Willa Cather reading week December 7th - 14th

I'm planning on hosting a Willa Cather reading week to mark her birthday.

I have read several Cather novels in the last couple of years and love her writing, I already have:

The Shadows on the rock
My Mortal enemy
Death comes to the Archbishop
The Professor's House
and A Lost Lady waiting to be read.

Would love for some of you to join me :)

*checks shelf to see which Cathers are unread*

I have the Collected Stories, but will look to see if anything else is available on kindle. Unusually for me, I seem to have read all the books I own by her (other than the stories).

I bought Death Comes to the Archbishop on our London Virago meetup so will hopefully read that.

What a great idea Ali! I have several unread Cathers and will *try* to join in!

I've just gotten interested in this group and the Virago series, this seems like a nice way to dive into some books! I've also wanted to read some of Cather's works in general so I will certainly try to keep up :)

>5 rainpebble: well on my blog but can be over here too :)

>6 SleepySheep: Welcome, this is a truly lovely place. Bad for book buying habbits though.

>7 rainpebble: & >9 Heaven-Ali: Thank you! I am already planning my next year's worth of reading (with the Category Challenge and 1001 Books) so I figure what's the harm in adding some more books to the list? ;)

Not to mention I am just always looking for reading inspiration, and especially female authors - I'm pleased to have found this group!

I am also curious about the missing lines 601-616 on the spreadsheet, it seems that these appear on the LT publisher series list - is there a reason they are not on the spreadsheet as well?

We did Willa Cather this month in Monthly Author Reads. I read O Pioneers! and a couple of short stories, but that's all I have time for this month. I'd like to read My Antonia and a few more short stories in December.

>11 SleepySheep: - RachelLeah - the lines 601-616 are blank for the moment because Virago intends to publish a series of Patricia Highsmith novels as VMCs but they haven't been published in hard form as yet. I think they are going to be published sometime later this month and through the early months of 2015. Although the Ebooks are available, I like to have the hard copy in my hand before I update the spread sheet. Thanks to souloftherose who pointed me in the direction of Amazon.com and I was able to verify the allocated numbers as belonging to the Highsmith editions. Collectively we have such a lot of information abut our VMCs and their authors.

Ooh I have a few unread Cathers, and all VMCs too. I will most likely read O Pioneers! that week. Great idea, Ali.

>13 mrspenny: Thanks for the explanation, Trish. I figured they were reserved for future books but didn't know the details.

Welcome @RachelLeah! So glad to have you with us.

I just read A Lost Lady for the Monthly Author Read of Willa Cather. I have almost everything she's written, but I'm pretty sure only Alexander's Bridge is a Virago edition. So, do we need to read the Virago edition? If not, count me in. I think The Professor's House is next on my list.

You can read any edition you like. It doesn't have to be specifically a VMC.

And I think O, Pioneers is my favorite Cather. Could have been the story of my dad's family in ND.

I loved O, Pioneers. I still don't know which I will be reading :)

>15 LucindaLibri: it really doesn't matter which editions you read.

>16 Liz1564: and >17 Heaven-Ali: Thanks! Count me in! Several years ago I started a Willa Cather reading project. I'm mostly reading things in the order they were published. I started with several collections of short stories and then started on the novels. Not sure I have a favorite yet.

I do understand why O, Pioneers! is so popular, but there are so many of those "stories of growing up on the plains" that it didn't strike me as wildly different . . . I think I just like how her descriptions make the scenes and people so vivid in my mind . . .

As a musician, I'm also fascinated by the role that music plays in many of her stories and novels.

See you in December!

All being well I will try to join in - I have plenty of Cathers on Mount TBR!! :)

Okay, I'm bumping this one because it starts in a couple of days. Any more ideas about what you'll be reading? I'll be reading The Professor's House and trying to start the Hermione Lee biography of WC.

>20 LucindaLibri: I read The Professor's House in September and loved it. It was my first Willa Cather.

I'll be reading Shadows on the Rock, which arrived today.

I'm reading The Troll Garden and other stories which is brilliant. I always end up starting these reading weeks early. Up next I think will be A Lost Lady.

Hope lots of you will be enjoying Willa Cather.

I'm planning to read O Pioneers. Looking forward to it and reading feverishly to finish my current book in time.

Finished my other book so I will start the Cather tonight!

I am going to take part with a short story - about which I shall reveal nothing at the moment.... (smiles mysteriously)!

I read about 25 pages of O Pioneers! last night. It's been quite some time since I last read Willa Cather, and I'd forgotten how much I love her prose. I also really like Alexandra, the heroine of this book.

I have finished The Troll Garden and selected stories on my kindle. Later I shall be starting A Lost Lady which I think I read Before along time ago but can remember nothing of.

I am making my way through "Coming, Aphrodite!" - in a form I'm not used to.... !

>29 kaggsy: Oh Karen are we talking about a book not made from paper? :)

I'm going to read Death Comes for the Archbishop which has been on my TBR shelf for many years.

For anyone looking for a Cather book, I read One of Ours earlier this year as part of a Great War theme read. I actually read it twice, and appreciated it much more on the second reading. I enjoyed the first half of the book better than the second half, but it's the second half (set in war-time France) that gives meaning to the first half (set in Nebraska).

>30 Heaven-Ali: Indeed we are! :) oooh-er!

I started The Professor's House this morning.
Parts of it are hitting close to home. I've been going through all my old papers from 15 years of teaching . . . tossing/shredding/recycling . . . trying to keep as little as possible but having difficulty letting go of all I created, even if it was just assignments, thought questions, exams . . . Some of it I have in digital form, but much was lost to changes in technology.

The back cover of my copy of The Professor's House, a Vintage Classics (not Virago) edition, includes these questions: "How do the people we once were persist inside the men and women we become? How do we reconcile our oldest dreams with the demands of our present lives? And what if our reasoned pursuit of happiness ends up betraying needs that are deeper and more sacred?"

I'm enjoying the book so far, but there are some heavy issues in this one.

>32 kac522:
I listened to One of Ours via a Librivox audiobook version a year or so ago. Good choice for a Great War read.

>34 LucindaLibri::
"How do the people we once were persist inside the men and women we become? How do we reconcile our oldest dreams with the demands of our present lives? And what if our reasoned pursuit of happiness ends up betraying needs that are deeper and more sacred?"

What wonderfully deep topics to think upon especially at this time of year. Thank you for sharing that with us Lucinda.

I'm on a roll, my review of The Troll Garden and selected stories is on my blog https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/the-troll-garden-and-selected-stories...

I finished A Lost Lady last night -lovely lovely book review by the end of the week hopefully.

Later this evening I will be starting Shadows on the Rock.

I finished O Pioneers! yesterday and reviewed it today. It was really an amazing book, with a gentle narrative that hit me hard near the end.

>37 lauralkeet: lovely review, so glad you loved it.

>37 lauralkeet: I was just a few days behind you reading and reviewing O Pioneers, my first WC book. I'll be finishing up the Great Plains trilogy next year and have been keeping notes from this Group on other books that look interesting.

I just finished Death Comes for the Archbishop. What amazing prose: so simple and yet so elegant. I would never have thought that I would enjoy a book about a couple of priests! But it's so much more. It's like a legend, or folk-tale. I can't recall where I read this, but someone wrote that while Henry James is a 19th century writer looking into the 20th century, Willa Cather is a 20th century writer looking back to the 19th century.

I also just finished Death Comes for the Archbishop last night. It had almost a dreamy quality to it. I enjoyed it very much, too.

My review of Coming, Aphrodite here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/love-vs-art-willa-cather...

I really liked Cather's writing - thanks for setting this up, Ali!

I only got about half way through The Professor's House . . . life/health insurance enrollment problems interfered . . . though I might be spending much of tomorrow on hold with various government agencies, so I might get the book finished then! :)

Glad so many others are reading and enjoying Willa Cather!

With the passing of my brother, I too, was unable to meet my commitment on the Cather reading.

>44 rainpebble:
I'm so sorry for your loss. Take care.

I made a bit more progress today while riding the bus to the government office to deal with my insurance issues. I LOVE Willa Cather's descriptions of the Cliff City in the Tom Outlander's Story section of The Professor's House . . . marvelous!!