I’ve been enjoying Little Women as a part of a podcast I’ve been listening to recently. Some of the chapters are read by LibriVox volunteers and some are read by listeners of the podcast. I used to own a copy of this book, I still may. It was part of a collector’s set with other books in the series and a few of something else. I know, not real descriptive but it’s all I’ve got. I tried to read the book when it was given to me, but I’m afraid that at the age of nine it didn’t seem all that interesting.

Because I went back to chapter one, I’m only through chapter eight or so. While I’m listened to Amy throw a tantrum because she can’t have her way and then her retaliation, I have to admit that I was thinking horrible thoughts much like Jo was probably thinking. When Amy retaliated, I wasn’t a bit surprised. Jo then threw a colossal tantrum in retribution. Amy destroyed Jo’s book of stories she had been working on for two years. Jo decided to punish Amy by not forgiving her, not speaking to her and making family live extremely uncomfortable for everyone. I felt saddened for the family harmony that was broken as a result of the girls not getting along. When Jo had a heart-to-heart with Mother I found it rather refreshing that Mother was honest about her own struggles with anger and that that could talk about it. I’m still figuring out how to respond appropriately to a variety of situations without resorting to anger as the best possible reaction.

Tags: book review, little women

I have started listening to CraftLit podcast. Crafts are spoken of and stores are read to us. Currently, we are listening to Little women, I still own it, I just don’t know where it is exactly. I only started listening a month ago but felt that I should at least start at the beginning of Little women to see if I liked the reading style or even the book. I am getting into the book, but I was under the impression that the podcast author was reading the story, not so. It is the version posted at Librivox. There are pros and cons about that. The easiest two are free and it’s already in electronic format. The con, it’s free, no one was paid to record it, nor was quality proofed. There are some chapters that are redone as the CraftLit author determines it’s necessary, I think that’s an interesting idea. I am getting a sense for “voice” readings, where each character needs a unique way of reading. I need to listen faster as new episodes are rolling in and I’m still on the older ones.

I also started reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The story is a “fable about following your dreams”.

Tags: alchemist, little women