Jen and Ashley read and discuss Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, Little Women (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). This one is perfect for the Unabridged Reading Challenge category about a classic written before 1950! Check out our reading challenge here. We also share our pairings including Hena Khan’s More to the Story (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Geraldine Brooks’s March (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm).
If you'd like to hear more about Little Women, be sure to tune in to hear our upcoming Patreon exclusive episode on February 1st when we share our thoughts about Greta Gerwig's film adaptation! We appreciate your support on Patreon so much, and it helps cover the cost of maintaining our podcast. If you haven't joined us there yet, you can check the details out here.
Bookish Check-in
Ashley - Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Jen - Adrienne Young’s The Unmaking of June Farrow (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Our Book Club Pick
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Our Pairings
Ashley - Hena Khan’s More to the Story (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Jen - Geraldine Brooks’s March (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
Flashback: February 2022
Listen in to hear what we were doing a couple of years ago!
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Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the Publisher:
"After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
"Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
"Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late."
Adrienne Young’s The Unmaking of June Farrow (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the Publisher:
"In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.
"It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.
"After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love."
Our January 2024 Book Club Pick
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the Publisher:
"Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Following the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy—the novel details their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. Scholars classify Little Women as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel.
"Little Women has been read as a romance or as a quest, or both. It has been read as a family drama that validates virtue over wealth, but also as a means of escaping that life by women who knew its gender constraints only too well. Alcott created a new form of literature, one that took elements from Romantic children's fiction and combined it with others from sentimental novels, resulting in a totally new format.
"Within Little Women can be found the first vision of the 'All-American girl' and that her various aspects are embodied in the differing March sisters."
Our Pairings
Hena Khan’s More to the Story (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the Publisher:
"When Jameela Mirza is picked to be feature editor of her middle school newspaper, she’s one step closer to being an award-winning journalist like her late grandfather. The problem is her editor-in-chief keeps shooting down her article ideas. Jameela’s assigned to write about the new boy in school, who has a cool British accent but doesn’t share much, and wonders how she’ll make his story gripping enough to enter into a national media contest.
"Jameela, along with her three sisters, is devastated when their father needs to take a job overseas, away from their cozy Georgia home for six months. Missing him makes Jameela determined to write an epic article—one to make her dad extra proud. But when her younger sister gets seriously ill, Jameela’s world turns upside down. And as her hunger for fame looks like it might cost her a blossoming friendship, Jameela questions what matters most, and whether she’s cut out to be a journalist at all."
Geraldine Brooks’s March (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the Publisher:
"Winner of the Pulitzer Prize--a powerful love story set against the backdrop of the Civil War, from the author of The Secret Chord.
"From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story 'filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man' (Sue Monk Kidd). With 'pitch-perfect writing' (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks's place as a renowned author of historical fiction."
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