My Antonia

My Antonia is the first Willa Cather novel I have read.  After finishing this delightful story, I can report that I am looking forward to reading more of this Pulitzer Prize-winning author.  Cather tells the story of a small Nebraska town and its inhabitants with ease.  The reader is transported back to seemingly simpler days on the prairie; My Antonia is narrated by Jim Burden, who we meet first as a young boy and then watch him grow into adulthood, and his friendship with an immigrant girl from Bohemia.  Jim becomes Antonia's first friend in the new country, and we follow the adventures of Jim and his Tony, as well as their other family and friends.  Though their lives are so very different from each other, there still remains a connection between the two, even after the complexities of life separates them from each other for extended periods. 

Cather's style of writing is simplistically beautiful; I found her neither long-winded nor non-descript, and I loved how she weaved dialogue easily with descriptive passages, creating a wonderfully flowing story.  I believe this novel from the list of 100 is definitely one of my favorite reads thus far; I think it is one which can easily garner interesting discussions and debates, and there is also value in terms of the historical nature.  I also believe that this is a book which many people would like to read more than once; there are not many stories which I would read more than once (um, except I read Jane Austen books once a year), but this is one which I know I would enjoy again- and would most likely learn a great deal more than I did the first time through it.