Has anyone here ever read Little Women?

[EFerrari]

I was chatting about this book on Viva's BookTv thread and suddenly wondered how geeky I was.




Alcott also wrote bodice rippers but most people don't seem to know that.


Anyone here read Little Women or any of the others and still pissed that Jo turned Laurie down? It was actually a series, and she had two others, An Old Fashioned Girl (Polly) and Eight Cousins (Rose).

:shrug:

[BarenakedLady]

1. Sure I've read it

It was one of my favorites as a youngster.

I liked the Katharine Hepburn version the best of the all film adaptations. She was a natural Jo.

[EFerrari]

3. That was about the best casting decision ever.

lol

[Goblinmonger]

2. I've read it

but I'm a high school English teacher so I don't know if that helps you in the "you're geeky" area. I didn't like it very much, but that is more a product of the era from which it comes than anything else.

Was the premise for a pretty good Friends episode, too.

[EFerrari]

4. Little Women is a little like Paradise Lost because there is everything

in it.

Did you notice the war in it? It was very much in the background but without the war, there would have been no book, no Mom dealing on her own with her kids. :shrug:

/oops

[Goblinmonger]

5. The war is a great minor character.

I think the story is very compelling and tightly written. I'm just not a fan of the latter American romanticism (though this book is arguably from the Realism period). It's better than most novels just doesn't make it into my top elite novels.

[EFerrari]

13. I think what resonated for me, even as young as I was when I first read it

was that these women took on everything that came their way. A really different message than the women screaming "Mouse!" from tabletops in the 1960s mass media. It was a "choose your team" kind of reading moment for me, I suppose. It was nice to have a choice. :)

[cmkramer]

31. I've read it many times along with both its sequels

The NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW did an article about it some years ago where they pointed out that the March sisters each represented a different archetype of the "ideal woman" of the time. Meg was the "Domestic Goddess" - the wife and mother, Jo was the "independent woman", Beth was the "Angel Unaware" - the sweet innocent good girl who dies young - and Amy was "Lady Bountiful" - the rich generous benefactor who uses her money and position to help others. Incidentally, if you make it to the third book, JO's BOYS, there's a reference in it to them going to Wyoming to vote in the election.

I think Jo rejected Laurie because she knew at the end of the day, they would not be a good life match. Because of his position in life, he was going to need a wife who cared about things like dressing well and the intricacies of paying calls and being charming to everyone. Jo was too outspoken and impulsive for that.

[EFerrari]

42. I'm going to have to read "Jo's Boys" again because

I definitely didn't catch that.

She took the domestic frame and put everything in it.

[CBHagman]

39. Culturally speaking, it's very rich.

Biblical, historical, mythological, and literary references abound. How many novels have you read that make mention of German literature, Restoration comedy, Shakespeare, and John Bunyan?

I loved Amy's malapropisms, by the way, while they lasted.

[EFerrari]

41. I knew they were funny but too young to know why exactly

the first five times I read them. :)

[nosillies]

6. I got my name from this book!

But honestly, I never really enjoyed it when I was younger -- I'm glad I re-read it when I was a bit older and could appreciate it more.

[EFerrari]

8. It's very mannered and ornate and you want to pull your hair out

when the coolest woman in the book turns down the coolest guy, lol!

It's sort of like reading in a different language. But, when you think about it, it takes up topics hot novels don't -- like women's health and like poverty and what it's like to be in a real family whose last name isn't Brady.

:)

[Rising Phoenix]

25. So did I!

first and middle name. I've read the book proabably 100 times... I love it...but, and this may be an unpopular opinion, I like Laurie with Amy.

[EFerrari]

36. Why? I eventually did but man, that chapter I started over again

because I couldn't believe what I was reading. lol

[Rising Phoenix]

51. they just seemed to go well together

and I got the feeling Amy loved Laurie in a way that Jo never would....even from when she was little

[MichiganVote]

7. Age 10. Good at the time. But I liked a Tree Grows in Brooklyn better

[EFerrari]

9. I've never read that. Overdue.

:)

[MichiganVote]

12. For pure whimsy read Wind in the Willows

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. yes. i read all of may alcotts books as a child.

[EFerrari]

11. I forced my mom to find them all for me and took them in lieu

of an allowance.

Who knew women could be writers. I'd thought we were supposed to clean and smile all the time. :wow:

[nykiera]

14. Read it.

And then read "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys". Along with many other Alcott books. ("Jack & Jill", "Under the Lilacs", "Eight Cousins, etc.)

[EFerrari]

15. I forgot all about "Jack and Jill".

:)

[tigereye]

16. I would hope that it is still read and enjoyed as a classic

the question might be, who hasn't read it!

[EFerrari]

17. I don't think my nieces have --- three of them, 7 to 13.

They seem to get a steady Disney diet.

Hmmm. :evilgrin:

[tigereye]

21. the movie version of LW was actually pretty good

my kid likes Disney too, or did, but we also push the classics. :hi:

[EFerrari]

18. BTW, can we rec Viva's BookTv thread? (link). Maybe a lot of people

are out dressed up as pink Statues of Liberty or something this weekend. :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=432864&mesg_id=432864

[peacefreak]

19. Good Lord. Read it?

I took to the attic like Jo. I hold her personally responsible for my mis-spent life surrounded by books!:-)

[EFerrari]

22. LOL!

Me, too!

:rofl:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

20. I've read it so much that I can quote whole paragraphs from it.

The same is true for the two sequels, Little Men and Jo's Boys.

Laurie and Jo were the best. Meg always pissed me off. :P

[EFerrari]

23. Well, she got her's over that whole coat thing.

:P

[tigereye]

24. you give us hope for the future WIMR!

:hi:

[nosillies]

27. Meg was a little shit.

And though I was named for Amy, I always wanted to be Jo.

[EFerrari]

35. Amy was cool. She liked nice things, big deal. She painted

even when no one took her seriously AND she snagged Laurie. :)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. I was somewhat obsessed with it as a girl, because

my birthday is the same as Louisa Alcott's. I've not read her racier stuff, which I only learned about in recent years; but I'd be interested in checking it out. Apparently she covered topics like cross-dressing and transgenderism. It seems she was quite the liberated woman!

[EFerrari]

32. I used to confuse my mom's birthday with her's. Paging Dr. Freud.

lol

[Shine]

28. Yes, I read it when I was a young girl. I cried.

:hi:

[reyd reid reed]

29. I read it...

the first time, back when I was in elementary school. I've read it a couple of times since then...I've got my mother's copy of it.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

33. I think that's amazing because there's so much of it

that refers to stuff no one reads reyds reids any more. :hi:

[reyd reid reed]

37. ....

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

:hi:

[bridgit]

30. oh yes: Anne of Green Gables, Nancy Drew, the whole nine before...The Russians...

:scared:
:hi:

[EFerrari]

34. Glad to hear it, lol! Russians? Where they related to

The Five Little Peppers?

lol

[bridgit]

44. well; Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc = the yada-yada Russian guys...

:dunce: :thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

47. Oh, those Russian guys.

lol

[Breeze54]

52. Do you remember "The Bobbsey Twins" series?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbsey_Twins

I had the whole set and read it furiously, under the covers, with a flashlight. ;)
One day, I came home from school, and my books were gone. Never found out why.

[bridgit]

53. oh lord yes, Nan & Bert, Freddy & Flossie...

:hi:

[davsand]

56. Robin Kane and also the Trixie Belden mystery series too.

I loved the Nancy Drew books and spent a summer reading them all. After I got done with those my Mom got me some of the the other mystery series that were out there at the time.

Now, if it was Material Girl, I'd probably start her on that mystery series with the cats that solve the crimes (isn't that Rita Mae Brown writing those?)


Laura

added on edit: I did read Little Women, Little Men and Jo's Boys. Forgto to mention that before now!

[EFerrari]

61. The Trixie Belden series was great. I loved that one and it was hard

to find. :thumbsup:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

38. My dear sfexpat!

I've read all of them, over and over and over....

I loved them!

And when I grew up, I discovered the bodice ripper stories.......

And loved those as well!

She was a hell of a woman, and a hell of a writer.....

Moral pap for the young...

That was her phrase for those early stories!

:bounce: :bounce:

[EFerrari]

40. LOL! I didn't know that.

How she managed to do all of that, wow. :hi:

[WolverineDG]

43. I read it when I was an adult

I was surprised to discover how "feminist" it was. Another book full of strong women (white & black) is "Gone With the Wind."

And yes, I wanted to smack Jo with the Stupid Stick for turning down Laurie.

dg

ps. I've always thought that the drawing of Amy on that book cover looks like Judy Garland.

[EFerrari]

46. I've read it so many times, they all feel like my family.

And, I have no sisters, lol. :)

[fishwax]

45. I've read it. I like her underground gothic novels MUCH better

Behind a Mask is a great tale :)

[EFerrari]

48. And remember that whole chapter in LW about Jo writing

"sensational" fiction? That always cracks me up.

[fishwax]

49. Ha!

Yeah, that's really funny once you learn the truth about Alcott's career. :)

[Breeze54]

50. It was 'Required Reading" when

I was in either 8th or 9th grade!

Can't say I remember a lot about the story.
Civil War; Concord, MA.; life back then and outspoken women! :)

[EFerrari]

59. Kickass women.

And, they were funny, too. :)

[crim son]

54. Many, many times as a young person.

I have three sisters and used to try to imagine which one of us corresponded to which character.

[Katina]

55. I loved little women

one of my favorite books growing up.

[Missy Vixen]

57. I still love "Little Women"

What a great, great book.

Julie

[EFerrari]

60. One thing that haunts me is that by all accounts, Bronson Alcott

was something of an authoritarian. And LMA went so far out of her way to present all his best qualities and to soften the other. Labor of love, in spades. :)

/oops

[Arugula Latte]

58. Oh yes. A couple times.

But it's been a couple decades, I believe ...

[EFerrari]

62. I think I read that book every year between the ages of 4 and 13.

I used to know whole passages by heart. It's funny, it was probably the book that opened MSM for me because I was learning English at the same time between 4 - 7, was the first kid born here and there were no books in English in our home that I didn't bring home from a library. Except my mom's Ian Flemings. lol

[Blue_In_AK]

63. Of course...

And Little Men, the other one about Jo (I can't remember the name now), Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom and about everything else Louisa May wrote. Those books were very comforting to me as a child.

[EFerrari]

64. Me, too. And for me it was because of the sense of family

more than the overt or even subtle religious/spiritual tones. It was "Jo's Boys". :)

[Blue_In_AK]

65. That's it exactly, the sense of family.

I think I've mentioned here before that my older brother and mother were killed in separate accidents when I was seven and eight. After my mother was killed I was alone and staying with my grandparents for several months while my dad and other brother were recuperating in the hospital. Somebody gave me Eight Cousins to read, and I read it over and over, because Rose was an orphan, too, and yet her life went on. Back then we had to take naps in the afternoon because of the polio scare, and I used to curl up in my bed and lose myself in the stories.

[EFerrari]

66. Those naptimes probably produced more English teachers than

any college. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

67. That's probably true.

Are you of the age to have been caught up in that whole afternoon nap phenomenon? The younger people can't fully understand how terrified our parents were of polio -- I thought it was ridiculous at the time when I was six and seven that I had to lay down in the afternoon, but I can still remember my mother saying, "You don't want to get polio, do you? You don't have to sleep, just go rest quietly."

[EFerrari]

68. I didn't know it was about polio. I thought it was about childhood.

'55 baby here. And, my kids took naps, too -- maybe because *I* needed one. lol

[Blue_In_AK]

69. I'm a little older than you...

I was born in '46. The late '40s, early '50s, I think is when the biggest polio scare was. In fact, I had an aunt who contracted it in 1952 or '53 and almost died. We had been to visit her in Florida. The day we left she felt like she was coming down with the flu, and by the time we drove back up to Ohio, they called and said she was in the hospital in an iron lung and wasn't expected to live through the night. The Salk vaccine was brand-new then, was still in the trial stage I think, but my parents took us to the doctor in the middle of the night to get the shot in the hope that it would protect us. None of us got it, and my aunt went on to make a "miraculous" recovery that was written up in a huge story in her hometown paper in Bradenton, Florida. The only lasting effect was the tracheotomy scar.

[rhiannon55]

70. I read it over and over when I was a child

and cried EVERY time I read Beth's death scene.

I, too wanted to be Jo.