Today Chelsey and Sara are discussing My Antonia by Willa Cather with a special guest: Michelle Timmins, English literature student and Novel Pairings assistant extraordinaire. There’s plenty to discuss in this wintry classic, including stunning imagery, surprising connections to an American Girl Doll, and where Cather’s novel fits into the American literary canon. Plus, as always, we’re recommending six contemporary books to pair with our classic, including a Western, an arctic memoir, and a nonfiction book about grief.
Books Mentioned:
My Antonia by Willa Cather (Amazon)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (Amazon)
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (Amazon)
Also mentioned: Deconstruction Theory
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Michelle’s Pairings:
- How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang (Amazon)
- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (Amazon)
Sara’s Pairings:
- How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa (Amazon)
- Wintering by Katherine May (Amazon)
Chelsey’s Pairings:
- A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter (Amazon)
- Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee (Amazon)
Novel Pairings 
Dear Chelsea and Sara,
Your show has rapidly become one of my very favorite book podcasts. I enjoyed the episode on My Ántonia, a book I only recently read, even though my mother tried to get me to read it for years (decades!).
I wanted to let you know that in the Bohemian version of the title name, the accent is on the first syllable (as in Anthony). That is, AN-ton-ee-ah. And Cather uses an accent mark above the A to indicate the stress.
I pronounce my name An-TOH-nee-ah, except when I’m in Italy, where it’s An-toh-NEE-ah. 🙂
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