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Year of the Classics: How Willa Cather Makes Sparrow Like A Lot Of Boring Stuff

3/11/2012

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When I first starting thinking of people I'd love to have write about their favorite classics for our Year of the Classics feature, Sparrow jumped to my mind right away. I read a few of her reviews and we were friends on GoodReads for a while, and then my younger sister went to the same law school she goes to and I pretty much told my sister she had to seek her out and befriend her because she was an amazing reviewer and in my mind that is equated with also being a wonderful human being. As it turns out, I was right. We have so much fun in real life, especially when I beat her at book trivia games. (Muahaha!) However, she does and probably will always know more than I do about classics--I have some major catching up to do. I asked her to write today about one of her favorite authors, so here she is, writing about Willa Cather:

There is something special about a writer who can turn a topic that is ordinarily gross into something magical.  Willa Cather is my favorite example of this because prairies are terrible.  Maybe I read too many Little House books as a kid, but I am not interested in anybody teaching me how to build a log cabin or till a field.   I don’t particularly like to put together a tent, and my ability to rassle a farm animal into a harness is quite limited, so it is unlikely I will retain any helpful agricultural instruction from prairie books.  Luckily, Willa Cather could not care less about teaching me to farm, but she does, against all odds, make me love the idea of it.  I would go so far as to say that if Willa Cather wrote a book about planning a wedding or cleaning out the litter box, she might even be able to throw some charm into those horrid activities.  She is wonderful.  She turns the prairies, or the city, or the desert, or wherever she happens to set her stage, into a cradle of humanity.
rolling prairie
Majestic Mesa picture
I am almost finished reading all of Willa Cather’s books, so I will give you a ranking of the books I have read so far so that you may choose among them the book that is right for you.  I’m sure, after reading this blog, you will all be running to the store to purchase your very own Cather novel, so choose wisely.  All of them have her sparse, focused prose, and they all have something pointed to say about the nature of humanity, but they are not all for everyone . . . I guess.  

1.      O Pioneers!.  This is probably my favorite book.  It is a more plot-based story about a wonderful woman who fits too practically into life and people around her who fit too delicately.


2.      My Antonia.  This is a close second for favorite Cather's.  It is a more character-based study of a girl through the eyes of a childhood friend.  It has a few magical side-stories that are absolutely perfect.


3.      The short story Coming Aphrodite! (and all of Youth and the Bright Medusa, but that story is my favorite favorite).  I have a plan to write a book based on this story.  It is about the struggle between popular art and forward-thinking art.  It is about how love and attraction are sometimes not most important.


4.      The Professor’s House.  This is another character study, but about a younger man, through the eyes of an older man.  I am no traditional fan of the desert or the prairie, but Cather’s description of the mesas in this are beyond beautiful.


5.      My Mortal Enemy.  This is almost a short story.  At least a novella.  It is just how I think of what life must be like for people who rely on romance.


6.      One of Ours.  This is a truly beautiful character study of what war is like for those who stay home.


7.      Death Comes for the Archbishop.  This is outrageously good.  Traditionally, I hate stories about walking, but this book throws that assumption out the window.  It is truly beautiful.  And the instances in all of Cather’s writing, that describe domestic violence are so effortless and poignant that they take my breath away.  This book contains a perfect example of that.  


8.      Alexander’s Bridge.  This is Cather’s first book, and more plot based.  I love it, though I can see its flaws and how predictable it is.  I think it is lovely all the same, especially in the question of whether it ends kindly or cruelly.  The characters are brief, but I still get the feeling that I know what they represent.


9.      The Song of the Lark.  I honestly did not care for this book.  It is an awkward transitional novel between the plot-based structure of Alexander’s Bridge and O Pioneers! and the character-based structure of My Antonia and those that follow.  It has a truly beautiful story within the story, as most of her books do, but that protagonist drove me crazy.  Not a favorite.
O Pioneers! Willa Cather cover
My Antonia Willa Cather cover
The Professor's House cover
My Mortal Enemy cover
One of Ours cover
The Song of the Lark cover

I have three left, and then I will proceed to finding out about her life.  I did watch a documentary about her once, but I do not think that makes me knowledgeable enough to really comment about her as a person.  Maybe I don’t think even someone who has studied her life is knowledgeable enough to comment, but holy shit, look at the Willa Cather Archive. That is so rad.  Also, check this out: http://cather.unl.edu/geochron/. Cather was so well traveled. 

I do know that at the end of her life, Cather tried to burn all of her letters, which I think is pretty badass despite being a little tragic for me personally.  But, like Seymour Glass, she probably just didn’t want a bunch of fools looking at her tattoo.  Along these lines, there is a lot of speculation about her personal life, including speculation about her sexual orientation.  My uninformed opinion is that this type of speculation can be empowering or demeaning depending on the way it goes down.  While Cather writes wonderful women, she does not do so in an overtly sexual manner, so, to me, guessing about her sexual orientation is not a particularly illuminating pair of glasses through which to read her books.

Rather, I think Cather is inspiring as a successful woman who found success on her own terms.  The caveat to that, of course, is the question, how much can a woman live on her own terms in a country where she can’t vote, can barely own property, can be legally raped, and can be imprisoned for using birth control?  But, you know, I still feel like Cather lived, as much as possible, as herself.  Maybe it is naïve to think this, but I do feel like the women she wrote are real women, talking like women talk, caring about what women care about.  They are strong and practical and beautiful, like Cather herself.  

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I don't know about our readers, but Sparrow has definitely made me want to read some Willa Cather. And if I'm speaking honestly, she's also made me a little bit ashamed that I haven't read any already. Luckily for all of us, a significant amount of her work is readily available online for free. [Project Gutenberg | Amazon] Be sure to check out her other reviews on Goodreads--they are well worth your reading time--or you can check out her blog at Sparrow Guide.
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Year of the Classics: Jo from Wear The Old Coat Professes Her Love For Edith Wharton

2/16/2012

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Today, we're happy to have one of our favorite people visiting for a guest post, Jo from Wear the Old Coat. (her blog title is based on the quote, "Wear the old coat and buy the new book," by Austin Phelps) Her assignment, which she chose to accept, was to write "something" about classic literature. After you read her thoughts, I'm sure you'll understand why she was one of the first people who came to my mind for a guest post.


When the lovely ladies at The Readventurer asked me to write a guest post for The Year of the Classics, the first thing I felt was panic. Well, OK, that’s a teensy lie. I felt joy and happiness to be invited to be part of one of my favourite blogs… but then there was panic. You see, I have a dirty secret. A secret so dirty that I have kept it close to my chest since I was sixteen. I live in fear that it will be discovered one day. 

*deep breaths*

I don’t like classics. What?! Yes, that’s right, I don’t like them. I’m peeved by period drama. I’m bothered by bonnets. I’m sick of sideburns. I…have…an…aversion…to… Austen. I know. I know. I’m a horrible human being. I’m going to be smited down by the literature goddesses. I am up to my eyeballs in debt because I call myself a literature student (Seriously, can they take degrees off you if they find out?!) yet I don’t like the classics. But there was no way that I was going to tell anyone, and at least not broadcast it on a blog as brilliant as The Readventurer, so I smiled (um…via e-mail) and agreed. Then I ran to my bookshelf and stared at it blankly, hoping inspiration came soon. My eyes skimmed across my YA shelves, passed my graphic novels and landed on my grown-up section. And, guys, it was meagre. So after a few moments of making pledges to buy and read more books that have main characters who have reached puberty, I noticed something: It seemed my grown-up shelf had been sponsored by one particular author--Edith Wharton. 
The Age of Innocence cover
The House of Mirth cover
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Now, I hate it when people ask me what my favourite book is. For me, that’s the equivalent of asking me: “Hey Jo, if your house was on fire and you could only save one member of your family, who would you choose?” But if I had to think about it, and I mean really think about it, I would say my favourite book of all time is Ms Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. I first read  TAoI when I was in my third and final year at university and I was searching for a topic for my dissertation. I had already decided that I wanted to write eight thousand words on literature set in New York but that’s about as far as I had got. So after a few internet searches and standing in Waterstones, waiting patiently for inspiration to move me, I discovered Ms Wharton.

I am a quick reader. I can get through a book in about a day, two at the most, but it took me almost a week to get through The Age of Innocence and this was for two reasons:

1) I had to stop every page to write down a quote and to run to my housemate and yell “I have to read this bit out to you, it’s possibly the most heart-breaking scene in the entire world” in her face.
2) It would have been a literary sin to have rushed that book.

I never actually got the chance to write my dissertation on TAoI because of reasons I won’t bother going into here, but I have to say that out of all the books I read during my degree this is the one that affected me the most and it is the one I will always, always remember. Ms Wharton was a master of telling stories. When you’re reading her books you think you know exactly what is going to happen and then she trips you up, completely and utterly. And not even in the “Oh god, I just tripped over the pavement but I managed to still walk away cool because no one noticed” kind of way. I mean truly trips you up. The “Oh god, I’m lying on the floor and people are stepping over me and an old man just had to stop and help me up” kind of way.
Normally I hate books like that because it often feels like the author is doing it just to be clever, but you know when you pick up one of her books that it is Ms Wharton who is in charge and there’s no point arguing.
When I pick up a book by her, I know instantly that I’m going to be in for a brutal yet exquisite journey. Is there anything more you want from a book? 
 
Her characters are immaculate. Just when you think you’ve got them worked out they do or say something that makes you realise that you have got them completely wrong. They may not be the most likeable characters, they may not always do things that you agree with and they might be so blind that you just want to throttle them, but they are real. Countess Olenska is definitely one of my favourite heroines of all time and Newland Archer… well, I have lots of love for that poor, unfortunate man. (Don’t even get me started on Lily from The House of Mirth)

Wharton's wit was and still is unmatched. She could see the world and society in a way that no one else could. She depicted New York society with such fearless honesty that you almost feel like you are there with her characters, eavesdropping on their conversations and sitting next to them as they look out across the theatre and first see the person that will change their entire being. 

And her writing? Well, I’ll let that speak for itself…

“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.” – The Age of Innocence

“Archer reddened to the temples but dared not move or speak: it was as if her words had been some rare butterfly that the least motion might drive off on startled wigs, but that might gather a flock if it were left undisturbed.”- The Age of Innocence 

“She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate.” – The House of Mirth

Absolutely stunning, no?

Of course I can’t talk about The Age of Innocence without mentioning that fantastic adaptation by Martin Scorsese. (who, funnily enough, was one of the two directors I eventually did my dissertation on) And I know this is a book site but… shh. This is definitely one of my favourite book-to-film adaptations. You should definitely check it out if you ever have the chance. But read the book first!
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Jo, I'm not sure how much this makes me want to watch the movie. -F
You might wonder, if I’ve only read two books of hers (at the moment), how she can be my favourite author. 
And you’d have a point. Can an author be your favourite if you’ve only read two books of hers? I’m going to say yes. If an author can stop you in your tracks with her stellar writing, then yes. If an author can make you fall in love with her characters, then yes. If an author can shock you so much with their ending that you actually have to go and buy cheesecake to make you feel better (actually happened), then yes. If an author can reduce you to a quivering wreck at the mere mention of yellow roses, then yes. 

It’s funny how much of a Wharton fan girl I have become in recent years. It seems that, when my birthday and Christmases come round, the go-to present for me is something Wharton related.

I have books.  I have trinket boxes. I have jewellery. 
Edith Wharton related Christmas gifts
Jo's Beautiful Wharton-related Christmas Presents!
Dear Ms Wharton, 

You have not only written two of my favourite books but you have also taught me something incredibly important about myself. I take my classics modern.
 
“Each time you happen to me all over again.”

Yours truly,
Jo.  


Other Modern Classics I Love: 
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolfe.  [Goodreads | Amazon]
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. [Goodreads | Amazon] 
A Room With a View by E.M Forster.  [Goodreads | Amazon] 
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh. [Goodreads | Amazon] 
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (This was another book I was originally planning on dissertating with… I was about 100 pages in when I found out I had to change my subject… but I didn’t stop reading. 730 pages later..) [Goodreads | Amazon] 
Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys. [Goodreads | Amazon] 

A huge thank you to The Readventurer for giving me a venue for my Edith Wharton love-fest. I hope that you enjoyed my post or were so bored by reading it that you ran out instantly to purchase your own copy of The Age of Innocence and/or The House of Mirth. 
Either way, I win!  

Thanks, Jo! One of the best things about classics is that most of them are past their copyright years so you can read them for free on your e-readers or online. If Jo has you uncontrollably drooling for some Edith Wharton,  you can get The Age of Innocence for free on Amazon. (along with more of her works) And don't forget to visit Jo at her own blog, Wear the Old Coat. Our own Catie uploaded her review of The Age of Innocence into our archives, so you should check that out here. Happy reading!
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Classic Post-Apoc/Dystopian Books and Partials ARC Winner

2/12/2012

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When Flannery asked me to write a guest post for The Year of the Classics, I was thrilled.  As a teenager I read classics almost exclusively (nerd alert).  Ironically, now that I’m thirty I spend most of my time reading books that were written for young adults.  Of course that’s obviously not a big deal because thirty is still young.  That’s what I like to tell myself anyway.  I often wonder what our generation’s classics will be – will they be the obscure critical darlings, or the massively popular best sellers? 

Sometimes when I think about the latest dystopian/post-apocalyptic trend, it makes me afraid for the future of this world – like the trend itself is a symptom of our collective acknowledgment that the world will be ending soon. But then I comfort myself by remembering that we’ve been imagining different versions of this world's demise for centuries.  See, the classics aren’t just timeless works of art; they’re useful too. For false but comforting piece of mind!

In honor of the Partials giveaway today, I thought I’d go back and revisit some of my favorite classics in dystopian/post-apocalyptic science fiction.  In any genre, it’s interesting to go back to where it all started.  (For a very comprehensive, not to mention stunning view of science fiction in general – check out this map).  But in this genre it’s particularly interesting, because we’re now living in the time that many of these books tried to envision.  Some of their predictions seem silly now, but some have proven disconcertingly accurate. 

1984 Orwell cover
1984 by George Orwell
First published in 1949

This should be an absolute staple for any dystopian fan.  Orwell’s vision of the future is utterly frightening, all the more so because it’s a plausible one.  In an intensely rigid “utopian” society where surveillance and mind-control are widespread, Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth, revising news and media from the past to fit current propaganda, even as he dreams of breaking free.  Orwell’s vivid descriptions have proven to be, in many ways, prophetic.  

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is
strength.”


Brave New World cover
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
First published in 1932

Aldous Huxley imagined a no less controlling, but very different future than that of George Orwell.  In the society of Brave New World, humanity is mass-produced and conditioned to perform different tasks, resulting in a highly compartmentalized society.  The elite “alphas” live deceptively free lives – being consumers, having sex (but never relationships), and drugging themselves happy.  When outcast alpha Bernard Marx goes on vacation to visit the “savages,” a group of people living in a more collective way, he encounters John, the son of a lost alpha.  Bernard brings him back into society, but John can’t adapt.

“But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real
danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”


Fahrenheit 451 cover
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Originally published in 1950

Another chilling prediction of the future – especially frightening for all of us book nerds. Imagine a society in which all literature is banned and must be burned.  Television watching is a major part of everyday life and too much thinking is discouraged.  Sound a bit too familiar?  Guy Montag is a fireman – only in this society firemen don’t put out fires.  They start them.  Guy loves his job: hunting down and burning illegal books and the homes of those who keep them.  But a chance encounter with a young girl sparks Guy’s thoughts, and soon he becomes dangerously curious.

“We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once
in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”


Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? cover
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
By Philip K. Dick

Originally published in 1968

Philip K. Dick is, in my opinion, the master of the plot-twist.  I always feel excited and a bit nervous when I start one of his stories: I never know what’s going to come next.  In this classic novella, much of the Earth’s organic life has become extinct after mass nuclear war and is now considered precious.  The majority of humanity has fled from Earth to live more comfortably on other planets.  Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter who tracks down and exterminates androids who are passing as human.  This is a very thought-provoking work about empathy and what it means to be human and alive.

“Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or
anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.”

Snow Crash cover
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Originally published in 1992

“But wait…” I hear you say. “This book was published after 1980 and the author is in fact still alive.”  Well, these authors aren’t the only ones who can make predictions.  For my last trick I thought I’d predict a classic of the future.  Dun dun dun!  In this novel, Neal Stephenson describes a world in which everything has been privatized: governments, jails, chop-shops, and even the mafia. The Earth is so overcrowded that people live in tiny storage units – if they’re lucky.  But thankfully there’s the metaverse: a virtual world where people go to escape the real one.  It already sounds familiar!  And did I mention that this novel is incredibly funny?

“Most countries are static, all they need to do is keep having babies. But America's like this big old clanking smoking machine that just lumbers across the landscape scooping up and eating everything in sight.”

And now that you've read through my first post here, I will reward you by handing out fabulous prizes! Many congratulations to Rachel H., the winner of Partials by Dan Wells!
Partials ARC Giveaway Winner
I had so much fun writing this guest post that I've decided to move in here.  Lucky for me, Flannery and Tatiana seem okay with it.  They haven't thrown my stuff out on the curb yet anyway....

I am so happy to be a new member of the Readventurers.  Being a third wheel has never felt this good!
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2012: The Year of the Classics + Giveaway!

1/10/2012

30 Comments

 
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Happy New Year! I've been thinking for a few months about knocking out a significant amount of classics in 2012. I had all these grand ideas of doing a shared blog challenge and setting group goals and cross-posting reviews of any classics my friends read throughout the year. (still will cross-post reviews of some of my fellow bloggers but no "challenge" beyond mere attempt) A few other bloggers ARE running Classics challenges this year so if that is your thing, go for it!

Here are a few I've seen around:
Back To The Classics, hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much
A Classics Challenge, hosted by November's Autumn
Greek Classics Challenge 2012, hosted by Howling Frog Books

I had several conversations with friends about what a "classic" book is and it seems obvious that the definition is different for everyone. (Duh.) I'm not here to declare myself QUEEN OF THE INTERWEBZ and lay down the definition of a classic for all. But HEAR YE, HEAR YE! The Readventurer declares that the definition of a classic, for the purposes of her 2012 reading goals is just any book written before 1980 whose author is deceased. Sure, there are modern classics whose authors are still alive. Sure, there are hundreds of thousands (or millions) of books that fit the criteria which are underwhelming and/or utter crap. But I don't care about that, all I care about is jumping into a bunch of stories and oldey timey drama and crossing off list items. Speaking of lists, I'm going to start with the Pulitzer Prize winners at the beginning, though I'll probably jump around once in a while. Despite the fact that I've read over a thousand books, I was a bit embarrassed when I added the list of winners to my blog and found that I'd read...wait for it...wait for it...

ONE BOOK ON THE LIST.

Welcome to Mortification Station, me. (it was Killer Angels by Michael Shaara but I'm just going to reread it because I don't remember it at all) So my quest to read these worthy titles begins with His Family by Ernest Poole. Never heard of it? I hadn't either! Here's the blurb from the world's most accurate source for information, Wikipedia:

        His Family tells the story of a middle class family in New York City in the 1910s. The family's patriarch,  widower Roger Gale, struggles to deal with the way his daughters and grandchildren respond to the              changing society. Each of his daughters responds in a distinctively different way to the circumstances of their  lives, forcing Roger into attempting to calm the increasingly challenging family disputes that erupt.

In all seriousness, I'm excited. It's on. Oh, and let me know if you are reading any classics this year, whether it is for a challenge or not. If you want to cross-post any reviews, just let me know.

Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS! You finished reading this post. If you comment on this thread and tell me one classic that you are embarrassed you haven't read or that you want to read this year, you can enter to win one Penguin clothbound classic (up to $15,the link shows 24 choices but there are more than that available in the price range). Open Internationally. Fill out your info on the contact form and extra entries if you tweet or blog about it. I WANT ALL THE CLOTHBOUND CLASSICS! Contest ends 1/31, 9pm PST. Good luck!

Here's a sample tweet: Enter to win the Penguin Clothbound Classic of your choice @TheReadventurer: http://www.thereadventurer.com/1/post/2012/01/2012-the-year-of-the-classics-giveaway.html

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LOOK HOW PRETTY!
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Contest now closed. 
The Winner is Bonnie from Bonnie's Sweet Tidbits!

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