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The Book Club Details
After a late-summer hiatus, the slow-read book club is back for Autumn and this time with a novel! I’m ready for it, as I’ve missed the rich connection over books we’ve shared here. We will be reading Little Women together over the course of 16 weeks, beginning this Monday, September 08. As with the other books, the schedule is posted below for anyone to read alongside the group, but the live book club discussion will be exclusively for paid members of this community. The discussion will be recorded and posted here afterward for anyone who is not able to attend the live calls.
We will read four chapters per week, a slow and steady rhythm to enjoy the novel more intentionally for our live discussions. All members will receive a link to the live discussion with a few questions to help you gather thoughts two days before our call. These are not required to answer or ever to discuss live. Think of them as a little warm-up to help get your ideas moving before we meet. For those trying to account for the time commitment, 30 minutes, four days a week, should be sufficient, plus an hour for the live discussion each month. Of course, you’re welcome to read at your own pace and schedule, too. However you choose to engage with the novel or audiobook, I hope you’ll join me!
About Little Women
Little Women is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Louisa May Alcott, an American writer in the late 19th century. Alcott was a prolific reader and writer, deeply influenced by the philosophers and thinkers her father was connected to in the New England Transcendentalists movement. She was a bit of a tomboy and often struggled with society’s expectations of women, as captured in her protagonist, Jo. While the novel is loosely based on her own family’s life in New England during and after the Civil War, with three sisters, loving parents, and ongoing financial difficulties, many of the details are fictionalized.
Little Women was originally published as a series of short stories in a magazine, but due to its popularity, the first part was published as a novel in 1868. The sequel followed the next year, continuing the story three years into the future. Both are now combined and published as one novel, the reason for the two parts in our modern editions. Little Women is considered the first American children’s classic, and regardless of how familiar you or I are with the story, we will have much to freshly enjoy, receive, and discuss together this Fall.
Alcott’s Preface to Little Women
Alcott’s preface to Little Women is a quote from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, a powerful allegorical novel about the Christian life written 2oo years before Alcott’s writing. Naturally, you can enjoy reading Little Women regardless of your understanding of The Pilgrim’s Progress. However, an author’s preface helps frame the narrative for the reader. Here, Alcott offers us an important lens from the start, assuming her readers are already familiar with Bunyan’s tale. A glance at the chapter titles nods to some of the corresponding themes. Again, it is not required reading for this book club, but if you have not read The Pilgrim’s Progress, I recommend you do so at some point as it is richly rewarding on its own. Reading it alongside Little Women might be a boon to your deeper enjoyment of the novel. If it is more approachable, reading an adapted form of the story (aloud with your children!) will help, too. I recommend The Dangerous Journeyor Little Pilgrim’s Progresspicture books, or the adapted novel form, Little Pilgrim’s Progress. While this will enrich your reading (and life), we will focus our discussion on Alcott’s novel, not Bunyan’s. The latter will only serve as a reference point.
Autumn Reading and Book Club Schedule
If you have any questions, you’re welcome to drop them in the comments below or reach out to me directly bethany@cloisteredaway.com. Otherwise, welcome to the book club, my friends!
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