Books stack themselves up around me (I don’t have the faintest idea how this happens). Some books I start and give up on; some I start and continue, though intermittently; and some I start and interrupt all other reading until I am well on the way to finishing. Joyce Carol Oates’ Jack of Spades is the current • Read More »
Archives: Louisa May Alcott
Literary deceptions, caricature, and a writer vs. an empire: newsletter, Dec. 14, 2018
December 17, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, journalism, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.
This newsletter was sent to all of the subscribers on Jim’s list (2,967) on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018. Literary deceptions and caricatures (again) — those are the items we focus on in this week’s newsletter. But there more, too. When is it okay for an author to deceive readers? We have two instances • Read More »
Louisa May Alcott, stealth novelist of the blood and thunder genre
December 6, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.
Louisa May Alcott lived a double-literary life. The world knew her as Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women and other widely popular and deeply-loved books that have been read by children for generations. These she called “moral pap” and said she wrote them only for the money. An extremely small circle of people knew • Read More »
Louisa May Alcott, journalist
May 30, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, journalism, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.
Louisa May Alcott, author of the classic of American literature Little Women, was for a brief time in her life Louisa May Alcott, journalist. Despite the picture presented in her famous novel, Alcott’s childhood and formative years were anything but idyllic. Her family was always on the edge of poverty, and her father, Bronson Alcott, • Read More »
A ‘day’ becomes a ‘date’; Poe’s rules for detective fiction; a little bit of Henry Fowler
December 11, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism, newsletter, Private eye.
This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (4,140) on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017. Hi, Last week’s question: Were there no Americans before 1776? An answer came in from newsletter reader and good friend Jane P: There were many Americans long before 1776, in the numerous Native American societies and groups across what became the • Read More »