APOLOGIES:
In the middle of the night, our power went out unexpectedly. It has only just returned, so I can now upload the diary. My HUGE apologies to avarir and to all of you for not being on time today, and my appreciation for your patience.
Red-faced and penitent,
Heather
So many books have changed my life. My dad was a writer, so words and books were very important to him. My mom ended as a pre-school teacher for ten years, so the same as true for her. When I was a baby, I had colic, so my dad would put me in my crib and walk for hours back and forth reading poetry. From that, I got a love of the spoken word and hearing something read out loud. I still read everything I write in terms of letters or essays or blog posts out loud. The sneakiest thing my parents did was to set my bedtime, and that of my brother, for a certain time, but half an hour later if we were reading. Of course, every child wants a later bedtime, so it gave us a real love of reading. As Mom says, she taught her children that decorating is figuring out where to put the next bookcase.
However, there was a problem: I had a lazy eye, which meant it wouldn't always focus with the other one. A lazy eye is where the muscles in the socket of the eye aren't tight enough to make the lazy eye focus properly with the good eye. The doctors tried putting patches on my good eye, to strengthen the bad eye by making it work harder, but that didn't work, so when I was nine it was operated on. It took what I remember as months for the lazy eye to focus with the good eye all the time. It got better every day, but was prone to be a problem when I was tired especially. So Mom decided that while my dad read to my brother before bed, because he was six and still learning to read complicated books, she would also read to me while my eye healed.
The book she chose was Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. You've probably heard of it, and may have read it. It's a decidedly American book, about four sister, the Marches, and their mother during the American Civil War. Meg, the oldest, has the calm, maternal demeanor of their mother. Beth, the second youngest, is extremely shy, not in good health, and plays the piano. Amy, the youngest, is high strung, artistic, and very cognisant that they are poor, desperately wanting to be rich. The centre of the novel is Jo, the second daughter, who dreams of a bigger life. She is a writer, often writing plays and pulling her sisters in to act them out, complete with costumes and sets. Their mother, whom they call Marmee, dispenses wise advice, helps out those in the community less fortunate than they are, and expects her daughters to also help them out. Their father is away fighting in the Civil War. Next to the Marches lived a wealthy family, Mr. Lawrence and his grandson, Laurie, who is just the right age for the very eligible girls. Aunt March is the thorn in Jo's side. Aunt March is wealthy, and Jo works for her as a companion, but their personalities are like oil and water.
I think the thing that captured me was the language, how the words sounded in my mother's voice, and how the family stuck together and ultimately helped and supported each other through everything they were going through.
There have been several movie adaptations of this classic novel, most recently in 1994, with Winona Ryder and Susan Saradon, but the one which has my heart is the June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret O'Brien version, from 1949, because each actress really does fit the part, and because, unlike the 1994 version, it does follow the book closely.
Reading to children is so important. If you have children in your life, please, read to them; it will change their life.
With gratitude,
Hugs,
Heather