I have been anticipating my vacation between Christmas and New Year's for several months because of a very special field trip I planned - a visit to the Concord Free Public Library where I would come into contact with the actual letters and manuscripts of my favorite author, Louisa May Alcott. The weather was beautiful …
Amy March lives in my house (sort of)
I had this interesting little revelation that Amy March lives in my house in the body of my son! How is that possible? Here's how. Jo/Louisa loved her sister Amy/May very much but resented her "good luck." I always suspected that May created her own luck because of the way she treated people. My son …
Richard Francis unveils his new book on Fruitlands at the Concord Bookshop
Yet another new book on the Alcotts has been released, this one written by British scholar and professor Richard Francis. Entitled Fruitlands The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia, this book is destined to be the definitive work on the failed Fruitlands experiment conducted by Bronson Alcott (with wife and daughters including young Louisa), …
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Wrapping Up Little Women Part Two – Mama and Papa Bhaer, and my favorite character
Chapter 46 of Little Women, "Under the Umbrella," should have been a glorious chapter for me since Jo and Fritz finally decided to get married. Instead, it was incredibly frustrating, though it wasn't all Louisa's fault. 🙂 I've been listening to an audio book during my long commute and the reader for that particular chapter …
Comparing the March sisters with their real life counterparts
Harriet Reisen, author of Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind Little Women, sent me this. It's interesting and fun to see the comparisons. I'd love to hear what you think! Thanks, Harriet, for this contribution! Gentle Readers: Asked to compare Louisa May Alcott’s fictional sisters to her real four, I find that they are inextricable …
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Amy wins the day, and Jo pays the price
In Chapter 30 of Little Women, "Consequences," Amy for the first time became a fleshed out character for me and I liked her very much. Having May Alcott A Memoir so fresh on my mind, I could see for the first time what May Alcott was really like. No memoir could describe her quite the …
Three years later . . .
The first three chapters of Little Women, Part Two (aka Good Wives) certainly didn't disappoint! I loved how the first chapter (Chapter 24, Gossip) brought me up to date on all the major characters - it was like hanging around the water cooler at work finding out what happened on my favorite TV show last …
Beth finds the palace beautiful
I had been reading Little Women in bits and pieces over the summer but now I am fully immersing myself in it. Although I read some of it for school many years ago, I never finished it nor appreciated it. I actually decided to start it again when I began reading Kelly O'Connor McNees' book, …
Farewell to May Alcott Nieriker
I have finally finished Caroline Ticknor's memoir of May (I told you I was a slow reader!) and although it is pretty romanticized, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Being able to blog about it as I read made it far more enjoyable. I will reiterate that May must have been a delight to know and that …
Finishing up May’s Memoir
I am getting close to the end of Caroline Ticknor's memoir on May and am beginning to dread the end. I think one of the things so captivated me about May's story was her tragic end. It just seemed so sudden, so random. She was so robust and healthy; her life was pretty much perfect …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 