The Works of Louisa May Alcott

[mansonlamps]

I apologize in advance, and yes I know this is terribly shallow, but have you ever seen a picture of Amy? Blonde does not mean beautiful people. Yes I'm talking to you Laura Prepon and Lindsey Lohan.

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monkeypants said:

I've read "Little Women" hundreds of times - (I tutor elementary school kids and make them read Alcott) - and have always come to one conclusion: I still believe that Laurie married Amy on the rebound and spent the rest of his life regretting it.

That's my story and I'm stickin' with it.

Oh, I just picture (in my mind) a different ending to the scene where Laurie proposes to Jo, whenever I finish rereading the book. Doing this with various book scenarios is how I lull myself to sleep when I have insomnia. Much more satisfactory. (Another favorite is changing some pivotal scenes in Gone With the Wind....)
But I quite like the ending to "An Old Fashioned Girl"--so sweet!

[indygirl]

I remember reading this when I was very young and just not getting the whole fascination with limes. Now, of course, I realize that they needed them for the tequila shots.

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The girls in Amy's school used "Pickled Limes". It was a two in one combo (salt and lime) for the tequila shots.

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chatchien said:

The girls in Amy's school used "Pickled Limes". It was a two in one combo (salt and lime) for the tequila shots.

Heeee! My mouth used to water reading about those pickled limes! I can't believe we have a LMA thread going: love it! These books gave a troubled little bookworm many hours of distraction from her appalling family life.
I love this board!

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Ok, I just came back from a trip to Boston, MA. Needless to say, I dragged my traveling companion to Concord for the Orchard House tour. I can highly recommend it. When you go through the house, you really can feel the Alcott family presence. It feels like a real home that people live in and as though the Alcotts are still there, but just stepped out for a bit. And the school building built by Bronson Alcott for intellectual/philosophical lectures is still being used. We went up after the tour to check it out; I figured it would be roped off but set up the way it was long ago so visitors could just look at it. Well, I was surprised to see what looked like a small day camp there, with a bunch of little girls rehearsing a play with their counselors. Which is something that would make Bronson happy to know, probably. (The tour guide made him seem like a saintly sort of person, but I'm not so sure. Of the two biographies I've read on LMA, one made him seem like a saint and the hardships he sort of caused for his family something they bore gladly for the privilege of allowing him to live his life as he wanted; the other one made their family seem, well not anymore dysfunctional than most families, but painted it with a lot of resentment between the girls and their parents. I'm guessing the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.)
Anyway, I bought an adult novella by her in a bookstore in Concord, I think it's called Behind the Mask; I haven't read it yet, but it looks good.
(Once we were there, I would've loved to check out Emerson's and Hawthorne's homes, as well as Walden Pond. But we were a little strapped for time, and my friend really wasn't interested. )

[magazinewhore]

Oh, I am such a LMA dork. My dream trip is to go to Concord and see Orchard House, which I will do someday.

Anyway, I loved Behind the Mask, which I read in a Women's Lit of the 19th century class in college. If I had unlimited funds, I would be such a dork, getting a PhD in 19th century women literature. As it is, I teach English at a community college, so I"m pretty close. I didn't really discover Alcott until college (via that class) but I fell hard and have read everything I could get my hands on since. Yes, I completely identified with Jo, but her other writings "Transcendental Oats" etc. are all fun to read as well. Anyway, cool thread.

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I'm currently in the middle of "Behind the Mask." It's interesting. It reminds me of an Agatha Christie, in which the murderer never physically killed any of the (many) victims, but was able to psychologically break down other people's defenses, so that they killed for him. (It's hard to explain, but Hercule Poirot does a better job at it than I do.) It's all in the power of suggestion, and award-worthy acting skills.
A far cry indeed from the books like "Little Women" and "Rose in Bloom!"

[indygirl]

stargirl said:

Ok, I just came back from a trip to Boston, MA. Needless to say, I dragged my traveling companion to Concord for the Orchard House tour. I can highly recommend it. When you go through the house, you really can feel the Alcott family presence. It feels like a real home that people live in and as though the Alcotts are still there, but just stepped out for a bit.

I tool a class one summer which inluded a one week trip to Boston and spent about half a day in Concord. I really agree with your assessment of the house. It did have that lived in feel. I loved going into the bedroom and seeing the writing on the wallpaper. I wound up buying a print of one of the youngersister's paintings as a souvenir.

(Once we were there, I would've loved to check out Emerson's and Hawthorne's homes, as well as Walden Pond. But we were a little strapped for time, and my friend really wasn't interested. )

We went to all of these places as well. Walden Pond was a let down, but everything else was great. The Old Manse was wonderful. Hawthorne's etching in the window, the clock--very cool. We also made it to Salem, Twain's house, and Dickinson's house.

It was a great class!

[bastinado]

queequeg said:

I always liked Little Women (mainly because I identified with Jo - she's sooo gay!) but the follow up, Little Wives, is atrocious and all the stupid baby talk? Ugh.

It was called "Little Men", wasnt it? I liked the sequel after Little Men which was called Jo's Boys but neither measures up to Little Women. Jo not accepting Laurie, along with Ivanhoe not picking Rebecca over Rowena in IVANHOE, are the 2 bitterest endings I have ever read.