Top Ten Tuesday: May Flowers

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week the theme is May flowers and I immediately thought of Flower Fables (1854),which was Louisa May Alcott’s first published book, written for Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughter.

Five Things

There are five things I want to share with you today:

A fun Georgette Heyer quiz was provided by Regency historical writer Anne Gracie. I was annoyed to get one wrong! Can you do better?

Georgette Heyer

Six Degrees of Separation – from Wifedom to The Inn at Lake Devine

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder, which sounds interesting and was just published in the US last week:

Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder re-creates the Orwells' marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s literary brilliance shaped Orwell’s work and her practical nous saved his life.

The Concord Free Public Library in December

Concord, Massachusetts in December is an attractive place and I was in the mood to visit on Saturday, particularly because the library was having a book sale. 

The lobby/great room is decorated for the holidays

Six Degrees of Separation – from Ethan Frome to March

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (1911), which involves a love triangle and a fateful sledding accident.

First Degree

A sledding accident with a less tragic outcome begins Louisa May Alcott’s Jack and Jill (1880); you may recall I secured my own copy in June.

$5 per bag

I stopped at my childhood library the other night to pick up a reserve, and as I was leaving I saw a room full of discarded books and a sign that said “$1/per book, $5/per bag.”  Reader, I had to poke my head in, although I only had a few minutes to spare. 

Six Degrees of Separation - From The Proud Way to Little Women

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where one ends up.   This month’s starting point is Rodham: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld, in which the author reimagines Hillary’s life if she hadn’t married Bill.  My sisters liked her book Prep but I have no interest in reading this book which sounds so invasive. Leave Hillary alone!

However, it somehow reminded me of my first book, The Proud Way by Shirley Seifert (1948), a historical novel about Varina Davis, the First Lady of the Confederacy, married to Jefferson Davis.  Varina came from a slave-owning family in Mississippi but received a better education than most women of her class and, perhaps influenced by Northern relatives, did not approve of slavery.  Her birthplace, The Briers, is now a B&B, if I ever make it to Natchez.  This book belonged to my mother.

A few hours in Concord . . . a glimpse of Little Women

On my vacation day, I wanted to visit the Concord Bookshop, one of my favorites, and you can't go to Concord without visiting Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) wrote Little Women!   Although Orchard House is currently closed to the public, the parking lot was busy with literary pilgrims pulling up and strolling around the grounds (avoiding a distinctly non-19th century landscaping company removing a tree).

LMA wrote Little Women here in 1868 

Currently closed to the public

Cucumber plant decor at Main Streets
Market & Cafe, where we had
a yummy lunch!

Christmas Traditions in Boston (Book Review)

Title: Christmas Traditions in Boston
Author: Anthony M. Sammarco
Publication: Fonthill/Arcadia Publishing, paperback, 2017
Genre: History/Illustrated Nonfiction

Description: This is a warm and delightful description of the celebration of Christmas in Boston from 17th century Puritan days to the present. Anthony Sammarco, a Boston native who spends all of his free time researching, writing, and speaking on iconic historical aspects of local history Is a delightful raconteur, both in person and through his books. He describes the restrictions on celebration in the Bay Colony’s early history, followed by the development of new traditions as Anglicans and Catholics emigrate to and settle in the Boston area.