Willa Cather (1873-1947), one of my favorites among America’s great authors, spent her formative years between nine and sixteen in Red Cloud, in south-central Nebraska. The scenery of the Great Plains seared itself into her psyche and suffused much of her writing. She might be best known for her so-called prairie trilogy, which comprises O … Continue reading A Visit to Catherland
I had my first encounter with the eloquent writing of Geraldine Brooks in her novel Year of Wonders (2001), about the 1666 outbreak of bubonic plague in Eyam, an English village. It brings the horrors of the epidemic alive through the eyes of the maid Anna whose life is derailed in unforeseen ways. She evolves … Continue reading Geraldine Brooks: Some Thoughts on her Books
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the ever-growing canon of literature. Like many readers, I whittle away at the “classics”, and I am (very) slowly making progress (see my review of Don Quixote), but I also want to keep up with more recent publications. To familiarize myself with “good” American writing, I opted to … Continue reading My 2016 Pulitzer Reading List
When I realize that my sojourn in Germany coincides with the Frankfurt Book Fair, there is no question in my mind that I will attend. Despite living in Germany for the first two decades of my life, in those years I either lacked the opportunity, or the curiosity. The annual five-day affair is tailored to … Continue reading For the Love of Books
Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote loomed on my literary horizon for over 30 years, ever since I enjoyed a portion of a German translation as a teenager. Still venerated as one of the masterpieces of world literature, Cervantes (1547-1616) published part one in 1605, but required the impetus of a fake sequel by another writer … Continue reading Back to La Mancha-Some Thoughts
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