Willa Cather- American Author Challenge

"Willa Sibert Cather- ( December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours (1922), a novel set during World War I. Cather grew up in Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska. She lived and worked in Pittsburgh for ten years, then at the age of 33 she moved to New York, where she lived for the rest of her life."

**This is part of our American Author Challenge 2014. The general discussion thread can be found right here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/162960

My only experience with Willa Cather, is reading My Antonia, about ten years ago. Of course, I've been meaning to return to her ever since. Other books always seem to get in the way.
I will be reading Death Comes for the Archbishop this January and I hope to read at least one more sometime during the year.

I am also reading Death Comes for the Archbishop, borrowed from a friend. I'll probably start reading it in a few days. I'm pretty sure I also have a copy of My Antonia on my shelves ... somewhere.

I am also reading Death COmes for the Archbishop, but I have to wait for the library to get it to me. It is "in transit". Hopefully, I'll get my hands on it this month.

I'll be reading My Antonia this month. It will be my third Cather. I read Song of the Lark and listened to the audio of O Pioneers 3 or 4 years ago.

I have Death Comes for the Archbishop in transit from the library too.

I'm going to be reading Song of the Lark. I've read My Antonia and O Pioneers!, both a long time ago.

I just read My Antonia and loved it. Her writing is so concise, yet descriptive and rhythmic.

I've read O Pioneers! which I really enjoyed, oh, about half a dozen years ago. Her books are not so readily available here but I have three or four on the shelves and will be reading My Antonia this month.

Love, love, love Death Comes for the Archbishop. It was my first Cather and my favorite. I read O Pioneers! a few years ago, and 2013 was a good Cather year with My Antonia and The Song of the Lark. I feel like I may have a copy of Shadows on the Rock buried around here somewhere, so I'll try to see if I can dig it out.

I have a very old, cloth covered edition of My Antonia, my main AAC read for January. I have a similar edition of The Song of the Lark, which I'll read if I have time this month. I'm going to have to try to find images of these editions, from the internet, to upload. So far, no success.

>10 AMQS:: I agree, Anne, with your love, love, love of Death Comes for the Archbishop. I'm tempted to reread that one for this challenge. It's beautiful!

>11 EBT1002: Ellen, I was thinking that if I can't find Shadows on the Rock that I may reread Death Comes for the Archbishop. It's been a few years and it is so lovely. I'll come back and see what you decide:)

Carrie- I wouldn't mind trying Cather on audio. She seems like she would fit that format well.

I don't remember who the reader was for O Pioneers!, but I do remember that her pace and voice quality were perfect for the story. My public library doesn't offer My Antonia as an audio download. I'm still debating whether to read the ebook or buy an audio copy from Audible or Downpour.

Like many of you, I read a Cather book a long while ago. At that time, I read My Antonia and was greatly impressed with her writing.
That said, I'm happy to be reading her again this time with O Pioneers!

I started Death Comes For The Archbishop. Up to now it's a quick and very enjoyable read, 17% felt like nothing. I am completely unspoiled re. the plot and so far have no idea where this will take me.

Edited to add: does anyone have an idea into which TIOLI challenge the book might fit?

I've already read My Antonia twice, so decided to read Death Comes for the Archbishop. I ordered it from the library last month and have it on my shelf waiting for me to pick up. I should be able to start within the week. I have a book or two that need to get back to the library first.

I read Alexander's Bridge yesterday. Wasn't impressed. I loved Death Comes for the Archbishop a couple years ago, so I intend to read My Antonia this month as well. The links above (for the books I've read) take you to my main threads, where I posted my full thoughts at the time of reading.

I am looking forward to reading One of Ours this month. I have loved all of the Cather books I've read so far. This one seems to be a little different as it follows a Nebraska boy into the trenches of WWI. It will fit in nicely with this year's WWI Centenary.

>19 Donna828: I'll have to check that book out. :)

I plan on picking up O, Pioneers next week at the public library when I grab my next batch of loot!

I still haven't decided which Cather to read. I have several on my shelves, have read none, and don't know where to start!

ETA: These are the ones I own, so if anyone has a recommendation, let me know. I'm most torn between (among) One of Ours, My Antonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop. In addition to those three, I have:

Lucy Gayheart
Sapphira and the Slave Girl
The Professor's House
Song of the Lark
My Mortal Enemy
Alexander's Bridge

Having read a bunch of Cather's books (and loving them), I decided to try Shadows on the Rock which is set in Quebec. It's a different environment from her books about the western frontier. I'm only about 10% through it and finding it very good.

Shadows on the Rock was on my TBR list so I've decided to read that one this month. I've read the frontier ones and love them; I have read some of her others as well, but this one is going to be my pick!

I'll be reading Death Comes for the Archbishop. I started it at the end of last year for another challenge but ran out of time, so will be happy to get back to it.

I started reading O Pioneers last night and am really enjoying it (only about 20% into it though).

Has anyone read the entire trilogy?

>26 lindapanzo: I will have read the entire trilogy when I finish My Antonia!

>26 lindapanzo: I have! I read O Pioneers! a few years ago, and the other two this past summer/fall.

I found my copy of Shadows on the Rock, so I hope to read that one. I am notoriously bad at group/planned reads, but we did visit Quebec this summer and loved it, so there's double motivation for me. I would like to reread Death Comes for the Archbishop at some point.

Oh! I didn't know Shadows on the Rock takes place in Quebec City! We were also there last year and found it so nice, very European in flavor. so that one is a direct BB.

I'm in, starting reading Death Comes for the Archbishop.
I have read My Antonia and O, Pioneers 2 or 3 years ago and enjoyed them.

Also wondering where to fit this in a TIOLI challenge.

#30: I asked on the TIOLI thread and they directed me to challenge #11 "Read a Book that has 2 of Something in the Title". The rules for this one have been relaxed and now it's sufficient if a letter appears twice, like "a" in "Death" and "Archbishop". I still wouldn't know where else it could fit.

Now 62% in, should finish it tomorrow.

#31 Thanks! I'm not quite that far in, but should make good progress tomorrow.

I've been wanting to read Death Comes for the Archbishop ever since Anne (AMQS) recommended it a few years ago. This will be just to nudge I need!

I read the first 20 or so pages yesterday. No one else will probably care, but I love it when I come across an unexpected connection to another recently read book. A character in DCftA stated that he didn't know when his grandfather had settled but it was "soon after the time the French killed their king". Ordinarily, I would have looked up the date, but since I'm reading The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B, which takes place during the French Revolution, I knew it was 1793. Reading is making me smarter. :)

I've read the entire prairie trilogy years ago. That's why I chose something I had not read. I wouldn't mind re-reading them, but since I had another on my wish list, I went with it.

>12 AMQS:, 25: Anne, I probably won't get to a reread of Death Comes for the Archbishop since I want to read My Antonia and possibly The Song of the Lark. I'm trying to be realistic. (ha)

>22 katiekrug:: Katie, I have only read Death Comes for the Archbishop. I read it several years ago and I remember it well. For me, that is saying something.
SO, I heartily recommend that one. But, I'm going to read My Antonia so if you want to read two by Willa Cather.....
Just sayin'.

I'll be starting Death Comes for the Archbishop tomorrow. I read My Antonia last year and O Pioneers! the year before and loved them both. In March I'll be reading Cather's Pulitzer Prize winner One of Ours with the Virago Group.

I'm reading Death Comes for the Archbishop as well. For anyone interested, Becky read this a few years ago and posted her thoughts on each chapter on this thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/126905

I love Cather. I've read My Antonia and O Pioneers! before, and if I have time this month, I might try to read The Song of the Lark too.

Lots of Cather activity! I love it!

Joanne- We are good at nudges. Glad you'll be tagging along on this one.

Song of the Lark, the second in the trilogy, is also a Kindle freebie.

I read both My Antonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop in 2008. I loved them both, but My Antonia was my favorite. One of the things I noted about My Antonia in my comments about it was the epigraph: "Optima dies . . . prima fugit" (Virgil; The best days are the first to flee). I felt like the narrator was sharing his best days with us. What a privilege!

I'm getting read to start O Pioneers! for my January read. I have it on my shelf after buying it at a library book sale. I'm looking forward to it. I may snap up Song of the Lark too. Thanks for the heads up on the Kindle deal, Linda!

I just got back home today and pulled Death Comes For the Archbishop out of the tbr pile and onto my nightstand. It will be my January read.

I started Death Comes For the Archbishop this afternoon and I'm already loving it.

Finished Death Comes for the Archbishop - loved it!

I started O Pioneers! on this cold Iowa night (although it's supposed to be even colder, with a low of -25 F by Monday morning), so I felt right at home with the first sentence:

"One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away."

I feel like I'm right there with the Bergson kids!

OK, I plan to read Death Comes for the Archbishop. I just placed a hold on our library copy, and will pick it up when I go to work Monday.

This will be my first experience with Cather and I'm going to read Death Comes for the Archbishop. I should be able to start reading tomorrow! After reading this thread I'm even more excited to get started!

Mark, can we have a list of whose reading what or I suppose I can do it?

My Antonia is very good. Found myself jotting down excerpts which I thought particularly wonderful; starting right at the first chapter:

There seemed to be nothing to see; no fences no creeks or trees, no hills or fields. If there was a road, I could not make it out in the faint starlight. There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.

Super.

Death Comes for the Archbishop - Mark, Julia, Mamie, Roberta, Nathalie, Morphy, Anne (DC), Laura (nav), Joanne, Bonnie, Cait, Roni, Terri, Tina, Kerri, Rhian, Karen, Katie, Prue, Heidi (20)

My Antonia - Carrie, Lois, Paul, Ellen, Linda (Layton), Janet, Rhonda, Ron, Lisa (9)

The Song of the Lark - Marcia, Caro (2)

Shadows on the Rock - Anne (AMQS), Cee, Lori, (3)

O Pioneers! - Lynda, OldDan, Linda (Panzo), Amy, Tam, Caroline Mc (6)

Alexander's Bridge - Linda (Layton) (1)

One of Ours - Donna, Mary (Marell), Paige, Judy (4)

The Professor's House - Joe, Nathalie (2)

47 Confirmed on this thread and the main group and Death Comes for the Archbishop has double its nearest rival. Let me know who I've missed.

I finished O Pioneers! last night and will download the Kindle freebie of the next book in the trilogy. If the third one, My Antonia is a freebie, I'll download that one as well.

Loved the first one, which was also my first Willa Cather book ever.

I've decided on Death Comes for the Archbishop. Looking forward to it!

I am also going to be reading One of Ours. I read My Antonia a few years ago and loved it so I am looking forward to this read. I will probably be starting sometime next week.

Paul- That is a great idea! Thank you. You are a Man of Lists! I salute you and owe you a naughty librarian!

It looks like Death comes is way out front!

No problem, Mark. I would have wanted to check anyway I am strange that way. The naughty librarian would be nice of course!

It will be Death Comes for the Archbishop for me - though I also have One of Ours and O Pioneers! on the shelves. Paul, hope you enjoy My Antonia as much as I did.

I am about to start book 7 in Death Comes For the Archbishop. I have loved it so far and I don't want to put it down. I should finish it tomorrow. Her style of writing is so accessible. I really see the scenery she is describing. That in particular is hard for me with some authors. That is where they win or lose me.

I started Death Comes for the Archbishop last night and am already at 57% complete. It is such a beautiful book, I am enjoying it tremendously. I do have O Pioneers on my TBR shelf so I may read that one this month as well.

I finished Death Comes For The Archbishop (liked it a lot) and only now noticed that one of her books is on the 1,001 list: The Professor's House. So I am going to read that one as well.

Oh! This is fun, but if these threads keep getting longer I'll have little time to read Death Comes for the Archbishop. All I can do is say "sorry" to all those who's threads I'm following, but not reading. Must go read. For as long as my eyes will take it, and then I'm listening to a World War I book as a way to rest my eyes, if not my mine. I love the language Willa Cather uses in DCftA, and it does make me want to visit the Southwest.

Finished Shadows on the Rock! I was so immersed in this book and felt I could see and feel all the details Cather wrote. She's so good with characters and places. This story was a bit different.
Liked this one a lot. Now I feel the tug toward Canada's Quebec City (land of my ancesters) even stronger.

I am so annoyed with myself. Things were so busy at work, I forgot to check out and bring home the copy of Death Comes for the Archbishop that I had on hold for myself. Now the library is closed tomorrow due to weather, so I can't get the book until Wednesday!

@59 Cee, I so agree with you regarding Cather's characters and places. I just finished O Pioneers!} and feel the exact same way as you.

Glad to see praise for Shadows on the Rock since that is the one I selected. However, I will have to wait until the libraries reopen and until I can get off my mountain.

I just finished Book 1 of DCftA last night... Cather's writing is just gorgeously descriptive. I'm thoroughly enjoying it -- I was totally focused, even though there was an FSU game on in the background. :)

I finished Death Comes for the Archbishop and absolutely loved it (five stars). I posted a couple vaguely coherent comments on my thread, but it's not exactly a proper review.

This is my second wonderful Cather experience. The first was My Antonia and I look forward to more. I'm even trying to see if I can squeeze in O Pioneers! this month, but I don't think I'll have time. Oh, well.

Starting O Pioneers! today, YAY!

Picked up O Pioneers from the library today. Will read some after cruising through the threads.

Very happy with my 2nd Willa Cather book so far (The Professor's House), not so happy with the Kindle edition. I wouldn't say anything if it was a free one but it cost USD 2 something so should be a bit better than a simple scan and I just read a section of several pages twice that made 4 or 5% of the book. If there are more of those occurrences this might explain why with such a short book (129 pages) it takes so comparatively long to get the % up.
Except for that I am loving it, more than Death Comes for the Archbishop.

Deern, I'm about to start The Professor's House also, but I have a paper copy, so hopefully there won't be any glitches like you've encountered with the Kindle. I'm glad to hear that you're happy with the book itself, though!

Karen O.

I'm taking my time with Death Comes for the Archbishop. With its episodic structure, reminiscent of Cannery Row, I find I best appreciate the writing when I take it a little at a time.

I just finished O Pioneers!. I read it over several nights so I could savor the language, and I wrote down lots of quotes. Cather can definitely paint a picture with words.

I'm also done and dusted with My Antonia and tremendously satisfied by the experience of reading it.

Add me to the list of those reading Death Comes for the Archbishop. I suspect the journey will be leisurely, but most of the month is ahead, so that's ok!

I'm another one reading The Professor's House and liking it so far. Very character-driven.

>70 porch_reader: I agree, it was just beautiful. May have to go back through, just to find some quotes to save. :)

I finished Death Comes for the Archbishop and found it to be a very emotional book, especially the last chapter. Oh my. But Cather's descriptions of the Southwest, the descriptions of the Mexican and Indian people, and the friendship between the two priests who were lifelong friends will stay with me for a long time. Just a wonderful book.

I also finished Death Comes for the Archbishop and agree completely with Bonnie.

Here are a couple of long quotes I highlighted:

Ch 4 Eusabio:
“The sky was as full of motion and change as the desert beneath it was monotonous and still, — and there was so much sky, more than at sea, more than anywhere else in the world. The plain was there, under one’s feet, but what one saw when one looked about was the brilliant blue world of stinging air and moving cloud. Even the mountains were mere ant-hills under it. Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky. The landscape one longed for when one was far away, the thing all about one, the world one actually lived in, was the sky, the sky!”

Book VII, Ch. 4:
"Father Latour judged that, just as it was the white man's way to assert himself in any landscape, to change it, make it over a little (at least to leave some mark of memorial of his sojourn), it was the Indian's way to pass through a country without disturbing anything; to pass and leave no trace, like fish through the water, or birds through the air.
It was the Indian manner to vanish into the landscape, not to stand out against it. The Hopi villages that were set upon rock mesas were made to look like the rock on which they sat, were imperceptible at a distance."

I finished Death Comes for the Archbishop as well. I agree with everyone above about how beautiful it is.

I hope to read O Pioneers before the end of the month.

> 48 You didn't miss me because this is my first post here but I am currently listening to the audiobook of O Pioneers! - I did My Antonia late in 2013.

I'm just a third of the way through DCFtA. So far, it hasn't really grabbed me the way My Antonia did last year, but maybe it will as I continue.

Before O Pioneers! this month, I'd never read any Cather. I definitely want to read more from her, including parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy.

I finished My Antonia and liked it over-all, but was a little annoyed by the narrator. Did anyone else have that experience?

I am agreeing with ffortsa that Death Comes for the Archbishop does not "grab" as My Antonia did, for me. I will finish it before January is finished, I'm pretty sure. But I don't think it will stay with me the way the earlier book did.

Same for me, although I loved Death Comes for the Archbishop. I just loved My Antonia more.

For Willa Cather fans who can't get enough of her writing, there's a Willa Cather Archive online at http://cather.unl.edu, which has the copyright-free writings (only not yet the still-protected Death Comes for the Archbishop) and photos of first edition covers and short stories. A delightful site for real fans.

Oh, great find, Diane! Thanks for sharing that link.

I am two-thirds of the way through One of Ours and as well as I am liking this book, IMO it doesn't reach the heights that My Antonia did. The main character is off to fight in WW I France and I am looking forward to her war descriptions because although she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for this book, some accused her of glorifying war and the sacrifices that were made.

Starting Shadows on the Rock tonight - haven't read Cather in over a decade!

Laura> I just checked it out today at work. I need to finish another book first, but I'll begin it soon.

I finished and REVIEWED the absolutely breath taking Death Comes for the Archbishop. Loved it.

I'm well along in reading Death Comes for the Archbishop, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'll probably finish it tonight or after church tomorrow.

I finished and LOVED Death Comes for the Archbishop. It was my first Cather...I was just stunned at how beautifully descriptive the language was!

I'm ready to begin Shadows on the Rock.

I just finished Death Comes for the Archbishop -- I loved the gorgeous, descriptive language, and compelling characterizations.

I'm only 40 pages into One Of Our Own and no mention of WWI, but DeltaQueen's post says we at least get there by 2/3 way through. Right now, Claude's dad and brothers are making my blood boil and I want to punch their lights out!!! My dad fought on the front lines and trenches in WWI but would never discuss it. So, I have to read books to find any inkling of what he went through. I have a picture of the ship he was on when he went 'over there'.

I have finished One of Ours and gave it a solid 4 star rating. I liked the story but for me her strength is always in her beautiful descriptions of the landscape.

I started My Antonia today, and it's just lovely so far. Granted, that's not very far, but I think I'm going to enjoy it a lot.

I've finished and reviewed Death Comes for the Archbishop. My feeling about the book hasn't changed - it never grabbed me, and had I not been participating in this group read, I probably wouldn't have finished it. In my opinion, it suffers from the problems inherent in writing a fictionalized story of a real historical person, and although the descriptive writing is excellent, the story as a whole was not of interest to me.

Finshed the Audiobook of O Pioneers! on the way to work. My records show I read or listened to it a few years ago- but maybe I did not finish- as I don't remember it clearly. Really enjoyed both physical descriptions and the internal character analysis in this book.

Paul (@48) - put me down for One of Ours, as well. I hadn't posted my intentions here, and I'm still mid-read, but if you're counting, count me in!

eta: COMPLETED

I finished reading Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. She writes descriptions of landscapes in a way which makes me long to be there; and grieve for the loss of the wild landscapes which used to be the West of the United States. I am just old enough that I remember a time when we could walk into the mountains and not meet any one else there. She describes just such a time for the southwest part of the USA and I am sad for the passing of that landscape.

The "story" she tells is of the lives of a couple of Catholic priests who were friends and who had come to Santa Fe together from France. She sketches their learning the ways of the Mexican people who lived there before they came, and the ways of the native peoples who had lived there before the Mexicans, or the French, or the Americans came. Her sketches are barely sewn together with the lives of these priests and this style was not much to my liking. I am fond of books which tell a story however I will also admit I loved her descriptions and the end of the book (the last 5% according to my Kindle) was a gift of story telling. I just wish I'd be caught up in the story before then.

I finished My Antonia last night and really enjoyed it. I think I may try Death Comes for the Archbishop or O Pioneers soon.
I have never been to the midwest, but her imagery was fantastic.

I forgot to post that I finished Shadows on the Rock this morning. Great book!

#100: Makes me want to reread it!!

I am about a third of the way through Shadows on the Rock and I am loving it.

I finished Death Comes for the Archbishop today. I loved the writing and the way she reveals just a bit of the history of that fabulous region. It worked for me. I have been to the Cathedral in Santa Fe some years ago, but after reading this, very much wanted to see it again.

And although there were many good quotes in the book, this one stood out for me: "Where there is great love there are always miracles...One might almost say that an apparition is human vision corrected by divine love...The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always." I think e. e. cummings must have read this book before he wrote his poem i thank you God for most.

Lovely picture, Roni and beautifully said!

I've not quite finished O Pioneers! which I have long had on my reading list, but I am really enjoying it.

Very quickly you get into the slow, quiet, rhythm of this novel. No racing along here. You are with the observant turtle. It is a languid read.

This is a novel about the people and their relation to the land, or the city (told only from the prospective of the land). About those who stay, and those who go away. And about the behavioural expectations between the sexes.

Alexander is certainly meeting her father's expectations of her, but in midlife, her brothers become more hoary about what they feel is acceptable for her to do.

I'm hoping she holds out against them ...

Oh, how lovely the picture of the cathedral, roni. Thanks for posting that. And lovely comments on the novel, as well. I want to re-read that one; it's stayed with me very well after 3 or 4 years. I like that "observant turtle", Caroline. Cather's writing does have a relaxing effect. It is paced well, without urgency or drag. I just love being with her as she spins the tale. I thought she might be one of those authors whose work I could appreciate but not love...not so. I love My Antonia. It's like Little House on the Prairie for grown-ups.

It's like Little House on the Prairie for grown-ups

Very good observation, Linda!

Nice to see the cathedral - thanks, Roni. That book is one of my favorites of hers.

And I love Linda's Little House on the Prairie comment about My Antonia. My Antonia remains at the top of my list for Willa Cather.

I liked The Professor's House, but not as much as I hoped. There is a large section set around cliff dwellings in New Mexico that I absolutely loved; I was less taken with the framing story of the Professor and his family, although of course it still was topnotch.

I'm still reading Shadows on the Rock and have also started A Lost Lady as my "bedtime" book. I'm surprised that I forgot how much I enjoy Cather's writing!

Thanks for the photo, Roni! And Linda is right, Antonia does seem like a Little House book for adults!

I love My Antonia. It's like Little House on the Prairie for grown-ups. Its like you are reading my mind! I have been thinking the same thing about O Pioneers which I started Monday. Especially the bits about living in sod houses!

I've just finished One of ours and really enjoyed it. It was maybe a wee bit longer than it needed to be but, some lovely descriptions of place; some interesting exploration of families and quite a bit about lives being wasted - and that's before she gets to the First World War. I would definitely recommend it, but I perhaps loved some of her other books more. However, I read a very badly edited Ebook, so I would advise finding a decent copy.

Here's my The Professor's House review: http://www.librarything.com/topic/167064#4485061

Oh, Paul.... you can add me to One of Ours. Loved the first half... heading to war now...

Also, glad to see others liked Shadows on the Rock. I scoffed that up with great pleasure.

I am falling in love with Cather all over again :-)

Okay. I have finally received my Cather from the library, so I have started reading Death Comes For the Archbishop. So far, so good.

Please add my name to the list for Death Comes for the Archbishop. I thought it was a pretty amazing book: no real plotting, just the word painting of a beautiful, if stark, vanished landscape and the character study of two priests.

Sounds simple and insignificant, doesn't it? Cather makes a beautiful book from these materials. I think she used the slow and episodic pacing to show a realistic portrait of the quality of life in the period.

I really loved the book.

>117 Matke: Every word you said there fits My Antonia perfectly as well. I just finished it with my morning coffee, and now I'm bereft. I can't believe how beautifully she wrote about the commonest of things.

The picture of the Cathedral will stay with me as I remember Death Comes for the Archbishop. Thank you so much. And all the other comments about Cather's writing have been very appreciated also.

>118 laytonwoman3rd: I agree!

I loved My Antonia when I read it a couple of years ago! With that story from the man's perspective, it seemed to me (although I'm not a man) like she did well in her portrayal of the male persona of the time. But the beauty of the book to me was the slow building of the relationships of the characters, especially in those formative years of their lives, in the bondings of neighbors against hardship. And the land! As Cather unfolds his fond memories from a harder, yet somehow gentler time, of the gentleman and 'his' Antonia, it felt like they were my own memories from a time before there even was a me. It was like hearing my Papa talk about his youth, as we trekked around his old haunts. My Antonia plucked at my heart-strings and created such a beautiful wind-through-the-Nebraska-cottonwoods song in my heart, that I was afraid ever to risk another of her books, for fear it wouldn't measure up.

For this challenge, I chose One of Ours to fit with the WWI centenary. Like Athabasca, I'm reading a badly-edited ebook, but that's not why the book's not gripping me. It just can't measure up to My Antonia!

Please add me to the Death Comes For the Archbishop list. Just found a free copy to download. Woot!

I've started Death Comes for the Archbishop and am liking it. I was worried there would be too much description for me, but my fears are laid to rest!

Wow, this out-pouring of Cather love! You can't beat it. I do not think anyone has been underwhelmed. I wonder if old Bill Faulkner will get this kind of reception?

Roni- I LOVE the Cathedral!

I am loving My Antonia.

"It's like Little House on the Prairie for grown-ups."
I've had the very same thought!!!

I intended to sit this month out, but the universe aligned just right and I stumbled upon a free Kindle download for My Antonia, lol. I started reading it and got hooked.

This is my first foray into Willa Cather's works; I had heard of My Antonia before but never had that much of an interest in picking it up. In all honesty, when I downloaded the book, I didn't immediately make the connection that it was by Willa Cather and that I COULD, after all, participate this month. It's funny how those things work out...I'm now enjoying a wonderful read by a wonderful author who I might have never gotten the chance to experience.

I am smiling away at all the Cather live shown here. She has long been one of my favorites and I'm very glad she is getting the LT attention she deserves. I finished One of Ours and liked it a lot but it is no My Antonia. My review is on the book's main page.

Just finished up Death a Comes for the Archbishop. My thoughts as posted on my thread...

Looking back at the end of 2014, this will easily be at the top of my reading list. Cather's prose is absolutely gorgeous. The story and setting were spot on. But what really got me was her portrayal of these two men - truly men of God, in all their failings and humanity, but with a love of the people they were to shepherd in a way I could only dream of having. An absolutely moving book that I can't believe I've waited so long to read!

Oh, I wholeheartedly continue the Cather love here. I finished Shadows on the Rock last night and I LOVED it. Two things Ms. Cather describes beautifully: the landscape -- in this case, the beautiful "rock" overlooking the St. Lawrence River that is Quebec City, and the immigrant experience -- the hardships, the homesickness, and the industriousness -- here depicting French colonists in the year 1697. Like Jim and others here, this particular Cather book will likely be a favorite read of 2014.

Forgot to mention over here - I finished One of Ours. Wasn't expecting to read two Cather books this month but couldn't resist.
Glad I dove back in!
I loved the second half as much as the first despite the fact that it was quite different in theme and location.
First half - Nebraska, farm life, feelings of failure
Second half - France, WW I, purpose in life
The whole book is beautifully written - as we now have come to expect from Cather and appreciate with wonder.

Finished Death Comes for the Archbishop. I gave it 7 out of 10 stars.

My micro-review: "I hesitant about reading this book because I was expecting more description and less plot. I'm happy to say this was not the case. Fascinating story about the difficulties of a new leader coming into a well-established religious community. I wanted more detail though. Cather often had the disconcerting habit of getting me all excited about something happening - like a trip to Rome - then the next paragraph was about him arriving back from Rome a year later! But, but, what HAPPENED in Rome?"

I finished Song of the Lark and loved it.

I've not read anything by this author before and I wasn't sure what to expect. What I read was a beautiful work of literature. Her characters live in the American West. The residents of Moonstone are simple and hardy folks living in a harshly beautiful land.

This is a story of Thea Kronburg, precocious daughter of a preacher in Moonstone and a talented pianist. We trace her life, her growing pains and the people who help shape her and her talent along the way. When she eventually leaves Moonstone and starts to make a life for herself in Chicago, she suffers setbacks and little successes, but it's only when she takes a mentor's advice to work on her singing that changes the direction of her life. Her journey is not without pain but her determination to be a success allows her to make difficult choices and to focus on her goal, even if it means pushing everything and everyone who would distract her from her goal to the side.

I'm giving this 4.8 out of 5 stars.

ooh - I have Song of the Lark on my Kindle TBR. I may need to move it up the priority list. I loved My Antonia!

I loved Song of the Lark, too, Caro. Small town pushing to make the big time - great storytelling.

I wasn't sure I was going to get to any of Cather's books this month but I started O Pioneers! last night and loved it immediately.

Forgot to post over here: I finished Deat Comes for the Archbishop a few days ago. My comments:

This is the story of a priest, a friendship, and a place. It is moored in the desert landscape of the American Southwest which provides both a physical setting and a metaphor for the religious mission that is at the center of the book - from a barren, hardscrabble land emerge surprising springs of faith and strength, and vistas of great beauty. Cather tells her story in episodic form but carried throughout is the sense of place and one knows that this story could only be told in this place. Her writing is unadorned but powerful, and I am glad to have so much of her work left to explore.

"Here there was always activity overhead, clouds forming and moving all day long. Whether they were dark and full of violence, or soft and white with luxurious idleness, they powerfully affected the world beneath them. The desert, the mountains and mesas, were continually re-formed and re-coloured by the cloud shadows. The whole country seemed fluid to the eye under this constant change of accent, this ever-varying distribution of light." (page 95-96)

I loved that passage quoted above, also!

Doesn't anyone not like this woman? Come on, don't be shy!

Not like her? Well I'm sure there's someone out there but as for me I've read three of hers so far and just downloaded Song of the Lark and A Lost Lady and have The Professor's House and One of Ours on my shelf. Happy, happy, happy:-)

My Antonia got four enthusiastic stars. I might try to squeeze in Song of the Lark but my dance card is a bit full this month....

luxurious idleness wonderful. I must re-read this novel. I'm also thinking, as my sister is very into desert landscapes, that she might like this novel too.

I've just finished My Antonia and enjoyed it enormously. It's my 3rd book by Cather and I think I loved O Pioneers a bit more, but this one was almost as good. I'd rank Alexander's Bridge third. Her description of Nebraska at the turn of the century was so vivid I feel like I've been there.

I have One of Ours on my Kindle now and will try to read it soon.

I'm reading O Pioneers! now and loving it. I've had it on my shelf for years and am thankful for the push to pick it up.

Cushla, I think I may end up liking it more than My Antonia too, although I didn't think that would be possible. I will be looking for more of her books at Powell's book store during the Portland Meetup next Saturday.

I was thinking I'd not be able to participate this month, as most of my books are in storage including several unread Cathers.

But I've just been to an LT meet-up in Stratford today, where we did some book swapping and book buying (of course), as a result of which I now have a lovely green Virago copy of Death comes. I read it and loved it many years ago, but didn't own a copy, so now I have one, and I'm hoping I'll manage to re-read it this month.

Willa Cather is one of my favorite author's and My Antonia is one of my all time favorites. I just finished Alexander's Bridge and very much enjoyed it. Wonderful descriptive writing. I saw in another post above that this was her first book and it is 101 years old. I also picked up Shadow On The Rocks, which I should be able to finish before the end of the month.

I'm reading Song of the Lark - nowhere near as good as My Antonia

I read My Mortal Enemy at the beginning of the month. I had hoped to get to another Cather book as well, but I sidetracked myself. This is what I thought of My Mortal Enemy:

This is a short novel/novella from the 1920's. The language and storytelling was beautiful. This turns out to be a rather sad story, eventually throwing ice water on running away for romantic love. We see parts of the life of Myra Henshawe and her husband Oswald through the eyes of young Nellie. Nellie is 15 when she first meets Myra at 45. Nellie has heard family stories, the stuff of legend, of the young Myra and is rather surprised at the reality. Myra seems to be rather quickly moving from nice to not so nice. Myra ends up living a broken life, having given up an inheritance to marry the man she loved. That isn't how it begins, but that is how it ends. Interesting set of characters and very descriptive scenes made this very much worth reading, but as I said, rather sad by the end.

Cather is quite a writer. 3 1/2 - 4 stars

I'm about two thirds of the way through Death Comes For the Archbishop and I'm afraid I have to come right out and say this: I don't think I love Willa Cather. This one is certainly better than My Antonia which I didn't care for much at all,but I still don't really love it. Will report back when I have finished.

I recently finished A Lost Lady, and really enjoyed it. I still feel haunted by these characters who seem so real. The Captain and Mrs. Forrester, Niel, Ivy Peters, it seems like they actually existed and that this is a diary from the time, in a way. Books set in the West generally don't do much for me, but this one seemed fleshed-out (just enough) in its' detail and describing the time that I sort of think that if I went to google these names and places they'd appear on a map. 4 stars.

>148 SandDune:: Rhian, I'll be interested in hearing more about your experience of reading Willa Cather.

Finally! I finished Death Comes For the Archbishop tonight, just under the wire for January. Cather's writing was so evocative of the New Mexico landscape that I'm plotting how I can squeeze in a side trip to Albuquerque on my way back from Boulder Booktopia in May.

I finished My Antonia the other day. In some ways I liked it better than O Pioneers!. I liked both of those a lot more than Song of the Lark.

That would be the order of liking for me, Carrie, with Death Comes for the Archbishop sneaking in ahead of Song of the Lark.

I wonder whether it's tougher for across-the-pond-ers to like Cather books than readers from the U.S. and Canada?

#151: Julia, Santa Fe is a decent drive from Boulder - very pretty in parts. The hubs and I drove from SF to Estes Park, CO (have to go through Boulder to get there) as part of a vacation several years ago. Can you add a few days to your time off?

Here is my review of Death Comes to the Archbishop:

Let me start off by saying that this is a good book, probably a very good book. But it doesn't speak to me as personally as it clearly speaks to others. There are parts of it that I love and parts of it that I definitely do not love. Overall, I'm glad I've read it but having read both this and My Antonia in the last few months I have come to the conclusion that Willa Cather will never be one of my favourite writers, as she is for many people.

Based on the true story of Archbishop Lamy, the first Archbishop of New Mexico, Death Comes to the Archbishop tells the story of Father Jean Marie Latour, from his appointment in 1850 as Vicar Apostolic of New Mexico, a time when that territory was newly annexed to the United States, to his death as the retired Archbishop many years later. With no overriding plot to speak of the book consists of a series of vignettes of Father Latour's life and more that anything presents a moving picture of his friendship with his fellow Frenchman who has accompanied him throughout his missionary work, Father Joseph Vaillant.

The strength of this book for me lies in the way that Cather paints the landscape of New Mexico. Her descriptions are at times extremely evocative and almost poetic:

From the flat red sea of sand rose great rock mesas, generally Gothic in outline, resembling vast cathedrals. They were not crowded together in disorder, but placed in wide spaces, long vistas between. This plain might once have been an enormous city, all the smaller quarters destroyed by time, only the public buildings left - piles of architecture that were like mountains.

The description of the landscape was a strength in My Antonia too, but I found that landscape described in that book hostile, a landscape that I could not imagine growing to love. The landscapes described in Death comes for the Archbishop has the opposite effect: I can begin to understand the love that the Archbishop comes to feel for his adopted country. And here the isolated one-family homesteads of the prairie are replaced by Indian pueblos, small Spanish villages and towns where the churches are old enough to have fallen into ruin. It's a country with a patchwork history which I found fascinating.

But holding back my overall rating of the book is Cather's portrayal of her characters. In dealing with her minor characters, at times it seemed that rather than dealing with individuals she was presenting them as archetypal examples of 'the Mexican peasant', ' the Pueblo Indian' and so on. And while at times she gives glimpses into the motivations of Father Latour and his affection for Father Vaillant, I found the narrative was often more flatly descriptive of events with little insight into the feelings of either character. So neither of the main characters really came alive for me in the way that the landscape did.

#154> Yeah, I think I can. I mean, I have plenty of vacation time accrued, and my supervisor is very supportive about taking time off. In fact, it was her idea that I should also go to Albuquerque when I was telling her about the book, because one of our former co-workers just moved there and it would be great to visit him.

I finished the audiobook of My Antonia and enjoyed it thoroughly. My grandparents were homesteaders in the Dakotas and so many of the experiences strike a deep chord.

What lovely descriptions, and I really enjoyed her characters as well. I've read quite a few pioneer memoirs- and the girls always seem to marry and become farmwives, like Antonia did. Salt of the earth, backbone of the farms, yet it was nice to see other characters seek lives elsewhere. Yay! for Tiny!

I'll be looking to read more by Cather.

>151 rosalita:, 156 Julia (and 154, Katie), Santa Fe is only about 6 hours from the Denver/Boulder area. We've driven there for spring break a couple of times, and it's always a favorite spot. Beautiful drive, too. Well worth a trip if you can manage it.

Anne, thanks for the info. It sure sounds like a very do-able side trip if I can get the extra time off.

I am almost done with My Antonia and what stood out for me is that the narrator is telling timeless stories, as he relates the things that happen, like the attempt to catch a man with Antonia where the narrator catches a bit of a beating, rather unjustly! Not only there, but throughout the story it strikes me that barring some descriptions of clothing or tools, the sentiments behind the interactions of the characters are timeless. I'm noit sure I am making sense but it was an overwhelming impression for me, maybe because I am listening to it on a Playaway, so it is like listening to a story teller.

Completed One of Ours. Not blown away.

I'm stalled in my reading of The Professor's House but it's been good enough so that I will continue with it. I get most of my books from the library, and there is a real tendency for all of my requested books to come in at the same time. Woe is me (not).

Karen O.

The library thing happens to me, too. I got three early this week; I've finished 2 but would like to finish some other "books in progress" before I start on my third.

>162 klobrien2: For me The Professor's House really picked up when it got to the section about Tom Outland in New Mexico, Karen. Some beautiful writing there.

I had a hard time choosing my favorite book read during the month of January, but I ultimately decided that Shadows on the Rock was the most deserving of my six 4-star reads.

For Cather, My Antonia was very much based on real life experience. She had a friend as a young girl, who was an immigrant hired girl, and she visited her when they were both adults and her friend was married with a large family, similar to Jim's visit to Antonia. Although, Cather was successful at that time, she felt the loss deeply of a relationship that had recently ended with Isabelle McClung, the love of her life, who became engaged to a concert violinist. She returned to her home town, Red Cloud Nebraska for 3 months to mourn the loss. It seems that Antonia and Jim's relationship mirrors Cather's feelings of failure in her personal life, but success in her professional life. Jim recognizes Antonia's contentment with her place in her life, and ultimately feels that sense of fulfillment, by the end of the book, after visiting with her.Many parts of the book are based on truth, such as the story of the wolves and many of the people who played a part in My Antonia, were people Cather knew, the Harlings were really the Miners, neighbors of the Cathers. There was that feeling, to me, that Cather was trying to impart something that struck a chord deep within her, and I think that is because she was basing so much of the story on experiencs that she had and people she knew. The story of the Cutter suicide which seems so innocuous at that point in the story was based on a loan shark Cather knew of who was cruel to his wife, throughout their marriage and finally shot her and killed himself. Just as in life it would have seemed so random and strange, it was when plunked into the story during Jim's visit. Cather's skill lay in bringing the story to light at just the right time, for the fascination of Antonia's children and the entertainment of Jim, who later checks on the facts of the story with another lawyer. I loved the last line, by Jim "Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past."

Popping this thread up to the top, after picking up a copy of a literary journal published by Sherpherd University, in Shepherdstown, WV, which contains the entire text of Cather's Sapphira and the Slave Girl. I suspect we all associate her mainly with the prairies, or with New York, and yet, I learned from this journal that she was born in the Appalachians (in Virginia). Well, those "pioneers" all came from somewhere else, didn''t they? And BTW, if you ever have an opportunity to visit Shepherdstown, don't miss it. Wonderful, historic, not trampled by tourists, some of the best food ever (The Press Room), very handy to Antietam battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD.

What a lovely thread. Thank you for reviving it laytonwoman3rd. I shall file away Sheperdstown; made a pilgrimage to the Fredericksburg battlefield a few years back and would like to see Antietam.

I read My Antonia in my 20's. Burst into tears at the end, so moved by Cather's mastery of the "passage of time" and attendant sense of melancholy.

I am not a big cryer, so my husband took notice, read the book and had the same reaction, sans tears. We have been collecting Cather's ever since and have a few first editions.

I may be in the minority who are not wowed by DCftA. Maybe I need to read it again.

>168 AmourFou: I had the same reaction to My Antonia a few years ago, and I'm not an easy crier. Also, it was on the train, so it was kind of embarrassing. Ha!

DorsVenabili glad to know I'm not alone!

Any book that makes me cry gets an automatic 4 star or better rating.

That would be a good talk thread - what are the books that have made you cry? Mine would be a very short list...

My Antonia was one; almost every Kristin Hannah book makes me cry (once, reading Home Front, sitting in the car dealership while waiting for my service to be completed); most recently,The Language of Flowers.

I've not heard of Kristin Hannah, will check it out.

Anna Karenina would be on my list with My Antonia. I'll have to think about it and see if I can come up with others...