This 400-page book was the book choice of my book club at my library. Raise your hands high if you've ever read Cather. Or even heard of her. I told my library group I had a great education as a kid and we'd read My Antonia of hers. Cather was an interesting woman (1873-1947)who toyed around with her name, at one point calling herself Dr William Cather and dressing in masculine attire for 4 years. Wasn't it George Eliot who did the same thing?
I thanked the librarian Margie for choosing the book, saying I never would have read it. It's quite relevant today with our young men signing up for the military. In One of Ours, the hero Claude, is a lost soul as scion of a Nebraska farm family. He just can't fit in with anyone, finds no grand souls to commune with. It's not until he joins the army to fight in France during WWI that he finds the noble minds and personages he's been longing for his whole life.
I spent most of yesterday reading the book. Was only halfway thru in the morning. I don't speed read. I love reading every single word and having Cather's images run thru my mind. I read downstairs in bed, upstairs on the couch, standing up in the kitchen waiting for my bread to toast, and for 20 minutes while pedaling furiously on my stationary bike.
Is it fair to the book? I asked earnestly in the book club? How dyou other ladies read a book.
Kullie said she was gloriously retired and had all day to read. Jeanne said she reads in bed in the morning. The 2 librarians said they read at lunch or dinner hour.
My own father read on the toilet every morning. He had massive hemorrhoids.
I had 14 pages left when I got to the group. Shortly thereafter I learned to my dismay how the book ended. We discussed why the hero needed to ....... I won't spoil the book for you in case you wanna read it.
I wondered to the group what the ultra-competitive Hemingway would've thought about Cather's war writings. She was not afraid of blood and guts and gore. This was trench warfare, a brutal way to fight. As a kid she liked to dissect animals and insects so it's not surprising she didn't flinch at writing details of war. Her knowledge of the camaraderie between the soldiers was right-on.
Willa! Willa! I'm glad I met you.
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Ah I remember My Antonia. We read it in school, though don't remember what year. Have always liked her too.
ReplyDeleteMe...I read compulsively and feel withdrawal symptoms when too busy to do so. Everybody in my family was pretty much like that. We didn't have conversation at meals as each had a book next to his plate, though I wasn't permitted to have library books at meals but only ones I owned. I don't advocate this lack of family interaction and didn't allow with my kids, but it sure showed me how valuable reading was.
Always enjoy your posts!!
all your years of reading shows up in your great writing in your blogs. great writers are great readers methinks!
ReplyDeleteThanks and I agree!
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