Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Juan Rulfo or Willa Cather
Wow! What a combo of Authors this month.

Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno, best known as Juan Rulfo, was a Mexican writer, screenwriter, and photographer. He is best known for two literary works, the 1955 novel Pedro Páramo and the collection of short stories El llano en llamas This collection includes the popular tale "¡Diles que no me maten!" ("Tell Them Not to Kill Me!").


Willa Sibert Cather was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains:

Novels
Alexander's Bridge (1912)
O Pioneers! (1913)
The Song of the Lark (1915)
My Ántonia (1918)
One of Ours (1922)
A Lost Lady (1923)
The Professor's House (1925)
My Mortal Enemy (1926)
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927)
Shadows on the Rock (1931)
Lucy Gayheart (1935)
Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940)

Short Fiction
The Troll Garden (1905)
Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920)
Obscure Destinies (1932)
Neighbour Rosicky (1932)
The Old Beauty and Others (1948)
Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, 1892-1912 (1965)
Uncle Valentine and Other Stories: Willa Cather's Uncollected Short Fiction, 1915-1929 (1972)

Check out her Poetry
April Twilights (1903)
April Twilights and Other Poems (1923)

Check out our prior thread"
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Lesle wrote: "Juan Rulfo or Willa Cather
Wow! What a combo of Authors this month.

Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno, best known as Juan Rulfo, was a Mexican writer, sc..."

Good choice, Lesle! I think I’ll read Willa Cather’s My Ántonia again.

I've read Pedro Páramo, a fascinating book.

I'm going to read Alexander's Bridge since it's Cather's first novel.

I'll be reading Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo.

I have Rulfo's Pedro Páramo also I would like to read, after I finish my other two. So far behind.
Election just interferes with my reading lol

I finished reading My Ántonia today. Although I enjoyed it, it wasn’t as good as I remembered - perhaps I just wasn’t in the right mood this time.

Thank you for sharing Trisha.

My mood has a lot to do with my reading as well.
Stress has even more.

I read Alexander's Bridge, Cather's first novel published in 1912. I liked the characters, especially Bartley Alexander and Hilda Burgoyne. At times I had to remind myself that I was reading Cather, and not Edith Wharton!

Kathy wrote: "At times I had to remind myself that I was reading Cather, and not Edith Wharton!..."

That made me giggle Kathy.

I think Alexander's Bridge is one that I need to find.

I liked the story a lot, Lesle. I hope you enjoy it,

Although Rulfo was not a very productive author, writing only two books, he is still considered one of the finest writers of the 20th century creating an impact and inspiring many other Latin American authors such as Gabriel García Márquez. Rulfo began writing during the 1940s and published his collection of short stories entitled El llano en llamas at the age of 35. The stories were a depiction of the harsh realities of life, showing the world to be a cruel place to live in. They were set in rural Mexico during the times of the Mexican Revolution and Cristero Rebillion. The best liked story of this collection, Diles que no me maten! (Tell Them Not to Kill Me!) revolves around an old man who is to be executed whose prison guard happens to be the son of the man he killed. Another story of much interest to readers is ¿No oyes ladrar los perros? (Don’t You Hear the Dogs Bark?) about a man desperately trying to find a doctor with his wounded son on his back.

Cather’s highly acclaimed novel One of Ours published in 1923 is considered to be the milestone in her writing career. The novel narrates the journey of a young man named Claude Wheeler whose quest to find his life’s purpose leaves him disappointed. His romantic idealism is not fulfilled by a marriage but bloodshed on a battlefield. Wheeler represents a lost American whose pursuit of purpose is satisfied by the chaos and mayhem of war. She was awarded the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for the sensitive and realistic subject matter of her novel. Willa Cather suffered a cerebral hemorrhage which resulted in her death in 1947.

I loved the novel One of Ours and rated it 5 stars. I found Claude's story very moving.

Lesle wrote: "I think Alexander's Bridge is one that I need to find."

I actually have this one Kathy in a combo book!
I need to finish Out of Africa and hopefully can start on this one soon!

I’m traveling at the moment and have finished the books I had packed. Thanks to Lesle and Kathy for their comments on One of Ours. I downloaded it from Hoopla and read first few chapters last night. I was hooked pretty quickly, that will be my read for Cather.

I hope you enjoy it, Diane!

I love Cather's description of nature in One of Ours.

It sounds like another good one for Cather! Hope you enjoy it too Diane!

I decided to start with Juan Rulfo's
Pedro Páramo

Yes it is a paperback!


Starting on my lunch in just a bit!

I'll be starting Pedro Páramo tomorrow, Lesle. I'd planned to read it over the weekend but unexpectedly got busy.

Oh good!

The trip to Comala is good until he gets to his Mother's best friends house. She is a bit odd.

It reads easily.

I've just finished Alexander's Bridge and it is more like an Edith Wharton book.
From her description of London, I gathered she must have spent some time there.

Finally I managed to start Pedro Páramo and read about half. It is a very unusual and thought provoking work but the tone is too depressing to my liking. I'll probably finish it tonight. Afterwards I'll have to find something to cheer me up.

Here's what I thought of Pedro Páramo. Please feel free to read it if you are up to it. :)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I need to finish reading before enjoying your review Piyangie!

Lesle wrote: "I need to finish reading before enjoying your review Piyangie!"

That's good, Lesle. It has some spoilers. :)