Community Chat

[chrystaltree]

I don't think it's relevant or of much interest to most girls today.  My girls are 30ish and I know it was not part of their reading curriculum.  Of course, I read it in h.s. and later when I was just out of college.  I'd read the classics on my beach vacations.  

[Moonchilde]

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@Oznell wrote:

KathyPet, loved those too!  Almost anything she wrote-- "Eight Cousins" and "Rose in Bloom" are too more of her timeless children's classics...

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I read and enjoyed nearly all of Alcott's books - kind of powered through them all once I read Little Women and found out there were more.

When I got a Kindle and had access to so many free classics, I downloaded all the books again. Upon re-reading, these are pretty much for grade-schoolers. As an adult I found them totally preachy-moralistic to an almost creepy degree, and found myself SMH at my younger self.

They are perfect for young girls, but for me at least didn't stand up to adult re-reading, where I pretty much cringed through the lot.

I am, however, glad I read them and have been able to enjoy all the Little Women films through the years. 

Louisa May Alcott herself didn't really want to write all the rather insipid books she wrote for children, but she needed the money and was encouraged to write what woud sell, just like Jo and her penny dreadful stories.

[qbetzforreal]

I don't think this book is influenced any girl who grew up with television and is not influencing girls to this day.  That is a broad overstatement.

Growing up, I tried to read that book at least twice and it could never capture my interest.  None of my friends or cousins read it either.

[candys mine]

I was an avid reader as a kid.  I would read the encyclopedia by myself.  i would read the required reading and english homework readings of my elder siblings.   Beowulf is one that comes to mind, Animal Farm was another because I liked animals.  Try reading that book at the face value of a child and then finding out what it was Really about.

I've read Little Women.  I never read Little Men.  I thoroughly enjoyed her way with words in her book Flower Fables.

[Plaid Pants2]

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@sidsmom wrote:

@Plaid Pants2

ITA...this is the extent of my knowledge of ‘Little Women”:

(Rachel read ‘The Shining’ &. Joey read ‘Little Women’)

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@sidsmom

Yup.

That's all I need to know, or even want to know about "Little Women".

[yellowBeetle]

Loved it years ago, and read it again recently. I enjoyed it even more this second time. Beautifully written and a true classic. (Always shows up on lists of most loved books!) Highly recommend it. 

[QueenDanceALot]

I read LIttle Women and I vaguely recall some friends and I pretending we were the characters in it.  I can't remember, though, which one I was.  I think it was the least exciting one, whichever one that was.

I really preferred sneaking my copy of William Goldman's 'Boys and Girls Together" under the covers at night.  I must've read that one a dozen times.

[Oznell]

I grew up with television, and it was indeed a powerful drug, much like electronic media is today.  I loved TV, and as a child and teen I roved all over pop culture, both the culture of my era and plunging way back.  I was obsessed with jazz, and vintage films, and with comedy albums, of all things.  I managed to get an album of Lenny Bruce, and found him hilarious.  Other ground-breaking comedians too, like Mort Sahl.  I loved the singers of a long-lost era, like Al Jolson and Bessie Smith.

But I think you can have a range of interests.  There will always be parents who recognize the classics, and try to pass them on to their children.  My mother would bring home the most wonderful, eclectic books-- from "Black Beauty", to the "Limberlost" series, to Dickens, to all kinds of poetry, and on and on.

I don't disparage other people's choices at all, but I'm so grateful for what my parents encouraged in me, and I've passed it on as best I can to the next, cyber-obsessed generation!

[Noel7]

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@Noel7 wrote:

Wow, bragging about not reading a classic book.

Well, I loved it.  My mother read it to me when I was four, and a little later I read it myself.  A wonderful book imo.   I also read Nancy Drew and all the Cherry Aimes (sp?) books. 

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I don’t think anyone is ‘bragging’...it’s just fact.

Me?  I’ve never liked Fiction.

I read the books required in school, but that’s the extent.

I can remember as a little girl, dad would grab a volume of one of our

black-with-gold-lined pages Encyclopedia Britannica & read to us.  

He would even read the Wall Street Journal out loud. 

Maybe that exposure to non-fiction made a bigger imprint than I realized.

Though, I did enjoy ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ when it came out

in the 90’s. Can remember all the discussion groups...and how it could apply to real life...but that’s about it for Fiction.

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@sidsmom

I wasn't referring to you, if that's what you thought.  My father also read the encyclopedias.  

I read fiction all the time as a kid.  I remember being so upset when I got to the stage of kid's books without pictures.  When I was home sick I would read two full novels a day.

Now I read non-fiction most of the time.

[JaneMarple]

I loved Little Women when I first read it at the age of ten and watched two or three versions on TV, I can't say that the story influenced me in any way.