Little Women: Yet Another Movie Version Released

Last updated 7/6/2020.

Little Women Louisa May Alcott

First Publication: 1868 Category: coming-of-age novel Sales: 1 million

Accolades:

About the Book: “Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters,” BN “united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.” BN “Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy.” BN Although Little Women is set in a very particular place and time in American history, the characters and their relationships have touched generations of readers and still are beloved.” LC “Far from being the ‘girl’s book’ her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.” BN “The novel is a classic coming of age story which follows the development of the young women into adulthood.” AZ “Central to the theme of the novel is the issue of overcoming one’s character flaws. For Meg it is vanity; Jo, temper; Beth, shyness; and Amy, selfishness. Through the various activities of the four sisters told throughout the novel lessons are learned of the consequences of these particular flaws.” AZ “The story begins to unfold during Christmastime. With their father away at war, the family must endure great poverty induced hardship, often times going hungry.” AZ “It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with ‘woman’s work,’ including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing.” BN “Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune.” BN “This first edition…was published in 1868 when Louisa was thirty-five years old. Based on her own experiences growing up as a young woman with three sisters, and illustrated by her youngest sister, May, the novel was an instant success, selling more than 2,000 copies immediately. Several sequels were published, including Little Men (1871) and Jo’s Boys (1886).” LC The book has been adapted seven times for film, first in 1917 and most recently a 2019 version directed by Greta Gerwig. It starred Saoirse Ronan as Jo, Emma Watson as Meg, Florence Pugh as Amy, and Eliza Scanlen as Beth. The cast also included Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, and Chris Cooper. Some critics called it “the definitive adaptation.” WK Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble LC Library of Congress (2012). “Books That Shaped America” SparkNotes (study guide) Wikipedia

In July 2018, I became the organizer of the Classic Novels Book Club. Check out the Book Club tab here or Meetup for more information. This is our March 2020 book.

Joseph Heller Catch-22 Published 10 Years Ago Today

Updated 7/5/2020.

Catch-22 Joseph Heller

First Publication: November 10, 1961 Category: satirical novel/war story Sales: 10 million

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: Catch-22 is “a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest – and most celebrated – books of all time.” AZ It is an “irreverent” LC “black comedy” LC with a “satiric treatment of military bureaucracy” LC which “became a cult classic, especially among the Vietnam War generation, for its biting indictment of war.” LC “It uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot.” WK “Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable” AZ “Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier,” WK “a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy – it is his own army” AZ who continuously issue “orders from above that made no sense” LC and “constantly “increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service.” AZ Yossarian wants to plead insanity just so he can stay alive but attempts to get out of perilous duty will put him “in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions,” AZ but “anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.” LC The phrase “has had such a penetrating effect that its title has become synonymous with ‘no-win situation.’” LC “Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea, west of Italy. The novel looks into the experiences of Yossarian and the other airmen in the camp, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home.” WK Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon LC Library of Congress (2012). “Books That Shaped America” WK Wikipedia

You can also watch the 1970 movie version on Amazon.

In July 2018, I became the organizer of the Classic Novels Book Club. Check out the Book Club tab here or Meetup for more information. This is our October 2019 book.