Four, “Stepping-Stones,” where the …
Join the Louisa May Alcott Summer Reading Challenge on Goodreads
Naturally I couldn't pass this one by! I hope you'll join too. Here is the link to the challenge on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1380885-louisa-may-alcott-summer-reading-challenge The challenge is open until August 10 and the rules are simple: Choose the books you plan on reading Write a blog post about the books you are reading and place the link …
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Little Men: The Good Man (chapter 3, “Sunday”)
As mentioned in a previous post about the art of domesticity, I have been reading Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys. The audio book version from Librivox.org has actually been my companion while doing yard work and gardening these past few Saturdays. Keeps my mind off of my aching joints and bones! …
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Finishing up Eight Cousins: Your own worst enemy
Having finally finished Eight Cousins, it amuses me that an overarching theme of this book is that women can be their own worst enemy. Who comes out well … For Rose, Uncle Alec is the hero and the boys are her true friends. Anyone who knows anything about Louisa May Alcott knows her penchant for …
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Eight Cousins and Little Men: The art of domesticity
I am finally getting around to finishing Eight Cousins. I admit this book has not held my interest like I hoped it would but now that I’m getting closer to the end, I’m enjoying it more. Perhaps I know too much back story (such as the fact that Louisa didn’t really enjoy writing this type …
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Letter from an anguished mother: Abba writes of her sojourn with Lizzie to the North Shore
Work is progressing, albeit slowly, on my book project. I am enjoying all aspects of the process from the thinking and planning while I drive (I’m one of those crazies that talks to myself all the time), to the research, to the paragraphs percolating in my head, to the final writing. I’m falling more in …
Six women writers (including Louisa May Alcott) and their journeys as writers on film
There is a wonderful film online featuring the stories of six prominent women writers (including Louisa May Alcott, of course!. It is called Behind a Mask: Six Women Finding a Space to Write. Here is the summary from the website, Films on Demand Digital Educational Video: Behind a Mask: Six Women Finding a Space to …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 