| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Lavender Rose |
Posted - Jun 08 2013 : 4:39:02 PM
I'm sure someone has read this book. If you have, did you like it? I just got it from Goodwill for 25 cents and was wondering what others think of Willa Cather's books. I haven't read anything by her yet.
Brenda
Each day we add to our legacy--good or bad.
Our Daily Bread |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jul 06 2013 : 10:40:01 PM
Many people (my husband and I being among them) rank Willa Cather among the most important American authors, in the same league as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Faulkner, and even Mark Twain. I think it helps to appreciate her work more if you're familiar with her life story. More recent biographers have touched on aspects of this that were once considered off-limits. I know we read a good only fairly recently but I'm sorry, I can't remember the author.
Anyway, I can't help sharing one of my favorite passages from "My Antonia." It's out of content, of course, but that's okay. It's magical all by itself:
"Alone, I should never have found the garden—except, perhaps, for the big yellow pumpkins that lay about unprotected by their withering vines—and I felt very little interest in it when I got there. I wanted to walk straight on through the red grass and over the edge of the world, which could not be very far away. The light air about me told me that the world ended here: only the ground and sun and sky were left, and if one went a little farther there would be only sun and sky, and one would float off into them, like the tawny hawks which sailed over our heads making slow shadows on the grass. While grandmother took the pitchfork we found standing in one of the rows and dug potatoes, while I picked them up out of the soft brown earth and put them into the bag, I kept looking up at the hawks that were doing what I might so easily do." |
| carolj |
Posted - Jul 04 2013 : 11:13:27 AM
Willa Cather wrote a wonderful short story called "Neighbor Rosicky." I highly recommend it to every farm girl. As for My Antonia, I have not read it completely through. As part of a project for junior English last year, all of my students had to read 100 pages of a novel. The student who had this book said it was just "getting good" when that assignment was completed. I will try to pick this up again.
Keep reading,
Carol
Farmgirl 1823
Sow what you want to reap.
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| Lavender Rose |
Posted - Jul 04 2013 : 10:27:14 AM
Well I finished " My Antonia". Enjoyed it and found it realistic to other authors I have read. I did find some of the book seemed to go kind of slow, but that is great for relaxing. Wonderful word pictures. I have found that I like Catherine Cookson better though. She also writes about real life, set in the late 1800's and early 1900's. She doesn't sugar coat anything and writes what she knows.
Decided not to keep My Antonia. Will put in on to barter if anyone is interested.
Brenda |
| Bella |
Posted - Jun 26 2013 : 6:26:29 PM
You're probably right about required reading assignments. Plus, it was two decades ago when I read them and the memory tends to fade. Thanks for the laugh! I'd never heard that about pistachio nuts and I love them (the shelled kind, of course).
quote:
Originally posted by Rosemary
Karen, I think anything you HAVE TO read is depressing! That said, Cather's work is based on real life, sometimes harsh, sometimes breathtakingly beautiful. She was dedicated to telling the truth in her stories. Some people find that challenging, and it is. But then, so are pistachio nuts.
http://www.karencecilsmith.com/
"Just living is not enough, said the butterfly. One must have freedom, sunshine and a little flower." -Hans Christian Anderson |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jun 26 2013 : 5:22:56 PM
Karen, I think anything you HAVE TO read is depressing! That said, Cather's work is based on real life, sometimes harsh, sometimes breathtakingly beautiful. She was dedicated to telling the truth in her stories. Some people find that challenging, and it is. But then, so are pistachio nuts. |
| Bella |
Posted - Jun 26 2013 : 4:10:02 PM
I had to read Cather's books in college and, for some reason, I found them depressing. Could have been my state of mind at the time.
http://www.karencecilsmith.com/
"Just living is not enough, said the butterfly. One must have freedom, sunshine and a little flower." -Hans Christian Anderson |
| Lavender Rose |
Posted - Jun 13 2013 : 12:00:28 PM
To Everyone,
What wonderful comments. I will indeed look into the life of Willa Cather. Just started reading My Antonia. So far I'm really enjoying it.
Nubidane, How unexpected is that! Naming your hoe Antonia. How fun is that. I tend to name the wildlife that continues to come around, but have never thought of naming my garden tools. umm! Maybe it will be a new tradition around here.
Thanks for everyone's comments. They were all helpful.
Brenda
Each day we add to our legacy--good or bad.
Our Daily Bread |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Jun 11 2013 : 6:19:09 PM
Everything by Willa Cather is magnificent. You have a gem in your hands. Read it with relish! |
| patchworkpeace |
Posted - Jun 10 2013 : 04:49:27 AM
O Pioneers! is the only Cather book I have read, but am moving My Antonia up the list after reading everyone's favorable comments about it.
Judy
Success is measured not by the position one reaches but by the obstacles one has to overcome to reach it. Booker T. Washington
My blog, The Review-anista Reads http://friendsfunfabric.blogspot.com/ |
| nubidane |
Posted - Jun 09 2013 : 2:16:42 PM
Oh my goodness! Read my post in Garden Gate! (scroll down) What a coincidence!
http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=63588
I, too, loved that novel, & will read again for sure. A true love story
"We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” – R.R. |
| FebruaryViolet |
Posted - Jun 09 2013 : 11:41:00 AM
One of my all time favorite novels. I gave it to one of my mil's and she just couldn't get into it. I told her that the first time I read it, it took me a few tries, but after I made it past a certain point, I was hooked.
"Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile..."
The Only Living Boy in New York, Paul Simon |
| Penny Wise |
Posted - Jun 09 2013 : 11:13:58 AM
sounds wonderful!
Farmgirl # 2139
proud member of the Farmgirls of the Southwest Henhouse
~*~ counting my pennies; my dreams are adding up!~*~ |
| edlund33 |
Posted - Jun 09 2013 : 08:49:54 AM
I love Willa Cather and have read all of her books. My favorites were My Antonia and The Song of the Lark. I agree with Annie, read up about Cather as an author and it will give you perspective on her stories. It's a great book, enjoy!
Cheers! ~ Marilyn
Farm Girl No. 1100
http://blueskyanddaisies.blogspot.com
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| AnnieinIdaho |
Posted - Jun 08 2013 : 7:38:30 PM
Hi,
Willa Cather is one of my favorite authors. My Antonia is a great story. One of my favorite books by Willa Cather is The Song of the Lark. Look up Cather on the internet to get her life history and you will gain insight to her stories. This author was the main one we studied in a college literature course, and her stories are timeless.
Enjoy! Give the book a chance, as the reading is different from what we are used to. I like the descriptive writing.
Annie
"The turnings of life seldom show a sign-post; or rather, though the sign is always there, it is usually placed some distance back, like the notices that give warning of a bad hill or a level railway-crossing." Edith Wharton, 1913 from 'The Custom of the Country'. |
| prariehawk |
Posted - Jun 08 2013 : 6:23:57 PM
I read it in high school. Don't remember the plot, just that it was about life in Nebraska in the late 1890's--early twentieth century. I recall that I liked it, even though I don't remember a lot about it.
Cindy
"Vast floods can't quench love, no matter what love did/ Rivers can't drown love, no matter where love's hid"--Sinead O'Connor
"In many ways, you don't just live in the country, it lives inside you"--Ellen Eilers
Visit my blog at http://www.farmerinthebelle.blogspot.com/ |
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