Award Winners

For many years, I have been trying to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning fiction...it's a lot of books and I have not done that great. Of the 83 winners in the novel/fiction category, I have read 10. However, those 10 have taught me that just because a book wins a prize, it doesn't mean it's any good. The few I've read are:

The Good Earth (1932) - I had to read it in high school...I still rememberWang Lung, Lotus and the ugly wife...however, I'm sure I didn't like it at the time!
Gone with the Wind (1937) - One of my favorites! I think everyone should read this book!
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - Another required reading, pretty sure the chapter about a turtle crossing the road ruined it for me.
To Kill A Mockingbird (1961) - Awesome...I've read it more than once.
A Confederancy of Dunces (1981) - HATED IT!
The Color Purple (1988) - I really didn't get it, I have no idea what the fuss is all about!
Lonesome Dove (1986) - Love this book. One of my top 10 favorite books.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2001) - Enjoyed it. It made me want to read comic books.
Empire Falls (2002) - I think I liked it. Obviously, it wasn't terribly memorable.
Middlesex (2003) - Great book...read it more than once!

Of course, I own several of the books that I have not read becaues I have a horrible habit of buying lots of books and then not reading them. I'll get to them because seeing this list of so few makes me very sad.



Another goal I've had is to read at least one book by each Nobel Laureate in Literature...I'm not doing so hot there either! What's crazy is that I haven't thought to knock out those few that overlap on the two lists! Seriously, how have I read Paradise (twice!) and The Bluest Eye by Morrison, but I've yet to read Beloved (won the Pulitzer)?! The Nobel Prize has been awarded to over 100 authors and I've only read works by maybe 3 of them. But the same thing is true...just because they won a prize, it doesn't mean that every work is great! Not to mention, some of them are poets and playwrights so that really mixes things up! That list looks like this:

William Butler Yeats - one of my favorite poems is thanks to his genius.
George Bernard Shaw - more required reading...Pygmalion...I prefer the musical over the play.
Pearl S. Buck - see The Good Earth above.
Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha...more required reading! A group of classmates even wrote a song about this one.
T.S. Eliot - required reading.
William Faulkner - I had the same teacher for 3 years of high school English...Faulkner was her favorite.
John Steinbeck - I've read a few of Steinbecks works...East of Eden is one of my favorites by him.
Samuel Beckett - don't really get it.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I've read three and haven't really loved any of them.
William Golding - duh...required reading.
Toni Morrison - see above.
Seamus Heaney - poetry was also required reading in school...

That's that...not impressive. However, some of the Literature winners write in languages that are not English, so that definitely makes things tricky!

More on this later...I'm late for a movie date with my bro!