Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Opening Sentence of the Day: O Pioneers!



"One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away."

-- O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

That is a terrific opening sentence. And it took me immediately back to my childhood in Waterloo, a little town anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, where I spent every January trying not to be blown away.

This novel is on the Radcliffe list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century -- the rival to the Modern Library's list.  Finishing the Modern Library list inspired me to start this blog. Now I am inspired to get the Radcliffe list finished once and for all.

5 comments :

  1. I haven't really taken a look at the Radcliffe list. Are the lists very different? I'll have to check that out.

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  2. SocrMom -- There is a lot of overlap between the lists, but I've never gone through and calculated how many.

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  3. I'm imagining little bent over houses, tilted against the wind. Diagonal families stand outside their doors.

    This is a funny image. What a great opening.

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  4. Biblibio -- Diagonal is about right. That prairie wind is something!

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  5. That is a great first line! I love O Pioneers. I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to Willa Cather. She was so amazing. I love how she wrote such detailed and beautiful descriptions of things, but never at the expense of character development.

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