Louisa May Alcott Reading Challenge Update

How are you doing on the Louisa May Alcott Summer Reading Challenge? I've been pecking away at the Little Women re-read along with a re-read of Louisa May Alcott: A Biography by Madeleine Stern. I've been keeping a casual reading journal for the latter and I'll share some from that. Still the best biography Louisa May …

Today in Alcott history …

The American Literary Blog reports: The first of what became four installments of Hospital Sketches was published in the magazine Boston Commonwealth on May 22, 1863. Later, in book form, it carried the subtitle "An Army Nurse's True Account of Her Experiences During the Civil War." The author, Louisa May Alcott, had spent about six weeks …

Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Stories – “Bertie’s Box” in real life

I just picked up an e-book of Christmas stories by Louisa May Alcott from Barnes & Noble called Christmas Tales and Stories (have to love e-books for the convenience, especially since I wanted to start reading right away). "Bertie's Box" - setting up the story It includes an introduction by the editor, Laura Ciolkowski. She …

A peak into my mother’s childhood through Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag

After my reading of "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving," I decided to dig deeper into Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag and the stories my mother cherished as a young girl. What I thought would be just light-hearted reading has become a poignant and very enjoyable journey into the past where I am coming to know my mother as a …

Abba Alcott’s contribution – behind every great woman stands a mother

You know how they say that behind every great man is a great woman? How about behind every great woman? In studying the life of Abba Alcott through the reading of Marmee, the Mother of Little Womenby Sandford Meddick Salyer, there indeed was a great woman behind Louisa May Alcott. She was a mother whose …

More from Alcott scholar Roberta Trites: Alcott and the emergence of the adolescent reform novel

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Alcott scholar Roberta Trites wrote a book published by the University of Iowa Press in 2007 called Twain, Alcott, and the Birth of the Adolescent Reform Novel. I have one more short interview with Trites, conducted by WGLT host Charlie Schlenker where she talks about the beginnings of what she …

“Love your duty”

Continuing on with Marmee, the Mother of Little Women*by Sandford Meddick Salyer: Louisa bound to duty I think everyone can agree that Louisa May Alcott was a duty-bound woman. Duty motivated and justified her need to write for money (molding her into the professional that she was known and respected for). Duty bound her to …