2016 Pulitzer Prize Challenge

When Pulitzer Prizes are handed out in 2016, it will mark the centennial of the awards. A better year to focus on the Pulitzers couldn't be had.

I have, especially in the last 10 months, accumulated a significant number of Pulitzer Prize winning books. These aren't fiction alone, but general non-fiction, history, and biography. I'd like to focus some dedicated reading-time to these books, which hasn't been possible in 2015 given the "challenges" I took on as a newbie. A number of LTers have expressed an interest in participating, at least in part.

While no one wants to read nothing but these prize-winners in 2016, I'm planning to set aside two reading slots a month for PP winners; one spot for novels, one spot for "miscellany," encompassing general NF, history, and biography, poetry, and drama.

For myself, I'll post two lists. The first will have at least 15 prize-winning novels. The second will have at least 15 prize-winners from the general non-fiction, history, biography, drama, and poetry categories. My commitment is to read 12 from each list in the course of 2016. No a month from each list. I see no value in assigning a book to a month; all that does is increase the pressure. Picking extras offers a measure of choice as the reading year progresses.

Because the challenge is for your reading pleasure, join in however you like. Read six, or three. Read only novels, or only non-fiction, or a mix. Post a list of potential reads, or not.

Let the reading of prize-winners begin!

             

Here are the two lists from which I'll select Pulitzer Prize winners to read. I intend to read 12 from Fiction Candidates and 12 from Miscellany Candidates. ROOT indicates the listed book is one I own today (12/31/15).

Fiction Candidates
1921: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton ROOT
1932: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ROOT
1939: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ROOT
1952: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk ROOT
1973: The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty ROOT
1983: The Color Purple by Alice Walker ROOT
1986: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ROOT
1989: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler ROOT
1991: Rabbit at Rest by John Updike ROOT
1992: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley ROOT
1994: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx ROOT
2000: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri ROOT
2002: Empire Falls by Richard Russo ROOT
2003: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides ROOT
2006: March by Geraldine Brooks ROOT
2007: The Road by Cormac McCarthy ROOT
2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz ROOT
2013: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson ROOT

Miscellany Candidates
1937: The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865 by Van Wyck Brooks (Hist.) ROOT
1948: Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto (Hist)
1949: Roosevelt and Hopkins by Robert E. Sherwood (Bio) ROOT
1954: A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton (Hist)
1969: So Human an Animal by Rene Dubos (GenNF) ROOT
1970: Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department by Dean Acheson (Hist)
1972: Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph Lash (Bio) ROOT
1973: Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam by Frances FitzGerald (GenNF)
1974: The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin (Hist) ROOT
1976: Edith Wharton: A Biography by R. W. B. Lewis (Bio) ROOT
1978: Samuel Johnson by Walter Jackson Bate (Bio)
1981: Peter the Great: His Life and Work by Robert K. Massie (Bio) ROOT
1989: Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann (Bio) ROOT
1993: Truman by David McCullough (Bio) ROOT
1993: Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills (GenNF)
1997: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (Bio) ROOT
2007: The Most Famous Man in America by Debby Applegate (Bio) ROOT
2011: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (Bio) ROOT

I'll be joining in spontaneously here and there Bill. Goodness knows we're not lacking for challenge options this year! :-)

For January, I've planned to combine this challenge with the AAC by reading Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler. I'll post a list of possibles (i.e. all Pulitzer-winners on my tbr) soon.

Well, I've got a lot of challenges going, but I can try 1 per month. I'll start with The Devil in the Grove, by Gilbert King

I am also planning to read Breathing Lessons in January. I've included a Pulitzer winners category in my Category Challenge, so I hope to read at least six or so... Goodness knows, there are plenty on my shelves.....

Thanks for setting this up, Bill. I plan on reading a few, through out the year but I am not sure what they will be, other than The Stone Diaries, which I have on shelf.

I've read several already. But have long toyed with the idea of trying to read all Pulitzer fiction books. You inspire me! Thanks for your list of selections.

By the way, coincidentally, I happen to be currently reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.

In January I'll read The Magnificent Ambersons.

>9 Ameise1: Hurray. That's a good one; I read it a couple of year ago. A great start.

I do believe my first two Pulitzer reads (for January) will be Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler, to tie in with the American Author Challenge, and Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, to tie in with the NF Challenge. Tyler's book won the fiction prize in 1989, McCourt's the 1997 biography prize.

>10 weird_O: Thanks, Bill. Looking forward to this reading.

>4 The_Hibernator: If it helps, I really liked that one!

Good luck with your challenge. There are some excellent books among the Pulitzer fiction winners. I've been working on reading all of them for a few years now. I got several more for Christmas presents and have some others on my shelves. You inspire me to focus more on this effort in 2016.

>15 RebaRelishesReading: Reba, do you have a link to the full lists of winners? I know I could Google it, but I'm feeling lazy tonight. :-)

>16 rosalita: Here's the LT list: http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Pulitzer+Prize

Wikipedia also has lists of Pulitzer winners by category

>17 weird_O: Thank you! I was poking around LT trying to figure out how to get to the book awards that I was sure were here somewhere and couldn't figure it out.

Hmmm.... I'm not committing to monthly reading commitments, but I may drop in and out here with a book or two.

>19 tymfos: It'll be great to have you, Terri. Participate whenever, however it suits you reading.

Glad you got your link. I printed the list a few years ago and carry the tattered thing with me when I go to used bookstores but I didn't have the link handy.

I like to use the lists on the Pulitzer site because they also have the short listed works for the years that information has been made public. The links to all the Prize categories can be found here.

My plan for the Pulitzer Challenge is to focus on Drama. I plan to read at least 18 of the plays that were either short listed or won for Drama. I also plan to read winners from other categories, but I'm not sure how many to commit to. My original thought was 12, but I think I'll start with 6 and see how it goes.

>22 Dejah_Thoris: Thanks for that link, Dejah!

All the winners can be found on this page under the heading "Letters, Drama, and Music" organized by category (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc.): http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat

Oops Dejah_Thoris had already posted it! ;-)

Angela's Ashes is one of my favorite books.

I have 4 Pulitzers on my TBR shelves so I will try to read one of these a month as part of my challenge. I can always then continue with any of the other prizes that are unread.

I have a few PP winners on my Booker Prize winner shelf. What better motivation to read them do I need!?
*starred*

I read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. (just finished.) It was a terrific book!

I absolutely loved Gilead!

I may read Breathing Lessons to go with the AAC. We'll see - I have a bunch of books lined up ahead of it, including an inter-library loan.

<28 I loved it too. I would also recommend reading Lila as soon as you can.

>30 RebaRelishesReading: But not before you read Home, which is the sequel to Gilead and "prequel" to Lila.

Finished the fiction winner from 1989 - Breathing Lessons.

My review is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/210631#5409389.

>31 rosalita: Thank you Julia. I didn't know about that one....off to order it :)

It does my heart good to see Gilead and its offsprings getting such positive attention here. Marilynne Robinson did a FANtastic job with building the community of friends and neighbors in these books. I've read Gilead three times and get something new from it each time.

My Pulitzer Read this month will be A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler which won the fiction award in 1993.

>35 PaulCranswick: I have been meaning to red that for ages. If only I hadn't only just started a new book last night (Walden by Henry David Thoreau) I might have started that one with you!

>35 PaulCranswick: >36 LovingLit: Paul and Megan: I read that one a while ago and enjoyed it, which is saying something since I usually really don't like short story collections. These stories were beautifully written, though - Paul, I think you'll love it.

I'm pleased to see how many of the full list of Pulitzers I've actually read (or in the case of plays, seen). Lot's more waiting, of course, some of them on my shelves. I haven't decided what I might get to this month, but I have a lot of ROOTS to choose from.

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler (Pulitzer Prize 1993) 249p

A mere glance at this thread prompted me to pick this one up from my shelf, finally. I am not sure if I can say that I like short stories or not, but I do like it when they are grouped on a theme, as this collection is. It somehow makes it easier to go to the next story, when you can expect something from the last story to be familiar in the next. These stories are all centered around Vietnamese people who have settled in the New Orleans area post the Vietnam war. They are about all manner of things, but share a common thread of settling into America and retaining the Vietnamese culture. The longest story, and my favourite, was The American Couple. I had to check where the story was going to end in relation to the pages in the book, as it seemed a slow starter, I didn't want to race-read it in anticipation of it ending in a few pages time. I am glad I took my time as this story was taking its own time to work towards its spectacular peak.

Good review, Megan. Hope you have other (unread) Pulitzer winners on your shelves

>40 weird_O: I do, Bill.
Empire Falls, Interpreter of Maladies, Middlesex, March, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. There may be even more residing amongst my other shelved books...

I have been on one of my stat searches looking ostensibly at the popularity of winning books and authors on the site. I looked at the Bookers yesterday and thought I would 'do' the Pulitzer Fiction/Novel prize.

89 Books have been awarded with the Pulitzer Fiction/Novel Prize (I haven't included books such as For Whom the Bell Tolls, Augie March and Gravity's Rainbow which weren't ratified for whatever reason). The five most popular on LT (member's catalogs)

1 To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee (1961) - 50,006 copies
2 The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2007) - 23,769 copies
3 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1940) - 22,564 copies
4 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2003) - 21,135 copies
5 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1953) - 9,878 copies

I am surprised that Lonesome Dove which was so frquently mentioned as The Great American Novel on Joe's survey last year places only 23rd with 5,063 copies.

The five most obscure

1 Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin (1944) - 69 copies
2 The Store by T.S. Stribling (1933) - 75 copies
3 The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson (1924) - 79 copies
4 Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes (1931) - 98 copies
5 In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow (1942) - 103 copies

86 Different authors have won. The five most popular on LT:

1 John Steinbeck - 115,315 books cataloged
2 Ernest Hemingway - 97,202 books cataloged
3 Cormac McCarthy - 58,041 books cataloged
4 William Faulkner - 57,811 books cataloged
5 Harper Lee - 52,120 books cataloged

Harper Lee has the greatest proportion of her work concentrated in a winning novel (95.94%) whereas A Fable by Faulkner which won in 1955 represents only 0.88% of his books cataloged on LT

The most obscure winning writers

1 - Margaret Wilson - 85 books cataloged
2 - Martin Flavin - 88 books cataloged
3 - Margaret Ayer Barnes - 123 books cataloged
4 - Caroline Miller - 143 books cataloged
5 - Julia Peterkin - 154 books cataloged

Three authors have won twice (excluding Hemingway) - John Updike, William Faulkner and Booth Tarkington.

Shortest winning title - March by Geraldine Brooks (2006) (5 letters)
So Big by Edna Ferber (1925) (5 letters)
Longest winning title - Martin Dressler : The Tale of an American Dreamer (1997) (40 letters)

Most popular winning male name - John (5 winners) - Steinbeck, Hersey, Kennnedy Toole, Updike and Cheever
Most popular winning female name - Margaret (3 winners) - Mitchell, Wilson and Barnes

Loving these stats, Paul. I found it interesting that John Updike won twice for the 'other two' Rabbit books, I really want to read them but can only find small font books at the library (what is wrong with them that they don't have multiple editions of such great classics?).

>42 PaulCranswick: Paul, thanks for reminding us that statistics can be fun and interesting. I'm surprised that I haven't heard of those obscure authors. After all, they did win a prestigious prize.

The Color Purple has been on my to-read shelf since October 2014, this is a good excuse to finally crack that one open!

Fun stats!

I'm thinking I should read Breathing Lessons by the end of the month, to also fit the AAC. The library has it. But I'd really like to read Lila. (I've already read Gilead and Home and loved them, especially Gilead.)

I have been absent from LT for a long time but am going to try and participate more in the challenges in 2016.
I love Anne Tyler, having read quite a few of her books, and I have quite a few unread ones on my book shelves. I will read Breathing Lessons since I am also going to participate in the American Author Challenge and Tyler is the author for January. Breathing Lessons was one of my mother's favourite books.

Finished my first Pulitzer Prize read of the new year: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. Won the prize for biography in 1997. It's also my read for Chatterbox's Non-Fiction Challenge for January. Though relieved by wry humor and even some comic episodes, it's a grim story.

Now reading Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler, the fiction winner for 1989.

I started reading Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler this evening, to also fit the AAC challenge.

Here's January's Pulitzer book:



Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, The Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, by Gilbert King, narrated by Peter Francis James

In this 2013 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Devil in the Grove is about Thurgood Marshall's ("Mr Civil Rights" and arguably one of the best lawyers of the 20th century) work to save three black men accused of gang raping a 17 year old girl.

Gilbert King did an amazing amount of research for this book including reading the FBI's Groveland case files and the NAACP's legal defense files - and this research really shone through. His prose was acerbic at times, and it flowed smoothly keeping my interest the whole way through. Devil in the Grove gave a lot of background information on Thurgood Marshall's life outside of the of the trial, thus bringing a personal light to the story. Gilbert also included stories about KKK activities against lawyers who defended black people accused of rape, which was terrifying and disgusting.

Overall, a fantastic book. Read it.



Next month I plan on reading The Reivers, by William Faulkner :) ETA: I thought it would fit in well with my modernist literature theme.

I just finished The Bridge of San Luis Rey, a 1928 novel winner by Thornton Wilder. I thought the book was excellent. A book not to everyone's taste I imagine, but I was captivated by the characters, the writing, and the exploration of human nature and destiny.

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler

Date of Publication : 1992
Pages : 269
Bill's Pulitzer Challenge - Won Fiction prize in 1993.

This is a series of short stories (although one would be close to a novella in length) that depict the Vietnamese experience of the war there and struggles of relocation in the States. Told from the perspective exclusively of the South Vietnamese who lost the war as I take it that Olen Butler was intimate with that constituency from his time there.

Sensitive and varied, Butler does a splendid job in these tales of relating a difficult period for all concerned. 1992 was a relatively strong year for fiction but I would have thought that The Secret History or Bastard out of Carolina were more deserving of the Pulitzer than this collection despite it being meritorious.

Well my first Pulitzer is read. A Visit from the Goon Squad. It took a bit of application on my part as I can't say I related to any of the characters and their lifestyles. I found the changing timeline and narrators frustrating too. I admit to being surprised it received the Pulitzer.

Like a number of others, my first Pulitzer read for the year was Breathing Lessons, which I quite enjoyed. I am approaching these books with some trepidation since I often don't seem to like Pulitzer winners for some reason.

I'm reading and counting Pulitzer Prize finalists in addition to winners, which puts me at three this month.

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2010.

Terrance McNally's A Perfect Ganesh was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1994 and Dinner With Friends by Donald Margulies won in 2000.

I haven't even started my Anne Tyler book Breathing Lessons for Jan but I will try and get it done this month.
I will also try Empire Falls for my Feb read.

I just read the Pulitzer-winning poetry collection Neon Vernacular by Yusef Komunyakaa. Pretty good, especially the poems in the second half.

I just finished Five Days at Memorial harrowing, but definitely a worthy non-fiction winner. Thanks to everyone who raved about it last year.

>58 charl08: Not to be overly picky, but... While Five Days at Memorial did win quite a few prizes, but the Pulitzer was not one of them. I checked both the LT list and the various category lists at Wikipedia. The LT list of Pulitzer winners does end with "Recommendations," but those are not winners. Putting it there is misleading, in my opinion.

I finished Anne Tyler's Pulitzer winning novel, Breathing Lessons on 1/26/16, but only got my book report posted today. It's found here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/210740#5456913

I liked the book. Yes, yes, Maggie is a trial, but so is life, maybe especially the lives of ordinary people. The prize, by the way, was for 1989.

>58 charl08: I loved that book, which remained a lonely 5 star rater amongst my last years reads. I thought the author had been awarded a Pulitzer too.

>59 weird_O: While Five Days at Memorial did win quite a few prizes, the Pulitzer was not one of them.

Well, it should have! I remember being ticked off that not only did it not win a Pulitzer Prize, it wasn't even listed as a finalist for any of the categories. Fortunately it did win the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction in 2013. That glaring omission was one of the last straws for me with the Pulitzers, which I only pay passing attention to anymore.

Having said that, I do plan to read Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith this month, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2012. :-)

> 62 What he said about Five Days at Memorial . . .

>62 kidzdoc:, >63 brenpike: Ditto

Crumbs. Thanks Bill. It wasn't LT's fault- the cover mentioned the Pulitzer - I found it online - looks like I'm not the only one who has bad days at work...

>65 charl08: Wow! Pretty major mistake by the publisher.

>65 charl08: It's like one of those movie posters where they say "Academy Award Winner" under an actor's name. They've won one, just not for that movie. In 2010, Sheri Fink won a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for an article she wrote. (Which was also apparently about Memorial Hospital.)

>67 ursula: Ah! Good one, Ursula. That explains it. IMO, it's deceptive the way they've done it, just as if the movie poster made it look like the movie, not the actor, won the Academy Award.

>62 kidzdoc: Major ditto for me too. I thought it was an earth shaking read. Five Days at Memorial

>67 ursula: Thanks for explaining Ursula. That one threw me for a loop.

>50 The_Hibernator: Yes Devil in the Grove is fantastic!!

Started February by reading Pulitzer Prize winning drama (1938) Our Town by Thornton Wilder. This is a familiar play, perhaps best known for its minimalist staging and its character, the Stage Manager, who hosts the show and slips into the citizenry as soda jerk and minister. My play report is here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/210740#5460011

I've finished my first book The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkingon. My thoughts can be read here.

I did read a non-fiction Pulitzer winner in January, I've merely been dilatory in completing my Weird Book Report. That I have done. I posted it here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/210740#5479478

 

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories by Robert Olen Butler 3.8 stars

These fifteen stories, narrated in different voices, are about the Vietnamese experience. Dealing with the harsh realities, of decades of war, in their homeland, and their immigrant struggles, as they adjust to living in America. This is well-written and there are a few excellent stories, but for me, it never really soared the way I hoped, especially a collection that won the Pulitzer Prize. I read a similar book last year, called In the Country: Stories, which dealt with the Filipino experience but did capture the warmth and beauty I was searching for.

I've finally reviewed The Reivers, by William Faulkner, which won the prize in Fiction in 1963:



The Reivers, by William Faulkner, Narrated by John H. Mayer

In this Pulitzer Prize winning novel, 11 year old Lucas Priest is talked into stealing his grandpa's car by his family friend Boon Hogganbeck. One of the Priest family retainers manages to sneak into the car and comes along for the ride. The trio make their way to Memphis, where Boon has a girl he'd like to court. Along the way, they lose the car, gain a racehorse, and generally get in trouble.

This is supposed to be one of Faulkner's more light-hearted and easy-to-read books, and I agree with that assessment. Despite its serious topic, it has a subtle humor throughout. The plot tends to be pretty loose and easy to follow. The characters are strong and endearing. Overall, I found the book quite enjoyable and am pleased that I chose this Faulkner book to read, rather that one of his heavier books. I do want to read his heavier books, but sometimes it's nice just to read something light-hearted by one of the best American authors.



Not sure what I'll read next.

I finished Empire Falls by Richard Russo. It's the first Russo I've ever read, though I've had him on my TBR for a long time. I enjoyed it very much, and I'm sure I'll read more Russo in the future.

I need to get back to my Pulitzers. You're all reading ones I really enjoyed.

 

I finished A Thousand Acres on 3/11/16. For both the AAC and for my Pulitzer Challenge. Excellent book, just excellent. My Weird Book Report^TM, for what it's worth is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/210740#5510816

The Ides of March is upon us. So far this year, I've read six Pulitzer winners, and all have been first rate reads, in my opinion.

January
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (fiction--1989)
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (bio--1997)

February
Empire Falls by Richard Russo (fiction--2002)
Our Town by Thornton Wilder (drama--1938)
The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (drama--1949)

March
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (fiction--1992)

Early in the month, I projected Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King as my non-fiction read for March. But then I acquired a copy of Bruce Catton's A Stillness at Appomattox and that'll nudge its way ahead of Mr. King's book. I don't think either will disappoint me. Civil War in March, contemporary civil war for April.

I finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I really liked it.

I finally read a Pulitzer winner this month. Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres is excellent.

The winners and finalists for this year's Pulitzer Prizes were announced earlier this afternoon. The winning books are in bold in each category.

Fiction:
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Get in Trouble: Stories, by Kelly Link,
Maud's Line by Margaret Verble

General Non-Fiction:
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran by Carla Power

Biography or Autobiography:
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles
The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander

History:
Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles
Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War by Brian Matthew Jordan
Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor by James M. Scott
The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen

Poetry:
Ozone Journal by Peter Balakian
Alive: New and Selected Poems by Elizabeth Willis
Four-Legged Girl by Diane Seuss

Drama:
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
The Humans by Stephen Karam

>83 cbl_tn: I also finished this last week and loved it. I have now gone and bought The Last Hundred Years Trilogy and I am looking forward to listening to Jane Smiley speak in Auckland next month.

I read The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. Very interesting.

I read American Primitive by Mary Oliver,(Poetry winner 1984) a wonderful selection of poetry engaging with the beauty as well as the disturbing elements of nature and of human desire.

Back in January I tried to read Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler and just did not have time to finish. Then I planned it for Feb and did not have time to finish. Finally, I finished it in March. I say "finally", not because it was a chore, but because I finally had the time to put to it. I really liked it. It is not my favourite of three Anne Tyler books that I have read but it was still a very good book.

My comments are here

>84 kidzdoc: Thanks, Doc, for posting the list of the winners and the finalists for 2016.

Been in la-la-land for April, but I did finish Lonesome Dove, winning novel in 1986. I also read Stephen Vincent Benet's 450-page poem of the Civil War, John Brown's Body, winner in 1929 for poetry.

Already for May I've read The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty, winning novel in 1973. The latter is the first book by Miss Welty that I've read. It was short, not heavily plotted, quite low-key, but savory, very savory.

I'm reading Roots by Alex Haley.

I havent kept my eye on the ball here! I'll ave to go back and see which book's I have read that may have won Pulitzers :)

Off to consult the list!

Ok, I'm back. I have a few I could read on my shelf: The Goldfinch, A Visit from the Goon Squad, March, Middlesex, Empire Falls, Kavalier and Clay, Interpreter of Maladies, The Hours and American Pastoral (just working back until 1998 here). I'm thinking interpreter of Maladies would suit as a lead in! Just as soon as I get started on one from Bowie's top 100- this months is White Noise....

The year is at the midpoint, and its a good time to take stock. I committed myself to reading a Pulitzer-winning novel each month, and also Pulitzer-winning book in any other category (poetry, drama, general non-fiction, history, biography) each month. So far so good. Every one of the novels has been Top Shelf. So too the miscellany books I read.

Pulitzer Prize for fiction (6 for 6)
Jan: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler 1989
Feb: Empire Falls by Richard Russo 2002
Mar: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley 1992
Apr: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 1986
May: The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty 1973
June: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx 1994

     

Pulitzer Prize Miscellany, i.e. General NF, History, Bio, Poetry, Drama (7 for 6)
Jan: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt 1997 Bio
Feb: Our Town by Thornton Wilder 1938 Drama
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller 1949 Drama
Mar: A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton 1953 History
Apr: John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet 1929 Poetry
May: Truman by David McCullough 1993 Bio
June: So Human an Animal by Rene Dubos 1969 GenNF

      

How is everyone else doing?

Anyone...

Anyone...

I'm afraid I haven't been very good about prioritizing my Pulitzer reads up to now, but here's my list for 2016 to date:

* February: Empire Falls. My first Richard Russo, but it won't be my last. Fiction, 2002
* March: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. Fiction, 1972
* April: Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel. Biography or Autobiography (finalist), 2000
* June: Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin. General Non-Fiction, 2014

I'm going to try to be more intentional about seeking about some Pulitzer winners going forward, so hopefully I'll have more to report next time.

Erm, I've only read two: The Shipping News and The Sixth Extinction - both this month.

I'm on track with one Pulitzer per month:
Jan - Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler
1989 Fiction

Feb - Empire Falls Richard Russo
2002 Fiction

Mar - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Robert
Olen Butler
1993 Fiction

Apr - Native Guard: Poems Natasha Trethewey
2007 Poetry

May - Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New
America T.J. Stiles
2016 History

Jun - The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen
2016 Fiction

I have just reread The Shipping News and loved it just as much as the first time. I had forgotten that it not only fulfilled the American Author category for June but also the Pulitzer prize as well. A deserved winner too.

Read Grapes of Wrath. It was awesome.

Well I have now read all the Pulitzers on my shelf having completed The Age of Innocence last month and The Orphan Master's Son yesterday. They certainly are a diverse collection of books. It is thanks to this challenge that I have read these.

Glad to see a few folks--Brenda, Katie, Julia, Helen, Rhonda--reading Pulitzer winners and letting others know right here. I've been working methodically, reading a novel and a "miscellaneous" book each month. I did get derailed finding a suitable NF winner to read in August. Until I settled on a winner and got a copy of it, the month was all but done. So I'm still reading, to finish in a few days.

Books read in 2016

Fiction
1973: The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty ROOT (5/3/16)  
1986: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ROOT(4/28/16)  
1989: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler ROOT (1/26/16) 
1992: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley ROOT (3/11/16) 
1994: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx ROOT (6/19/16) 
2002: Empire Falls by Richard Russo ROOT (2/14/16) 
2006: March by Geraldine Brooks ROOT (7/10/16) 
2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz ROOT (8/7/16) 

Miscellany: Biography, History, General NF, Drama, Poetry
1929: John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benét (Poetry) ROOT (4/31/16) 
1938: Our Town by Thornton Wilder (Drama) ROOT (2/3/16) 
1944 The American Leonardo: A Life of Samuel F. B. Morse by Carlton Mabee (Bio) (7/21/16) 
1949: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (Drama) ROOT (2/27/16) 
1954: A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton (Hist) (3/25/16) 
1969: So Human an Animal by Rene Dubos (GenNF) ROOT (6/30/15) 
1993: Truman by David McCullough (Bio) ROOT (6/2/16) 
1997: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (Bio) ROOT (1/24/16) 

Current TBRs

Fiction
1921: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton ROOT
1925: So Big by Edna Ferber
1932: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck ROOT
1939: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ROOT
1952: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk ROOT
1956: Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor [current reading for September]
1983: The Color Purple by Alice Walker ROOT
1990: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos ROOT
1991: Rabbit at Rest by John Updike ROOT
1995: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1999: The Hours by Michael Cunningham
2000: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri ROOT
2003: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides ROOT
2004: 18258::The Known World by Edward P. Young
2007: The Road by Cormac McCarthy ROOT
2013: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson ROOT
2014: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Miscellany: Biography, History, General NF, Drama, Poetry
1937: The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865 by Van Wyck Brooks (Hist.) ROOT
1949: Roosevelt and Hopkins by Robert E. Sherwood (Bio) ROOT
1972: 65168::Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph Lash (Bio) ROOT
1973: Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam by Frances FitzGerald (GenNF)
1976: Edith Wharton: A Biography by R. W. B. Lewis (Bio) ROOT
1978: The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence by Carl Sagan (GenNF) [current reading for August]
1981: Peter the Great: His Life and Work by Robert K. Massie (Bio) ROOT
1989: Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann (Bio) ROOT
2002: The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand (hist) [current reading for September]
2007: The Most Famous Man in America by Debby Applegate (Bio) ROOT
2011: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (Bio) ROOT
2013: Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King (GenNF)

As you can see, immediately above, Touchstones have taken holiday, perhaps for the Labor Day weekend. In the above list, most Touchstones appeared correctly. Eleanor and Franklin came up as Treasure Island, and clicking on (other) roused a list of Harry Potter books. Same with The Known World. I don't remember what book came up as the Touchstone, but it wasn't correct. Clicking on (other) brought up the same damn Happy Potter book list.

Looking up the book # and endeavoring to "force" the issue got me nowhere.

Well, I read To Kill a Mockingbird. (Audiobook, with Sissy Spacek as narrator--fantastic)

This here Pulitzer-Prize Challenge has introduced me to a batch of talented writers, dramatists, historians, biographers, reporters...and a poet. I completed my tenth fiction winner of the year, Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, that took the prize in 2000, thus maintaining my pace of one a month.

On the miscellaneous side, I finished two previously started works--Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan (for General Non Fiction in 1978) and The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand (for History in 2002)--as well as the 2013 GenNF winner Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King. That brings me to rights; I've read ten winners in my "miscellaneous" category during this reading year.

            

I finished me book early this morning, wrapping up a very successful and satisfying Pulitzer Prize Challenge. I am pleased to report that I completed 12 Pulitzer-winning novels as well as 12 winners in other categories--history, biography, general nonfiction, drama, and poetry.

Here's my list, ordered by the year the book won.

Fiction
1956: Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor (9/13/16)
1973: The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (5/3/16) ROOT
1983: The Color Purple by Alice Walker (11/2/16) ROOT
1986: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (4/28/16) ROOT
1989: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (1/26/16) ROOT
1992: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (3/11/16) ROOT
1994: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (6/19/16) ROOT
2000: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (10/16/16) ROOT
2002: Empire Falls by Richard Russo (2/14/16) ROOT
2006: March by Geraldine Brooks (7/10/16) ROOT
2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (8/6/16) ROOT
2012: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson (12/23/16) ROOT

Miscellany: Biography, History, General NF, Drama, Poetry
1922: Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill (11/25/16) (Drama) ROOT
1929: John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet (4/31/16) (Poetry) ROOT
1938: Our Town by Thornton Wilder (2/3/16) (Drama) ROOT
1944: The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse by Carleton Mabee (7/21/16) (Bio)
1949: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (2/27/16) (Drama) ROOT
1954: A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton (3/25/16) (Hist)
1969: So Human an Animal by Rene Dubos (6/30/16) (GenNF) ROOT
1978: The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan (10/28/16) (GenNF)
1993: Truman by David McCullough (6/2/16) (Bio) ROOT
1997: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (1/24/16) (Bio) ROOT
2002: The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand (10/23/16) (Hist)
2012: The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt (12/15/16) (GenNF)

Congratulations, Bill! I'm afraid I wasn't as successful, but I should make a roundup here just for the record.

Do you plan to do another Pulitzer Challenge in 2017? If you do, I'll be sure to join in.