#beth reads 2018

[theghostwrites]

Homoerotic sapphics or the "Friends-to-Lovers but something went terribly wrong along the way" cinematic universe.

[slytherinn-xo]

Swim Tryouts at 7:30- Danielle Van De Donk

Danielle Van De Donk X USWNT Player! Lyon Player! Reader

Synopsis: When Daan has football at 7:00 and swimming practice at 7:30, while at the world cup.

851 words

Being a US player that plays outside of the US is rare, like extremely rare, but being the only one to have never played in the NWSL, now that's rare. 

I was born in the USA, raised in Memphis Tennessee, but when I was 14, I moved away to Germany as that's my father's home country. When I spent the next three years before I started off my career in the German Women's top League.

I've played for four leagues, now, starting off my career in the German League with Bayern Munich in 2017 for just one season. Getting to play with the greats over there, learning so much from Frido, Sara Dabritz, Jill Roord, Leupolz, and Leah Galton.

Before I signed with Arsenal in 2018, for the next three seasons, until 2021. Where we won the WSL title once, in my first season.

Which was where I met Daan, I fell in love to say the least. But she was already in love, with Beth Mead, so I watched on from the side lines, like I was waiting to be subbed on now.

But she was my best friend, it was her, me, Viv and Jill when she finally came and joined us. The Dutchies and the American.

But they were my family.  

And then I moved to play for Barcelona for just one season after they won the Champions League in 2021 til 2022. Before I moved, and I got the chance to be with the girl I was in love with. 

Daan. 

So I joined in 2022, which was where we reconnected, and to say we both fell in love was the truth. We've been dating now for 10 months, and we do hide it, but we don't at the same time. 

We're private people but not a secret.

So facing here now in the group stages of the Women's World Cup, it was hard. 

But with less than 3 minutes to go of extra time was on the clock, and I turned back after the whistle was blown. 

I just saw an orange shirt on the floor. "Who is it?" I asked Lindsay, my Lyon teammate, as I couldn't read from that far away. Well that and I'm dyslexic and can barely read myself.  

"Daan." She muttered before I ran over to my girlfriend. I couldn't hide all of this, I was scared, my girlfriend is on the floor not bloody well moving. 

"Schatje." I told Daan standing by her as she was led on the floor not moving, crouching by her as I had my hand on her shoulder. 

"Poepie." Daan muttered back to me. 

"Not that name." I told her with a smile, that was one good sign she could still understand me and knew who we were around her. 

When the Dutch medics made their way over to Daan you saw the first showings of blood slowly coming out of her hair, but you had no idea how much there would be under there. 

I wasn't given a choice but to move away from her as the Dutch staff moved me out of their way, pushing me back away from my girlfriend. 

"No, stay!" Daan told me as she locked eyes with me, trying to reach her hands out to grasp onto me. 

"I'm right here." I told her as I kept eyes with her. 

I watched as they placed some gauze over her wound, before just placing a swimming cap over it. 

I laughed at her. 

"Not a word!" Daan told me, pointing that finger at me, wagging it at my face. 

"You look like you've got swimming practice in half an hour." I told her with a smile. 

"Oh shut up." Daan told me as she stood up. 

"Make me!" I told her walking away from her backwards as she was escorted of the pitch before she could return to play. 

~~

"Are you two doing okay, it looked rough on the pitch?" The interviewer switched to English seeing me walk up to Daan, and I stood a bit behind my small gal. 

"The best players are always the most competitive." I told the interviewer as I interrupted Daan's interview. 

"Best friends?" The interviewer asked us both, as my arm was around Daan's shoulders but Daan's was holding onto my waist. 

"The best." Daan answered like clockwork for us, squeezing my waist twice, doing our code, for when we wish we could say our feelings. 

"Go get that checked out properly." I told Daan raising one eyebrow up at her, as she nodded, looking deep into my eyes. 

"I will, ik houd van je." Daan told me, trying to politely kick me out of the interview. 

"Ik houd van je." I told her back quickly kissing her before walking off to Lindsay who was gasping at my actions, before I froze. 

"You didn't mean to do that?" Daan asked me. 

"No I didn't!" I said shaking my head, before running back to kiss Daan one last time before running away back to Lindsay as we were both bright red in the face now. 

[terriblepersongreatseamonster]

Writeblr Intro~

Hi, I'm Malia (she/her), but I publish under the pen name Beth Hope and post to AO3 as Mannaberry. I'm 39, a dog & cat mom, and live in Nebraska. I'm a nerdy musician who loves to craft.

I've written off and on since I was a kid, but didn't begin to write seriously until February 2022.

I just self-published my first novel, Healing Notes, a couple months ago. It's a demisexual romance novel that focuses on healing from past trauma and not letting the past control the future.

I currently have two non-fanfic WIPs that I'm hoping to have finished by the end of 2024. Both are demisexual romance novels. One is a friends-to-lovers and is a story about grief and unlearning harmful thought patterns regarding weight. The other is about getting a second chance at love and not letting fear control your life.

I write demisexual romance because I'm demisexual and needed more demi representation in romance.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2018, so it was a later in life diagnosis (which is not an unusual thing for women). I also deal with depression and anxiety. I grew up as a pastor's kid in evangelical churches in rural towns in both Illinois and Nebraska. These days I consider myself an exvangelical and am deconstructing from things I grew up being taught to believe. I say all this, because these are all things that tend to show up in my writing.

In my free time I volunteer as a reader for a place called Radio Talking Book Services. It's a radio station for people who are unable to read print material due to physical reasons.

I will reply to messages and/or emails (madebymannaberry@gmail.com). Though, sometimes my ADHD brain will lose track of time, and a reply might be slow to arrive.

I love writing fanfiction, and it has been a really healing thing in my life. I've made wonderful friends and learned so much from writing fanfic.

If you're a writer and follow me, I will follow back. I'd like to make more writing friends if possible.

Thanks for reading. Here's a pic of my dogs, Krypto and Muffin.

[lucawrites11]

russo and stanway vs. france (away)

stanway and russo are both 25, they came up through england youth at the same time but stanway joined up with england first in 2018 since beig consistently in the man city senior team since 2015 while alessia wasn't called up until 2020 while at the tar heels and then had a significant time out with injury, missing the olympics, until late 2021

furthermore, georgia plays as a central midfielder both defensively and in attacking motions but she preferred as a defensive midfielder for both club and country. this is a position that is historically difficult to fill whereas alessia as a striker faces a lot more competition for her place. for context, stanway is probably one of the top five defensive midfielders in the world with amandine henry, lena oberdorf and keira walsh alongside her. alessia russo doesn't go near the top ten yet and that's okay. strikers tend to hit their best a LOT later in their careers, the average age of the ea fc top ten strikers (best list i could think of) is 27.8 with the youngest sophia smith at 23. russo is undoubtedly england's best option though with so much room to improve and she's doing so every season

however, the biggest element of both alessia russo and georgia stanway's games is that they play their roles a little outside of the mould set for strikers and defensive midfielders

stanway loves to shoot especially from outside the box which is rare and she's also a lot faster that the average defensive midfielder. keira plays as a classic defensive midfielder. so far in the liga f season, she's averaged 0.05 goals per game (one) and stanway has managed 0.29 goals per game. if this is brought up to goal involvements (goals and registered assists), stanway still take the lead with 0.48 per game while keira has just 0.23

THIS IS NOT BAD. it's just showcasing that georgia stanway has an exceptional ability to shoot and score that is not often seen in a defensive midfielder. this also comes with an insane speed, an insane penalty and an insane ability to pick a pass and send a long ball over heads going forward whereas keira walsh prefers a pass cutting through the midfield across the floor. she has insane vision to pick out players (it's why they are SO good on the pitch together for england because their play styles compliment each other)

stanway plays with her sights set on going forward, another rare quality in a defensive midfielder that normally prefers to press, win the ball, keep the ball and then give it to someone else to take it forward with quite a few passes. walsh does this and it's why she fits perfectly into the barcelona set up of tiki-taka football which is a style of play where there are a lot of passes in a game to get the ball forward and keep the ball and make the oppositiona chase them and get exhausted while they do very little (however this play style is incredibly difficult and relies on insanely talented players)

having this attacking-minded defensive midfielder gives a fresh dimension to england and bayern munich's play. it allows for goals to come from not just long balls over the top that traditionally come from centre-backs and goalkeepers (leah williamson and hannah hampton are both reknown for their balls over the top - leah's created that goal for beth in her first game back v reading if anyone wants an image of what i mean when i say long balls over the top) and give england a lot more creativity in how they create chances through the midfield

however, this is only possible if stanway has those touches on the ball to create chances and both she and keira were marked out of the game in the home leg against france and failed to get themselves into space. in the next leg, keira and georgia both improved and found themselves in space and this allowed their play styles to thrive in creating chances particularly down the left with lauren hemp. a change in alessia russo, ensured these chances weren't wasted

as i said above, alessia doesn't play like your classic number nine striker. to think classic number nine, think sam kerr, alex morgan, ada hegerberg. especially sam kerr, they stay in the box, typically good at headers, strong at short passes, decent pace and then all the classics hallmarks of striker: decent pen, good volley, good finishing, power behind their shots, the ability to do a decent long shot and often a really good dribble too with a lot of control where alessia lacks is occasionally her finishing, it's good but she'll miss a sitter and then score an impossible goal pretty often

however, alessia is more than just a striker. the best part of her play and the thing that sets her apart is her hold up play. hold up is when she gets the ball, dribbles, holds on to it against defenders and waits for support and then passes the ball out wide. if you watch arsenal or england you see it a lot, often the ball goes to whoever is in the 10 and those on the wings then she gets in the box. meanwhile, someone like sam kerr or stina blackstinieus are just waiting in the box. alessia goes and gets the ball, holds it up, creates the chances and then gets in the box but this delay getting into the box often means a chance is missed. ideally, when she lays off that ball, she needs someone else in the box

and you can't just lose that chance creation from alessia russo, it was there in the build up to both goals even if she's just acting as an extra player in midifeld, pulling a centreback out of position and allowing another player to get into the box or on the ball unmarked. her vision and that movement is crucial to getting past good centrebacks like renard and lakrar last night. she can create a chance from nothing and england need that in the big games. however, it's not the easiest striker to play with and sarina failed to coach the midfield and wingers how to play with her in the last game or they just forgot. whatever it was, alessia russo is the focal point of that attack and the style needs to adapt to her and not the other way around. if england wanted a traditional striker, they are available, sarina can put them in but she wants russo's play style so the team has to work with it

the other facet of alessia's game that is insane and you need to watch closely is her first touch. this isn't relevant to last night but just go watch her score goals. she has an insane first touch that brings the ball away from the defense often requiring her to turn her body insanely fast and then chases after the ball either dribbling and creating a chance or just shooting and it's BEAUTIFUL (srsly watch her goal complimations and her first touches)

back to her dropping into the midfield to create chances, the combination of her and stanway in the forward-mindedly midfield linking up well with the wingers, especially lauren hemp, to create chances and score goals in a way they just weren't against france in the home leg

lauren hemp was also crucial to this but she plays her game as the perfect left winger and it's not so fun to analyse, but it was the link-up of these three that made the game and it's a link-up that hasn't had the time to develop and build. the bayern, man city and arsenal tactical systems are all different so coming into england they need to adjust fast to very different players. hemp is used to playing with that direct nine in bunny shaw and stanway is more accustomed to the similar directness of harder and schüller

stanway and russo grew up playing together but russo played a different role back then and was only move into the nine in university. russo links up well with mead and toone having been with them at arsenal/united and with more practice, hopefully over this summer, that whole frontline should develop into a well-oiled machine that it hasn't been given the chance to become with injuries and such a packed schedule

this was so long and a wall of text was overwhelming so i put the pics in to break it up, thought i'd end with a classic of them as babies

[the-forest-library]

October 2023 Reads

Time to Shine - Rachel Reid

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh - Rachael Lippincott

Jane & Edward - Melodie Edwards

10 Things That Never Happened - Alexis Hall

The Wake-Up Call - Beth O'Leary

Something Fabulous - Alexis Hall

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date - Ashley Herring Blake

Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross

You, Again - Kate Goldbeck

Stars in Your Eyes - Kacen Callender

Icebreaker - A.L. Graziadei

Thin Air - Kellie M. Parker

Lock Every Door - Riley Sager

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty

Are You Listening? - Tillie Walden

I Must Be Dreaming - Roz Chast

The Best of the Rejection Collection - Matthew Differ

Why Cats are Assholes - Liz Miele

Some Very Interesting Cats Perhaps You Weren't Aware Of - Doogie Horner

In the Form of a Question - Amy Schneider

Pageboy - Elliot Page

Leslie F*cking Jones - Leslie Jones

Soul Boom - Rainn Wilson

You're Gonna Die Alone - Devrie Donalson

The Other Family Doctor - Karen Fine

Misfit - Gary Gulman

Wordslut - Amanda Montell

Unruly - David Mitchell

Poverty by America - Matthew Desmond

Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean - Christopher Kimball

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts: 

Bit of a lackluster month with few standouts and several disappointments.

Goodreads Goal: 354/400 

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads| 

2022 Reads | 2023 Reads

[autisticwizardwritings]

Hiiii!!

I'm Leo, or Leon. This is my first account on here for writing, so I thought I'd do an introduction since I see everyone else doing them!!

I'm new to writing for characters that aren't just my own, but I do have some (keyword: SOME) experience with fanfiction and such! My pronouns are he/they, and I'm a transmasc minor.

I think I'm mainly going to upload oneshots and headcanons for Total Drama (I've seen up to All Stars so far, but I'll update this anytime I finish another season!) but I'll also write for a few other things if requested :] (all fics will be gender neutral unless gender is specified.)

Things I WILL write:

Total Drama (seasons 1-5)

Ninja Turtles (2012 or 2018, but I'm better at 2018.)

FNaF? Maybe? Depends on what it's about, I guess.

Gravity Falls

Lego Ninjago

In Space With Markiplier, and all his series like that.

Jacksepticeye egos!!! I might need a little time to get back into it but I'll write some if requested!

Maybe some character x character? Depends on who and what, but I'm willing to give it a shot!

Character x reader (both platonic and romantic)

General character headcanons

Fluffy fluffy fluffy!!! I LOVE fluff. It's so much fun to write

Comfort! Both ways! (but I'm better at reader being comforted)

Probably more stuff I can't think of right now.

Stuff I WON'T write. No exceptions.

Any sort of smut. lemon, lime, whatever it's called. Absolutely not.

No suicide. Bothers me quite a bit. A self-harm comfort/recovery fic? Maybe, depending on how strong it is, but no suicide. Especially if it's like. romanticized. Get out and never come back if you do that with something like that. What the fuck is wrong with you. (I have in fact seen people do that.)

Just.. nothing gross, y'know? Nothing illegal. "Basic DNI criteria stuff", some call it.

No abuse??????? I've seen multiple people ask others for that on other websites and I just. Why would you want to read about yourself or someone else in that situation..? I don't get it.

No pedophilia, incest, or anything of the sort. That much should be obvious.

Um. I can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'll add more if I remember.

Characters I'll (try) writing for:

(feel free to request characters that aren't on this list, this is just here to show who I understand more and will be able to write for better.)

Total Drama:

Basically all the Total Drama cast, but I'll probably be best at:

Mike and any of his alters <3

Dawn

Lindsay

Blaineley

Katie

Noah

Cody

Beth

Brick

mmaybee Courtney or Gwen? Still trying to understand their personalities more.

Gravity Falls:

Dipper

Stanford

Mable

Wendy

Lego Ninjago:

Jay

Zane

Morro

Cole

Kai

Nya

Lloyd

Any fandoms I didn't specify in this list means that I'm willing to try and write for any of the characters. You can request characters that aren't on this list, but these are just the ones I'll be better at. <3

[princesssarisa]

Thinking again about one aspect of "Little Women"

I've posted about this before, but that was long ago, so I'll do it again.

I've been briefly looking over the various modernized adaptations of Little Women: the 2018 film, the two web series The March Family Letters and The Attic, the graphic novels Jo and Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, and the middle grade novel More to the Story.

Of course, all these modernized adaptations change Beth's illness, since scarlet fever is now easily cured with antibiotics. The 2018 film, the two graphic novels, and More to the Story all give her cancer instead, while in The March Family Letters she has anemia, and in The Attic she was born with a heart condition.

All these changes leave out some important aspects of the original Beth's scarlet fever:

(1) It could have been prevented.

(2) She contracts it from the children of a poor single immigrant mother, who didn't seek medical attention because she couldn't afford to. So there's social commentary in it.

(3) In a case of tragic irony, it's Beth's kindness that causes her illness, because she contracts it while caring for a family in need, whom the other sisters don't bother to visit while Marmee is away.

(4) It's framed as being partly Meg and Jo's fault. They had scarlet fever as children, so they're immune. If they had been the ones to visit the Hummels instead of Beth (which they probably should have anyway, as the two eldest – it shouldn't have been their little 14-year-old sister's job), she would have been safe. So her illness teaches them the ultimate lesson in responsibility.

So is there a way to modernize it that doesn't lose those aspects?

In an especially modern setting (that is, within the last three years), Beth could catch COVID-19 from the Hummels. Meg and Jo could have already had mild cases and recovered, or already be vaccinated while Beth isn't yet. Then Beth could have long COVID.

But that wouldn't be a perfect fit. In the first place, having COVID once doesn't grant permanent immunity, nor do vaccines grant full immunity, so it still would be a risk to Meg and Jo too. Secondly, it would be kind but also very irresponsible of Beth to expose herself to COVID that way, and even worse of Meg and Jo to let her do it. At least in the original Little Women, there's no pandemic of scarlet fever going on, and neither Beth nor the others realize that the Hummels' sickness is scarlet fever and not just a commonplace sore throat until the baby dies.

Maybe another alternative could be to omit any sickness. Beth just goes to babysit the Hummel children because their mother has to work long hours. She asks Meg and Jo to do it, but they make excuses out of laziness. While she's there, the baby crawls into the street and is almost hit by a car; Beth runs out to save him and is hit by the car instead and permanently paralyzed.

But maybe that would be too melodramatic.

Maybe it's not really so bad to substitute cancer, anemia, or a congenital heart defect for the scarlet fever and to leave out the aspects described above.

In the first place, while the social commentary about disease and poverty is valuable, the fact that it's mainly used to get Beth sick has unfortunate implications: i.e. "Save the lives of the very poor, or those of us in middle-class genteel poverty could catch their diseases too."

Secondly, the tragic irony that Beth is doomed by her kindness might be a bit too much 19th century sentimentality and melodrama for a modern setting. It's also led to some terrible commentary about Beth. "She's too selfless and self-effacing to survive," "This shows that domesticity and nurturing destroy women's lives," etc.

Third, personally, I've always disliked the fact that it's framed as Meg and Jo's fault for not going to the Hummels instead. To me, that feels so heavy-handedly preachy, and too terrible a burden of guilt to put on Meg and Jo for the rest of their lives just for teenage laziness. As far as I've read, it doesn't reflect real life either: Elizabeth Alcott caught scarlet fever while caring for the poor with May (Amy) and their mother, not alone. Anna and Louisa were adults by then, not teenagers, and I've never read any suggestion that they could have gone instead but refused. Louisa presumably just rewrote the situation as "moral pap" for child readers.

Maybe in a modern retelling, for readers or viewers who want less sentimentality than they did in the 19th century and who don't want to be preached to as much, it's better to give Beth a disease that's purely a whim of fate.

@littlewomenpodcast, @thatscarletflycatcher

[gacmediadaily]

Great American Family is taking on the March family story.

“A Little Women’s Christmas,” the network’s first ensemble Christmas movie, is a contemporary retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1868 novel, starring Jillian Murray as Jo March, Trevor Donovan as Friedrich “Fritz” Baehr, Laura Osnes as Beth March, Jen Lilley as Meg March, Jesse Hutch as John Brooke and Julia Reilly as Amy March. Gladys Knight also stars and will perform her new original Christmas song, “Joy.”

The movie will air during the fourth annual “Great American Christmas.” Previously announced other titles for their 2024 holiday slate include “Aurora Christmas,” “A Christmas Less Traveled,” “Love at the Kettle,” “My Grown-Up Christmas Wish,” “A Royal Christmas Ball” and “A Vintage Christmas.”

“‘A Little Women’s Christmas’ is a new Christmas classic in the making, with an incredible ensemble cast and an adaptation of an original story that is one of the best I have read,” says Great American Media president and CEO Bill Abbott. “Louisa May Alcott was intentional about focusing on the culture of young women, their hopes, ambitions, and dreams, and it remains one of the most widely read and beloved stories ever written.”

The film, directed by Brandon Clark, is written by Dione Sheehan and Taylor Bird. Executive Producers include Hutch, Knight, Clark, Brian Bird, Tai Truesdell, Darin Chavez, Brian Williams, Charly White, Lori Overholt, William McDowell and Joyce Miller Roy. “A Little Women’s Christmas” is produced by Rodney Eldredge, True Brand Entertainment, Third Coast Film and Empress of Soul Productions.

“Little Women” has been frequently adapted for both stage and screen. In 1933, Katharine Hepburn led the first sound adaptation of the film, followed by the first color adaptation with Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh in 1949, which landed two Academy Award nominations and one win. In 1994, Gillian Armstrong directed a large ensemble led by Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Susan Sarandon, Christian Bale and others, which landed three Oscar nominationss. In 2017 (and 2018 in the U.S.), the BBC and PBS’ Masterpiece turned Alcott’s novel into a TV series, led by Maya Hawke as Jo. Then, in 2019, Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” became a box-office sensation, and was nominated for six Academy Awards.

[softpine]

Hi! I’ve been following you for probably 3 years? I never read your story in full because I felt like I was already so far behind when I tried reading it the first time. I know the very beginning is very gameplay-esque I was wondering where I should start so I understand the lore and story properly? I don’t want to miss anything! I am always so amazed at the way you edit your story posts and the writing! So I really want to deep dive and finally read everything 😭 sorry it took me this long!! Writing this on anon cus I’m shy and a little embarrassed tbh ><

hey!! don't be embarrassed, i'm not judging in the slightest. i'm more aware than anyone else how crazyy long my story is. but sadly there's not a great place to start reading without missing things :( but here's a summary of the main plot points that become relevant later on:

rosie camellia (right) is a college student from brindleton bay, studying archaeology abroad in selvadorada. she meets isa delavina (left), an author and the great-granddaughter of madre cosecha, the scientist who founded selvadorada. she ends up showing rosie the hidden temple, they fall in love, start dating, move in together, etc.

now stick with me. rosie has 4 younger brothers, both are pairs of twins. michael and jack were teenagers at the time, but owen and isaac were very young toddlers. anyway, so michael shows up in selvadorada and breaks the news that their moms, genevieve (left) and reece (right), were in a car accident and both of them are dying. rosie rushes back home, leaving isa behind.

gen and reece die. [you'll see them as ghosts much later on.] rosie gets custody of all 4 brothers. isa moves to brindleton bay to support rosie and they eventually get married. michael & jack go away to college. owen (right) & isaac (left) were so young that they consider rosie and isa their moms, which is how they will always view them going forward. [the only brother who is really important is owen, because he will be stevie's dad.]

using IVF, isa becomes pregnant with caroline. while she's pregnant, her old friend from selvadorada, eva vasquez, shows up with a baby of her own, beth!!! 💖

as it turns out, eva had to escape an abusive relationship with beth's father, so she turned to isa and rosie for help. she eventually moves in next door. beth (right) loves to play with owen and isaac, and when caroline (left) is born, they become the best of friends immediately.

the last thing you need to know is about caroline. she'll become the main character so she's super important. the day she's born, we get our first bit of true plot in the form of a letter from isa. it's a recounting of caroline's birth written in the future. she talks about why they named her caroline (after the song sweet caroline started playing on the radio), about how the huge storm subsided as soon as she was born, and finally, she writes: "We miss you, we love you, and we need you to come home. Please, please come home, Caroline." so caroline's entire childhood and teen years are clouded by the knowledge that at some point in the future, she will lose contact with her family, though we don't know how or why or when.

now you can start reading from around this point, although there's still plenty of cringe left before i really hit my stride 😭 i'm sorry, it's just the nature of working on the same story since 2018 and learning as i go. i hope if you decide to give it a shot, you'll be able to find some value in it :')

[joyful-patient-faithful]

Little Women Ranked

One of my favorite books of all time is Little Women. Last fall I watched and read everything related to the series. Here's a simple ranking of all of that.

The Book (obviously)

Whether you consider the book just Little Women or with Good Wives, there is no deny this is the absolute best version of the story.

2. Little Women (1978)

This is, in my opinion, the best adaptation of the novel. The characters felt real and accurate and it was just a delight. It had so much heart. Also I am a Greer Garson as Aunt March stan. William Shatner did his absolute best at Fritz. I just adore this version. I will say that I am a sucker for tv movies though.

3. Little Women (2017)

I love this version. In accuracy, it's not always the best (especially character wise) and the third episode feels very rushed at times, but I still love it. I'm absolutely obsessed with Meg and John in this version. Meg and Beth are my profile picture lol. I just really enjoy this version.

4. Little Women (1994)

In terms of movies, this one is the best. This is the one I recommend to everyone and despite my (minimal) issues with it, I still watch it all the time. It's just so lovely. Also this one just has a more distinctly Christmas feel than any of the others.

5. Little Women (1933)

While not my favorite, I still enjoyed watching this version. Katherine Hepburn played a great Jo and I would love to watch this again sometime.

6. Little Women (1949)

This has the same script as the 1933 version, however, I am not a fan of a few small changes made, such as Beth being younger than Amy. June Allyson is not my favorite Jo, which also lowers this one slightly. Margaret O'Brien played an amazing Beth and was definitely the best thing about this version. I also just recently listened to the Lux Radio Theater adaptation of this movie and it just solidified my opinions of this being a mid adaptation.

7. Little Women (2019)

The Most controversial version on this list, I cannot say that I enjoy it. It makes so many changes from the novel, that it honestly makes me mad. However, this one places so high on the list do to it's watchability. Every other entry under this one I would never watch a second time. This one at least has the benefit of being high quality. Plus all my friends love this one (none of them have ever read the book and it makes me sad), so if I try hard enough I can separate this version from the book and at least watch a decent movie (although it is hard).

8. Little Women (1970)

I wanted to like this version, I really did, it was so extremely book accurate, but it was also really boring. This does have the most book accurate portrayal of Laurie in my opinion, though.

9. Little Women (2018)

This just overall was not that good. Jo was very mean and aggressive and Laurie was kind of creepy, in my opinion. I also disliked that this was made by a Christian company and did not include any of the Christian themes and statements made throughout the novel.

10. Little Women Meg's Story and Jo's Story

This two parter was hard to watch. It made it so love story heavy, and was also just not good quality or fun to watch. Everything was so rushed. I did like the focus on Meg and John in the first part though. I also enjoyed the random 1950 commercials throughout the version on youtube.

11. The March Sisters at Christmastime

This was just bad. Nothing really redeemable about it. It was a very hard watch.

Bonus:

These were some adaptations that I watched, but find hard to rank, due to them not being movies or tv shows.

Little Women (1958) Soundtrack

This is the soundtrack for the the 1958 CBS tv musical, which is not technically lost media, but is not available to the general public. The first half of the soundtrack is songs from the special, and the second half is covers of some other songs from musicals or were popular at the time. The songs are quite fun, but what I hear from reports of what happens in the special, it is not accurate to the novel at all.

Little Women (2005) musical

I am not really a fan of Sutton Foster, nor am I a fan of this musical. It is a classic case of not understanding Jo March, her writing, and her relationship with Professor Bhaer.

Little Women Ballet

This was fun to watch. I don't know much about ballet, so I cannot really judge it. If I remember correctly, this is just an adaptation of the first half of the novel.

Tales of Little Women

Little Women (1981)

These are both anime adaptations of the novel. I only watched the first episode of each, and from what I know they kind of make up plot lines. I enjoyed them for what they were, but I will probably not watch them again.

I unfortunately did not watch the Little Women Opera or the March Family Letters as Operas and vlog series are not really my thing, but maybe I will get around to them.

Anyway, this concludes my ranking of Little Women. If you see this please let me know your thoughts on any of these adaptations.

[eponymous-rose]

Got tagged by both @jadesabre301 and @bettydice so the peer pressure is strong! I will be lazy and tag anyone who'd like to do it because I definitely treat this sort of thing as a list of recommendations and I would love to cast as wide a net as possible.

Last song: The Algorithm popped up with The Beths recently (never heard of them before) and they've really been hitting the spot for those catchy, cheerful indie summertime roadtrip vibes I was craving while doing allll the chores that come with moving. The most recent one I listened to is Head In The Clouds.

Currently watching: Catching up on Critical Role (perpetually 3-4 episodes behind but having a good time!), and now @loquaciousquark has me watching Queen and I and it's been a ton of fun and also reminds me there's a weather-themed K-drama I have to watch at some point.

Currently reading: I have been a very slow but very consistent reader the last couple months - working through the third Temeraire novel, dabbling in a little Cosmere, and deeply regretting packing all my books already because I had a bunch more I was partway through and was looking forward to continuing. I'm also reading the Master and Commander books on my dad's recommendation, and it's been really fun comparing notes with him! I'm also also back to writing a major review article at work, so I'm reading a bunch of severe weather reference books from the 50s through the 80s that I found in hardcopy at the library. There is some wild stuff in there.

Currently playing: I don't think there was a section for this but whatever. I'm playing God of War (the 2018 one) on stream and finally getting around to Breath of the Wild in my spare time.

Current obsession: Look, I'm not saying I fell face-first into nostalgia and fully got sucked back into collecting Pokemon cards a couple years ago, but I'm sure not not saying that. They got so pretty while I was away and now I can actually afford them... Plus they allow me to indulge my love for organizing things and making spreadsheets. Ahhh. So good.

[rarijackistheshit]

I did a thing!

A reluctant Catra/Glimmer romance! Because we all love Catra "It's complicated, okay" D'riluth and Glimmer "Don’t get in the way between me and an ice-cream" Moon.

Inspired by Future me hates me by the beths.

Go on - READ IT!

[joandfriedrich]

Hi! I was wondering what’s your top 3 favorite Jo and Friedrich moments?

Only 3? Hmm, that's tricky, I am going to have to break it down from book to adaptations. Let me just say it right now, the best scene ever regarding these two is the Under the Umbrella, that is just a given, (one day I'll rank the best Under the Umbrella scene on screen) but let's look at some other moments that deserve love.

Book:

3: Sometime after Beth's death, Jo finds an old note that Friedrich wrote that reads "Wait for me, my friend. I may be a little late, but I shall surely come." And the narration shares that the original meaning has changed into something more tender, and her wishing that he would be here. Chapter 42, “All Alone”

2: After coming to Concord and meeting Jo's family, Friedrich returns to his room, pulls out a picture of Jo and kissed it, and the narration saying how if Jo saw this moment, her doubts of whether Friedrich loved her back would be squashed. Chapter 43 “Surprises”

1: Jo defending Friedrich from Laurie's dashing, calling him old, and her, at first confused since she doesn't consider him old and thought he was speaking of Mr. Laurence, calls Friedrich her best friend next to Laurie, and warns him not to "abuse my professor" (not the professor, but my professor). The early signs of her feelings were so clear there, even Laurie saw it before she did. Chapter 35 "Heartache"

Adaptations:

3: 2017 miniseries has a small but really sweet moment. When Jo is returning home, Friedrich sneaks into Jo's hands violets, which is a moment in the book, but it just says "she began her solitary journey with a pleasant memory of a familiar face smiling its farewell, a bunch of violets to keep her company", it didn't specify if it was Friedrich that gave them to her, so I like they made it clear. Bonus: according to the Victorian flower language, violets mean "faithfulness".

2: Utterly underrated is the 2018 modern day film, and it is a gold mine for Jo and Friedrich shippers, but one that I enjoy greatly, and it is their version of the Under the Umbrella scene (I know, I am cheating), but what makes me need to mention it here is that it's different from the book in the best way possible. Freddy visits her home after receiving her draft, and he gets to see the attic that defined her childhood. It's intimate, tender and romantic, with wonderful acting and chemistry from their actors.

1: The opera scene in the 1994 film. This was the best idea of an addition I have ever seen, and it really shows just how it could be that she would fall for Friedrich, and the brilliant acting and chemistry between Winona Ryder and Gabriel Byrne really seals the deal. If you watched this scene and didn't swoon, then I truly think there is something wrong with you.

Thank you for this ask, it was fun!

[bestbuddybobby]

okay hi, I finally got around to making a 911/criminal minds/a-place-to-dump-my-favorite-ships blog, because I didn't want to change my other blog (@givemeyourhopeandlove). It has over 8,000 posts and I started that blog when I was a baby so it didn't feel right to rebrand it.

Making this blog means I can finally reblog bathena (my beloved) and maybe get some mutuals. Who knows?

First let me do this tag I got a few days ago:

tag people you want to catch up with and get to know better

tagged by: @lavoixhumaine

last song: Born to be alive by Bea and her Business

last movie: Ratatouille (2007) (I feel like I have to explain this, but it is my favorite Disney movie and it was in the theaters again due to Disney's 100th anniversary and my friend asked me to go with her, so yeah. It was really fun to see it in a theater.)

currently reading: How to come alive again by Beth McColl

currently watching: 911 (2018, this is my fourth or fifth rewatch since end of May, but who is really counting?) - i really need a new series to watch

current obsession: bathena / angela bassett / hotchniss (the last one came back after reading a wonderful fic from @sequinsmile-x on ao3 this week)

[blogger360ncislarules]

Before Young Sheldon signs off this spring, the future theoretical physicist will reunite with a familiar character from seasons’ past.

“Tam is going to be back,” executive producer Steve Holland reveals to TVLine.

Ryan Phuong, now 22, was just 15 years old when he was introduced as Sheldon’s childhood bestie in Season 1, Episode 2 of the Big Bang Theory prequel series. Tam went on to make 29 additional appearances through Season 4, and was last seen nearly three years ago, in an episode that aired in April 2021.

Tam was the first character created for Young Sheldon to cross over to Big Bang. His adult counterpart (played by Survivor’s Remorse actor Robert Wu) made an appearance in a Season 12 episode that revealed why Tam eventually earned himself a spot on Sheldon’s infamous enemies list:

“When I got accepted to grad school at Caltech, I was afraid to move so far away from home, so Tam said he’d move out here with me and be my roommate,” Sheldon explained to Amy. “Then over the summer, he got a girlfriend… even after reading all the pamphlets I gave him about social diseases. Anyway, Tam stayed with her in Texas and I had to move out here all by myself. It was [scary]. I was lonely. I thought I’d never make a friend again — and for a long time, I didn’t.” (Per Big Bang lore, Sheldon moves to Pasadena in 1994 and doesn’t befriend Leonard Hofstadter until 2003.)

That same episode revealed what became of Tam: He married his girlfriend Beth and together they had “amazing children,” including at least one son who was considering attending Caltech when Tam and Sheldon were reunited in 2018.

Asked if Tam’s return to Young Sheldon in the offshoot’s seventh and final season will be informed by what we learned on Big Bang, Holland tells TVLine, “I think there will be a nod to that.”

Young Sheldon currently airs Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS. Its 14-episode farewell run will conclude with a one-hour series finale on May 16. An airdate for Tam’s return has not yet been revealed.

[the-forest-library]

December 2023 Reads

The Witchwood Knot - Olivia Atwater

A Holiday by Gaslight - Mimi Matthews

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

The Good Part - Sophie Cousins

Faking Christmas - Kerry Winfrey

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love - Lex Croucher

Every Time You Go Away - Abigail Johnson

Second Chances in New Port Stephen - T.J. Alexander

The Spectacular - Fiona Davis

Below Zero - Ali Hazelwood

Happiness Falls - Angie Kim

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank - Elle Cosimano

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson

How to Find a Missing Girl - Victoria Wlosok

What Lies in the Woods - Kate Alice Marshall

Thinking of You - Beth Evans

Seance Tea Party - Reimena Yee

I am Superman - Brad Meltzer

Making It So - Patrick Stewart

Happy People Are Annoying - Josh Peck

Gentle Chaos - Tyler Gaca

The Comfort of Crows - Margaret Renkl

Laid and Confused - Maria Yagoda

Butts - Heather Radke

Imposter No More - Jill A. Stoddard

A Life in Light - Mary Pipher

What the F - Benjamin K. Bergen

Seek - Scott Shigeoka

Nobody's Fool - Daniel Simons

Call You When I Land - Nikki Vargas

When the Game Was War - Rich Cohen

Mostly Veggies - Brittany Mullins

One-Pot Magic - Good Housekeeping

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts: 

If you liked Olivia Atwater's Regency Faerie Tales, definitely give The Witchwood Knot a try. It had a lot of the same magic.

When the Game Was War filled the void left by Winning Time. These tales of the magic of 80s basketball align with the one time in my life I had interest in the sport. It has been fun revisiting that time, and WTGWW provided a nice deep dive into elements and players that Winning Time was unable to explore in its short run.

Goodreads Goal: 432/400 

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads | 

2022 Reads | 2023 Reads