Ranking Pulitzer Prize winners into tiers.

Click on image to make it larger. Updated June 2024.

The other day, when I had other things I should have been doing, I started messing around instead with a tiered ranking site called Mural after watching Greg on Supposedly Fun on his YouTube channel. Greg introduced the idea of creating a tiered ranking for the Pulitzer Prize winners he's read, 41 books. I thought that I'd like to create a tiered ranking for all the Pulitzer's I've read, 44 books (notice whose read more-- brag, brag.) I then spent several hours messing around with the form to come up with the chart you see above. 

Greg's chart has six categories: Best, Great, Good, Meh, Oof, and Awful. As I started creating mine I decided "awful" was too harsh for my chart since I recognized that even though I don't particularly like a book, say Tinkers by Harding, I recognize it's literary merit. Greg's "Oof" category matches my "Has not stood the test of time." I used to love Gone With the Wind, for example, but now see it as a very racist book which has probably caused damage not only to a whole race of people but also to our country in general. Roots was read by everyone in the 1970s but now information has come to light that the author plagiarized another's work, at least thirty-five times! The others in this category just don't stand up to time and to history. 

I read the six books in my middle categories quite a while ago. Impressions were left behind in my memory so I'd consider rereading all of them but it is unlikely I will. There are so many other books I want to read for the first time.

Honestly, I usually think all of the Pulitzer winners are great. Notice how top heavy my chart is. I realize now that I don't have a category for an average evaluation. Ha!

I really struggled with which books deserve the moniker: "Best". My favorite Pulitzer Prize winner, To Kill a Mockingbird, was a no-brainer. It was the best, in my mind, but should it hold this spot alone? I decided to include Beloved by Toni Morrison, for its literary brilliance, and The Grapes of Wrath for its accurate accounting of a very dismal time in American history.

In the other two categories of Great and Very Good I tried to rank my choices (left to right), so I acknowledge that I like Lonesome Dove a bit better than The Orphan Master's Son. But honestly, I like them both very much!

Your turn. 

• Have you read any of the Pulitzer Prize winners? 
• Do you agree with my tiered ranking? 
• Disagree? 
• Have you read others winners not on this list that you would recommend? Let's discuss.

Note: If you click on the image it will make it larger so you can see the tiny book covers better. 😄

 

-Anne