Louisa May Alcott is My Passion
Begun in 2010, this blog offers analysis and reflection by Susan Bailey on the life, works and legacy of Louisa May Alcott and her family. Susan is an active member and supporter of the Louisa May Alcott Society, the Fruitlands Museum and Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House.
Summer is such a great time - life is finally slowing down and now I can get back to reading for fun. I've been dying to read An Old-Fashioned Girl since I found the 1926 Brown and Little copy that I so foolishly deposed of the first time. I found an audio version on Librivox.org …
Continue reading "Reading Louisa May Alcott’s next-best book, “An Old-Fashioned Girl”"
I enjoy how Louisa describes Geoffrey Moor and Adam Warwick, the two love interests of heroine Sylvia Yule through comparing and contrasting how they respond to similar situations. Here's one scenario: Sylvia lost her mother at an early age and she has grieved throughout her young life over that loss. She first meets Adam Warwick …
I'm about a third of the way through both versions of Moods and have concluded that this book is a total mess! Now don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it, but considering the capital Louisa May Alcott had as a famous author, you have to wonder why she didn't just release the book the …
Finishing up chapter V in the 1864 version of Moods ("The Golden Wedding"), I walked away with two thoughts, regarding Louisa's spirituality and her romanticized self in Sylvia Yule. Louisa May Alcott's Spirituality I want more than ever to write a longer treatise on the spirituality of Louisa May Alcott. Although she did not belong …
Continue reading "Louisa May Alcott’s spirituality, and her better self in Sylvia Yule"
Progressing through Moods, I can see that even though I love it, it may not be a book to suit everyone's tastes. Of all the current biographies (meaning in the last 30 years) that I've read or are reading on Louisa (Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography by Martha Saxton, Louisa May Alcott The Woman …
Continue reading "How “Moods” is helping me to get to know Louisa May Alcott, and myself, better"
The 1882 version of Moods includes 3 interesting chapters which develop the principal characters of the novel and their interaction with each other. Geoffrey Moor Chapter 2 gives us a glimpse into Geoffrey Moor, based upon the loyal, lifelong friend of Bronson Alcott, and the Good Samaritan who quietly and discreetly helped the Alcott family …
Continue reading "Getting to know the principal characters in “Moods”"
Moods was Louisa May Alcott's first serious novel and her"baby," most likely the book that Jo referred to in Chapter 27 of Little Women, "Literary Lessons." Louisa describes Jo's writing process which likely mirrors her own. "Falling into a vortex," as she calls it, it's like Louisa/Jo steps into another dimension, oblivious to the outside …
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 …
I finished reading Little Women last week and will comment on that in the last post that I do on this book. But first, I wanted to address how Louisa brought about the pairing of Amy and Laurie. I wish that I had not known that Amy married Laurie because I could never feel the …
Continue reading "Wrapping up Little Women Part One – Amy and Laurie"
Before I begin, I must say that right now I am positively swooning over the reading I am doing! Little Women is (sadly) winding down but surely going out with a bang. At the same time, Gone with the Wind is ramping up! It's so cool reading two books about the Civil War era (my …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 