Louisa May Alcott: Little women

Have you ever read Little women? I found that book upstairs in the loft, not even sure where it came from as when I asked the girls if they'd read it, they said no. Maybe I bought it in a charity shop in Bristol some time ago... I have started to read it and I'm enjoying it very much. 

Here is something about its author. Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth and May were educated by their father, philosopher/ teacher, Bronson Alcott and raised on the practical Christianity of their mother, Abigail May.

Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, where her days were enlightened by visits to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s library, excursions into nature with Henry David Thoreau and theatricals in the barn at Hillside (now Hawthorne’s "Wayside").

Like her character, Jo March in Little Women, young Louisa was a tomboy: "No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race," she claimed, " and no girl if she refused to climb trees, leap fences...."

For Louisa, writing was an early passion. She had a rich imagination and often her stories became melodramas that she and her sisters would act out for friends. Louisa preferred to play the "lurid" parts in these plays, "the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens."

At age 15, troubled by the poverty that plagued her family, she vowed: "I will do something by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write, anything to help the family; and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t!"
Confronting a society that offered little opportunity to women seeking employment, Louisa determined "...I will make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough and tumble world." Whether as a teacher, seamstress, governess, or household servant, for many years Louisa did any work she could find.

Louisa’s career as an author began with poetry and short stories that appeared in popular magazines. In 1854, when she was 22, her first book Flower Fables was published. A milestone along her literary path was Hospital Sketches (1863) based on the letters she had written home from her post as a nurse in Washington, DC as a nurse during the Civil War.

When Louisa was 35 years old, her publisher Thomas Niles in Boston asked her to write "a book for girls." Little Women was written at Orchard House from May to July 1868. The novel is based on Louisa and her sisters’ coming of age and is set in Civil War New England. Jo March was the first American juvenile heroine to act from her own individuality; a living, breathing person rather than the idealized stereotype then prevalent in children’s fiction.

In all, Louisa published over 30 books and collections of stories. She died on March 6, 1888, only 56 years old and two days after her father.

The value of modesty

This morning, I found a very interesting article written by Wayne Jackson. 

Louis L’Amour wrote stories of the Old West that became bestsellers. He was meticulous in producing works that are fastidiously accurate in terms of the culture of the 1800s which addressed the manner in which women were viewed in the Old West. He observed that almost uniformly they were treated with great respect, even by the roughest of men. He noted that, as a rule, females could travel alone hundreds of miles by stagecoach and feel quite secure, because men regarded them so highly, and were extremely protective of the “fair” sex. I would add that I have noticed this in most Western films.

Those days are gone—and have been for quite a while. Now, a woman can hardly walk unescorted down a crowded street without being verbally assaulted or in some fashion sexually harassed. Most men in sizable cities do not want their wives driving alone at night.

One recent author believes she knows, at least in part, a cause for this dramatic shift in attitude toward women. She says it involves the “loss of modesty.” 

Modesty Abandoned

Wendy Shalit, a young Jewish writer, created a considerable stir in the media with the publication of her book, A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue.
This volume has been hailed by some as a work that will “change society.” Others—especially feminists—vehemently denounce it, even suggesting it should be banned.
Ms. Shalit says that her initial exposure to our grossly “immodest” culture commenced when she was in the fourth grade. She was introduced to a “sex education” course, from which her parents presently removed her. She argues that such classes should be “completely abolished” because they erode one’s natural sense of modesty. She voices concerns that I've had along with other English colleagues everytime we've taught sex education to 12 and 13 y.o. in Year 8 and 9.
Modesty, Ms Shalit contends, is an innate, psychological barrier which protects youngsters as their personalities are developing.
Later, as a student at Williams College in Massachusetts, Shalit was appalled by coed restrooms and other on-campus, sex-related problems. She wrote a piece about these practices that was eventually published in Reader’s Digest.

The thesis of A Return to Modesty is that the so-called “sexual revolution” has robbed society of many of its most valuable virtues—for one thing, a sense of self-worth.

Read on, click here

Visit Wendy's website, click here

In my Father's house, Corrie ten Boom

Two weeks ago, I ordered that book, In My Father's house written by Corrie ten Boom on Amazon and it came a few days ago. I was over the moon because I knew it was going to be a great read. And it is! 

Ghost boy by Martin Pistorius, a true story

In January 1988 Martin Pistorius, aged twelve, fell inexplicably sick, he lost his voice and stopped eating. Then he slept constantly and avoided human contact. Doctors didn't have a clue why!  Within eighteen months he was mute and wheelchair-bound. Martin's parents were told an unknown degenerative disease left him with the mind of a baby and less than two years to live.

Martin was moved to care centers for severely disabled children. The stress and heartache shook his parents’ marriage and their family to the core. Their boy was gone. Or so they thought.

Ghost Boy is the heart-wrenching story of one boy’s return to life through the power of love and faith. In these pages, readers see a parent’s resilience, the consequences of misdiagnosis, abuse at the hands of cruel caretakers, and the unthinkable duration of Martin’s mental alertness betrayed by his lifeless body.

We also see a life reclaimed—a business created, a new love kindled—all from a wheelchair. Martin's emergence from his own darkness invites us to celebrate our own lives and fight for a better life for others. I'd love to read this book so I add it in my retirement reading list or my holiday list!

You can read a preview  here.  

Special week-end with my sister Pauline

Today, we had a lovely day, the weather has been gorgeous. Steven got up earlier than me, I got up at ninish, then my sister Pauline and I had a coffee, and we had a relaxed time over breakfast looking at the birds, mainly the starlings and the prince nut-hatch devouring the seeds in the garden. It seems ages since I hadn't talked to Pauline though of course it is not. The postman delivered my engagement ring (the replacement for it) however it did not fit! There must have been a mix-up at the jeweller's since the actual ring was completely different. Four weeks ago, I lost the stone probably in school but it could have been anywhere, in the car park, the yard or even the dining-room. So my darling Steven rang the jeweller but they were engaged and as time was ticking he left a message. 
At lunch time we took Pauline to Stone for a latte and a beer, we read and discuss the news on the I newspaper and had a tour round the charity shops and the craft market where they had lots of hand-made gifts ready for Christmas. Back home for a bbq, as you would have guessed, beef and courgettes, as Pauline likes her beef well cooked, Steven sliced it up and it worked.. 
Imogen just came back from work and though she likes her new job, she confessed that she had to wash up plates and pots of mushroom soup, and they stank. Bless her. Though she is supposed to do her washing-up at home, I end up doing it for her out of sympathy..I know that I should not but still..
She was upset because a friend let her down, however, another friend invited her for a sleepover tonight so I took her there, just 10 min at the end of the village. 
Then, time to decide what to watch on tv, we started with Strictly dancing, Pauline's favorite programme and I must say that I could get used to watch it. Steven went to bed at about eleven while Pauline and I talked non stop until early morning. 

Before we went to Rome, I picked up this book, Song of a stranger, Daniel, in a charity shop. I have started to read it and it is so good, I know that I am going to enjoy that book so much. This is what it is about: (let me quote the publisher) This 6-week study guide written by R Tice, P. Maiden, E. Duncan, D. Richards, and E. Mc Quoid looks at Daniel's life.

How can we be faithful to God in a non-Christian society without compromising our beliefs? How can we resist the pressure to conform? The story is set in a time when the Israelites were in exile in Babylon. They were wondering how they could still be God's people in a foreign land; how could they serve God when all the props their faith relied on had been removed? 
We face a similar dilemma in the twenty-first century. Daniel's story reminds us that we can make a positive contribution to society and preserve the integrity of faith. I thought it was a novel when I picked it up..but on the contrary, this sounds even more interesting..If you have read that book, let me know. Blessings in Christ. N.

Book reviews: a must!

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