Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Last summer (wow, I cannot believe that was a year ago!), I reread Little Women, Little Men and read Jo's Boys for the first time. They were all more delightful than I remembered (or anticipated). Although they are books for young readers, they also contain themes and deeper messages that resonate well with more mature readers. If you haven't read them in a while, I highly recommend them.

My lovely sister is a huge Louisa May Alcott fan as well, and share with me this biography, which she had just finished. She was overflowing with interesting information about the Alcotts, and their neighbos, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne and other interesting American intellectuals and literary giants of the era.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen is fascinating. It's truly a page turner. It follows the insane adventures of the Alcott family, led by their unstable, idealistic father Bronson, and sustained by their hard-working, steady mother, Abby. It's amazing to see how their lives were so intertwined with the lives of Emerson, Thoreau and other important Transcendentalists.

Reisen also illuminated what parts Alcott and her family were models for the beloved March family. After the success of the book, the sisters even took to calling themselves their corresponding March names on occasion! Reisen also outlined all of Alcott's other works. I hadn't realized she had written so much. I had read Eight Cousins and A Rose in Bloom (both magnificent-go read them!), but I wasn't familiar with much else. Thanks to this fantastic biography, I now have a whole new list to add to my "to-reads"!

If you loved Little Women as a child, an adult, or even just loved the movie, read this biography! Even if you're unfamiliar with the story, it's a thrilling tale of an eccentric family, who landed themselves in just the right place during a fascinating and important period in our nations history.

Image from amazon.com

Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners

Last week I finished reading this biography of Emily Post by Laura Claridge. It was fabulous! I had read about it several months ago, and thought it looked interesting. I read some favorable reviews, and put it on my public Amazon wishlist. Then I pretty much forgot about it. Until, that is, my sweet sister gave it to me for Christmas! (Thanks again, Lauren!)

It's long. It took me a while to get through (and I started a few books in the meantime), but it was great. Claridge is a talented writer, and the biography almost reads as a novel. Also, the chapters are short, which keeps things moving along nicely.

Before I read this book, all I knew about Emily Post was that she wrote a big book about etiquette. But there is so much more to her life!

Did you know, for example, that her father was a famous architect and that she was, by all accounts, very talented in that field as well? Or, did you know that she wrote several successful (and a few less successful) novels long before she published her etiquette manual? There are more delightful tidbits about her life as well, but I don't want to spoil them all for you! You need to go read it!

More than anything, I closed this book with an appreciation for all that Emily Post accomplished later in her life. At the ripe old age of 26, I am already starting to feel like I have missed the boat to achieve some of my goals. And I also lament the fact that I don't know exactly what I want to do yet. Emily Post didn't write about etiquette until she was well into middle age. She redefined herself multiple times, and that was so inspiring to me.

Has anyone else read this book yet? Does anyone else have a copy of Etiquette? Any Emily Post fans out there?

image from amazon.com