"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Dare I embark on a new challenge? A big one?

After ruminating about some of my favorite books of the past few years I realized that many of them were Pulitzer Prize winners. While looking at the PP list of books I also realized there were several others on the list I've "always" wanted to read. So I am embarking on a big challenge...or a small one depending how I approach it...to read the Pulitzer Prize winning book each year moving forward AND to catch up on past winners (the ones I have identified on the chart.) It sounds doable: one book per year plus as many as I want to read to catch up. But, to keep the pressure a little lower, I am not signing my name on anyone's challenge page about this. Ha!

Pulitzer Prize List for the past 15 years and beyond 
(no award was issued for fiction in 2012)

Have you read any Pulitzer Prize books? What are your favorites? Do you have other suggestions of books I should add to this list? Here is the actual Pulitzer list for fiction.

Year
Title
Author
Read
Comments
2016




2015
All the Light We Cannot See
Doerr, Anthony
Aug '15
My favorite book of 2015.
2014
Goldfinch, The
Tartt, Donna
Dec '14
One of my favorite books of 2014.
2013
Orphan Master's Son
Johnson, Adam


2011
Visit from the Goon Squad, A
Egan, Jennifer


2010
Tinkers
Harding, Paul


2009
Olive Kitteridge
Strout, Elizabeth
Mar '10
I discovered I can like a book and not like the main character.
2008
Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, A
Diaz, Junot

I started this one. Why didn’t I finish?
2007
Road, The
McCarthy, Cormac


2006
March, The
Brooks, Geraldine
Apr '08
Made me want to re-read Little Women
2005
Gilead
Robinson, Marianne


2004
Known World, The
Jones, Edward


2003
Middlesex
Eugenides, Jeffrey
Oct '06
Indescribably good.
2002
Empire Falls
Russo, Richard
Apr '05

2001
Amazing Kavalier and Clay, The
Charbon, Micahel


2000
Interpreter of Maladies
Lahiri, Jhumpa


1999
Hours, The
Cunningham, Michael


1995
Stone Diaries
Shields, Carol
1996

1994
Shipping News
Proulx, Annie
1997
I’ve long thought of this as one of my top ten favorite books.
1992
Thousand Acres, A
Smiley, Jane
1993
Demands to be discussed!
1988
Beloved
Morrison, Toni
2010
 The Gold Standard!
1986
Lonesome Dove
McMurty, Larry


1983
Color Purple, The
Walker, Alice
2009
Listen to this on audiobooks.
1981
Confederacy of Dunces, A
Toole, John Kennedy
2013
 This book is in a category of its own. Love it!
1972
Angle of Repose
Stegner, Wallace
1995

1961
To Kill a Mockingbird
Lee, Harper
2008
 Can you believe I waited so long to read this classic?
1953
Old Man and the Sea, The
Hemingway, Ernest
1972



8 comments:

  1. Good look with this! It seems like a really hard challenge! Can't wait to see how you do!

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  2. Lisa, I know. I am a bit worried about it but I figure I only actually HAVE TO READ one book for sure every year. I can catch up at my own pace, no hurry. I figure that makes the challenge doable. Now I am worried the winner will be 800 pages or some crazy-long book which will seem like a mountain to conquer. Ha!

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  3. I read more than I thought. I loved Lonesome Dove and Middlesex. I enjoyed most of the Goldfinch, although I thought it was about 100 pages too long.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Goldfinch WAS long, but so good. Now I want to go and read Tartt's book The Little Friend. It has very good reviews, too.

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    2. Yes, Goldfinch WAS long, but so good. Now I want to go and read Tartt's book The Little Friend. It has very good reviews, too.

      Delete
  4. Ooh, I love this.
    I tried to read Confederacy of Dunces when I was about twelve, because my big sister kept raving about it, and I hated it. I guess maybe I should try again! Also, while I loved both Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety, I was disturbed to learn recently about charges of plagiarism and paternalism brought to Stegner for appropriating not just the life, but the words of Mary Hallock Foote in his writing. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/mar/23/magazine/tm-stegner12

    Of the ones I've read that you have not, my favorites are Visit from the Goon Squad and Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay. Middlesex, Beloved, and TKAM are so deserving of this and every prize. I'm afraid to read The Road--it sounds so grim. I wish you great luck in this undertaking!

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    Replies
    1. If you like audiobooks at all, listen to A Confederacy of Dunces. It is brilliant!

      I am not sure I want to know anything bad about Stegner. I love his books so much i don't want them wrecked in my memory.

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  5. what a cool thing to do, going through the Pulitzers! I didn't read To Kill a Mockingbird until way late as well. I haven't read the newly published book, have you?

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