Louisa May Alcott

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Loony the Dog
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Louisa May Alcott

Post by Loony the Dog »

Does anybody else like Louisa M. Alcott? Click on the link for her Wikipedia article.http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott She has wrote quite a number of books. More than I thought. You will see the picture of her grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Sound familiar? :shock: :D I've read a few of her books - Eight Cousins, Little Men, Little Women, and An Old-fashioned Girl. I think my favourite would be Eight Cousins. It has a sequel: Rose in Bloom. I always find her books enjoyable to read, even re-reading them.

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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by Rebeccadanielle »

I was never really a fan of her writing, I did read Little Women when I was about eleven or twelve. I've only read that and Eight Cousins. I plan on finishing the Little Women books at some point. Everyone I know loves Louisa May Alcott but I could never get into her books like I can with authors like L.T. Meade or Ethel Turner.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by aminmec »

Yes I've liked LMA .Have only read Little Women though and found it great . Hoping to read the subsequent stories to see what develops between the characters .
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by Katharine »

I started to read Little Women for the first time last year, as I know it is a highly regarded book and wanted to see for myself what it was like. Unfortunately I couldn't get past the first chapter or two. It was well written in the sense of the descriptions of the girls and the room etc., but I just found it so dull. I just didn't get that urge to turn the page to see what happens next. However I shall put it at the top of my 'books I MUST read' list and give it another go. It must have some redeeming features to still be in print after all these years.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by bookmaniac »

I just loved "Little Women," tried to read "Jo's Boys," but could not appreciate it...this was many years ago, I must have another try. I did not know of her other works that you mention. I do know that she wrote some lovely poetry.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by Lawrie »

Little Women is a very old friend! I love it and have read it many, many times - the first time in a very abridged children's edition. Jo March really is the archetypical tomboy and probably my favourite. I'm not quite so keen on Jo's Boys and Little Men, but I recently read Moods and enjoyed it.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by elizabeth »

I have read little women and i absolutely love it. :D
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by Aurora »

yes i love lousia may alcott. i have read little women and it's awesome. i've also read read little men which is it's continued version... and i simply love it too..... i recommend her books to all the classic lovers!
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by honesty »

I know LMA books. Only read Little Women but i do adore her books.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by Daisy »

I have just read "Jack and Jill" by Louisa Alcott. It's very "of its time" - a rather moral tale of a group of children, but quite enjoyable.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by Poppy »

I think I mentioned a little while ago in another thread that I am reading Little Women to go towards my school work. It's certainly a big book, but it hasn't a very big impact on me, I'm afraid. I tried reading it a few times before I started reading it for my work, but as Katharine said earlier, I could never get past the first few chapters. Well anyway, I'm still reading it, but am about 80 pages before the end, which is a great relief! There just doesn't seem to be much of a story in it. There are no extraordinary happenings, no exciting parts, no out of the ordinary characters... Everything just seems so predictable and boring. I know it's based on a real story but, there doesn't really seem to be a story to it! I can see how it would be enjoyable for those who like this sort of thing, but I much prefer the adventure and mystery genres. I think the only thing that keeps me reading, is that is quite addicting to try and finish a big long book!... and there's all the questions at the back of course... My next non-Blyton reading book that I have to read for school work in September is 'Wuthering Heights'... My brother has just done an exam on it at school, and my mum is going to try and get hold of the test for me to do afterwards. According to my brother, it's awful, but he's not really a big reader, so I'll give it a go. If anyone has read it here, could you please give your opinions on it? Thanks.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by deepeabee »

When I was younger (much, much younger) I read Little Women and Jo's Boys and really was captivated by these books. I remember reading another of hers, but can't remember what it was called...I got it from the local library at the time.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by burlingtonbertram »

For some reason I only like Little Women and Good Wives. I aren't too keen on Jo's Boys and Little Men.

What I like about them is the same thing I like about Enid Blyton: period charm. It's a different country and a different society but equally charming.

I could never get over their selflessness at Christmas though. Just a book for Christmas, nothing else! Marmee giving their Christmas breakfast to a load of indigent free-loaders! I'd have rung Child-Line.

I picked up a hard-back edition of Good Wives in a tattered dust-jacket for £4 with a nice inscription: presented at a village Sunday School, Christmas 1917.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by snugglepot »

I remember reading Little Women when I was about eleven. My mother had bought me a whole series of so called classics to get me to read something other than Enid Blyton.
I remember really enjoying it and begging for the sequel so she bought me Good Wives.

SPOILERS.....

I started reading it hoping that Jo and Laurie would get together and when she turned down his proposal I cried in frustration. But remembering Anne and Gilbert from the Green Gables series (Mum had bought me some of those, too) I kept reading.
Beth's death devastated me! Why couldn't it have been Amy? I loathed and detested Amy's character from the moment she had burnt Jo's papers and wished she had drowned when she fell in that hole in the ice.
When I came to the page where it was revealed that Amy had married Laurie I, literally, threw the book across the room! After that I refused to finish it and was devastated.
It wasn't until the 1940s version came on TV about a year later and I sat down to watch it, not knowing it included Good Wives as well, that I was able to see how the book ended.
I actually enjoyed the character of the Professor and his relationship with Jo, and Elizabeth Taylor made it hard to hate Amy as much as the book had.
After that I went back and finished Good Wives. I didn't enjoy it as much as Little Women but it was bearable. I even bought Little Men and Jo's Boys. I loved the former and detested the latter. I found the repetition of the Jo/Laurie situation with two of the next generation characters very frustrating.
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Re: Louisa May Alcott

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

snugglepot wrote:I loathed and detested Amy's character from the moment she had burnt Jo's papers...
Devouring books over the years, I've read of brutal killings, terrible diseases, grinding poverty, abuse and neglect, gross injustice, tragic love affairs, unrequited love and all manner of painful experiences. But Amy burning Jo's stories is one of the most shocking things I've ever read and, whenever I think of Little Women, I always remember that incident. Jo's writing meant a lot to her - she put her heart into her work and spent hours on it. The idea that her own sister could destroy it wilfully, out of spite and venom, is beyond belief. My sister and I sometimes used to fight but I would never have dreamt of touching anything of hers that was precious or personal - and I know she wouldn't have done anything like that to me either. When you're young and still live in the family home your siblings know, better than anyone else, what certain things mean to you.
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