Little Women Show Blog

Lessons Learned from Literature

Occasionally, as I traverse the wide expanse that is the World Wide Web, I come across beautiful piece of writing that I am compelled to share. This lovely piece of prose is from "Catawampus" Please read on...

I've been reading Neve "Little Women" at bedtime lately, from my very treasured 1947, unabridged edition - the one identical to the one my great-grandmother gave me when I was Neve's age, which I lost many years ago before I moved from Oklahoma. I recently replaced it (thanks be to EBay), and just holding it and reading from it and seeing the words printed in that old, familiar typeface, and the beautiful illustrations, warms the cockles of my sentimental heart.

Cooking like Meg in Little Women

I am noticing while reading Little Women how much I connect with the stories about day-to-day life where things don't go quite right. It seems like I am not the only one.

Oh dear. It was almost a Little Women moment last night. Do you remember the chapter towards the end of the book when Dear John unexpectedly brings home a work colleague to dinner and poor newly-married Meg has spent an entire day unsuccessfully trying to make jelly? And it all ends in tears? Well, thank heavens I'm 37 years old and have a sense of humor because otherwise you would have found me weeping over the jam pots last night.

Continue reading Meg's story on too many chefs.

What's In Your Freezer?

I have to confess, prior to becoming familiar with Broadway’s Little Women – The Musical I harbored a long time aversion, even fear of reading Louisa Mae Alcott’s famous novel. Countless times, on visits to bookstores, I would pick up the novel with the intention of purchasing it. Once I even made it through the check out only to have my purchase sit on my shelf for well over a year until a friend borrowed it. Frankly, I find this personal aversion to a piece of literature a bit silly, don’t you? An adult harboring a fear of a literary classic. Why one earth? Maybe my answer lies with Joey Tribbiani. After all he of Friends fame was so moved he had to put the book in the freezer – a place reserved for his favorite book, Stephen King’s terrifying novel The Shining. For Joey the intense emotions evoked by Little Women were on the same scale of overload as The Shining - just too much. And, well, (hem and haw) I guess somehow I must have suspected they might be too much for me averse as I am to putting myself in a good–cry mood.

Fortunately for me, not too long ago a friend took me to see Little Women – The Musical on Broadway. This gem of a show brings Louisa Mae Alcott’s masterpiece to life on the stage of the Virginia Theater and does it beautifully. Here I was face to face with my "nemesis" and I was happily moved beyond anything I could have expected. I loved it - both the show and all of the emotions that it conjured in my heart. It was one of those yummy experiences that I didn't want to end. Actually, I suppose it doesn't have to. It’s back to the bookstore for me, to pick up another copy of the book of (I never did get that copy back from my friend) then all that is left is to crack it open and start the next part of my journey. Just in case I have made a little space in the freezer.

Spring is here!

As I was reading "Little Women" today and found this wonderful passage in the first chapter.

.... Nothing delighted you more than to have me tie my piece bags on your backs for burdens, give you hats and sticks and rolls of paper, and let you travel through the house from the cellar, which was the City of Destruction, up, up, to the housetop, where you had all the lovely things you could collect to make a Celestial City.

That made me think of Spring and the renewal that comes at this time of year. It seemed particularly fitting today since it is Easter.

LW #18 in BBC's Big Read

Little Women came in number 18 in the British Broadcasting Corporation's Big Read to find the nation's the nation's best-loved novel. It seems that a lot of folks are reading the book.

Time March-es on...

I was reading this post about how one's perception of the story changes over time.
Time March-es on

In the beginning, I didn't identify with Jo. I do now, of course...the whole "spinster writer" thing, the dream of revolutionizing education, the secret attraction to tall men with German accents...but when I first read Little Women, I thought Jo was too impulsive. I was a little afraid of the way she'd jump about, of the way her mind leapfrogged and her tongue was unchecked.

I was a Meg girl (yes, my favorite Beatle was Paul. Why do you ask?). I was the big sister; I admired Meg's calm control and the (somewhat unearned, perhaps?) respect she commanded from her sisters. I liked that she'd at least try getting all tarted up before she decided that immodesty wasn't really her bag. it continues on her blog.

I wonder how others have had their perception of the book change over time?