to think that Amy March is one of the most irritating literary characters ever.

I'd forgotten about Jo's eventual writing career, which is recounted in Jo's Boys. But she only returns to writing as a money-making venture, not as the true passion she seemed to experience as a young girl. And her role at Plumfield in Little Men seems mostly to consist of moralising chats with the boys.

I maintain she would have had a much different, more independent, creative life if she had married Laurie or remained single.

I too was confused about India Rubber. In fact I still am.

Kings you know Elsie is the old word for Seal? I know the seal would have been the type used in letter writing but it's a double meaning too I thought.

I remember being very puzzled at what on earth India rubber was.

Now then the thing that confused me for YEARS in Katy was the valentines gift for Elsie - a seal with her name on it. A seal? A pet seal?

What about the bit when Jo takes Laurie outside and shows him the 'tableaux' in the windows - Dan as Othello telliing his exploits to Bess as Desdemona? I always thought that Bess was starting to fancy him then - and so did Laurie - the very next chapter he is coming up with that opportunity for Dan to take a job a very long way away!

King ah yes! Katy sitting up in bed and filling up the stockings! And in the morning the little tree in a pot left for her with black stars gummed onto the pot! That always got me for some reason!

Little Women has one of the most romantic scenes EVER in a book when Jo's Professor sees her head being turned by some clever unGodly types who make her head spin about creationism at a gathering and he steps in and argues them down....in an academic way that God DOES exist and Jo's faith is saved.

Yes I know I know...it just GETS me every time.

I find the Dan story quite believable, and I'm pretty sympathetic to Jo. There's no sign that Bess loves Dan back, or that they have a really strong relationship - really he just develops a massive crush on her because she's pretty and has been kind to him when he was ill, and because he hasn't met many other girls. I think a lot of parents even now would be concerned about their daughter marrying a man who had been in prison for manslaughter.

In contrast, Nat is pretty weak and it's obvious that Daisy could do better... but she really loves him, and so Jo supports their relationship and (as I recall) intercedes with Meg on his behalf.

HintofBream, yes - I read 7 Little Australians, too. Loved it as a child.

It does have one of the most tear-jerking endings ever, though. When Judy tells Meg she's frightened and doesn't want to die - so much more believable than those sweetly sad smiles of bravery from other heroines of the time.

I believe Jo March was modelled on Louisa herself, and the four sisters are Louisa's own.
Helen Burns was also modelled on the author's sister Maria, who died at their awful school.

Mmm. I think she kinda does tell him, really. She tells him 'if you can't have her, you can have her as a friend', as if it's a foregone conclusion.

I agree with remus that it's sad and I don't like Jo not giving him the chance. I like to think Amy would have said yes (mainly cos Dan is rather sexy, isn't he?).

No I know - but she condones that.

Jo does NOT tell Dan that he's not good enough for Bess - she tells him that Laurie and Amy will never accept it.

And yes - poor Daisy and Demi being taken off in their nightclothes to 'say goodbye to papa'....

Always loved Katy sitting up in bed to fill the little ones' stockings.

Oh and Dan is my v favourite 'boy' and I don't like Jo steering him away from Bess at all: that is the moment I lose my love for Jo - until then I think she remains entirely her own self.

Agree that ET is far too old but I love Kate Winslet as Marianne: in fact, I love Marianne full stop.

Magdalen in Collins' 'No Name' is my new favourite heroine. And if we're talking literary females who need a good slapping, Emma Bovary and Susan in Jude The Obscure are top of my list please.

I always wanted to be Meg. She doesn't seem to be anyone's favourite character though! She was always the one I could relate to.

Amy does tell Laurie off pretty severely for being a wuss and sighing around being a gentleman of leisure. She calls him Lazy Laurence and he's so impressed he goes off and makes something of himself. I still want Jo to marry him, though - although it is a highly unusual (and feminist) storyline for the girl to say kindly but firmly that she doesn't love the rich boy, without anyone else in sight.

And I beg to differ about Jo's future. She doesn't become a traditional hausfrau at all, she opens a progressive school for boys and then becomes a famous writer in later life.

What really annoys me is that everyone, including Jo, goes on about how Dan isn't good enough for Bess, and it is just accepted.

Ooooh.

OrangeFootedScrubfowl yes, and then one about Clover and Elsie and their families....

HintofBream, yes, I remember Seven Little Australians. Poor Judy (whose real name was Helen, oddly enough).

There is a whole book about Clover!? Why did nobody mention this before!?!

You can download them for free.

From memory so I may be wrong 'And on the bosom where she took her first breath, she quietly breathed her last'. Sob. Never could read it without crying. Was always mystified by Amy/Laurie, and by Jo marrying what appeared to be an old man to my teenage eyes.

mumof3men I'm doing that course at the moment and love it!

Physical books, no!

Yes you can, go to a blooming library!