Sunday, January 25, 2009

Sunday Salon: Pulitzer Prize For Fiction

You might notice yet another "challenge" of sorts in my sidebar: The Pulitzer Prize project hosted by 3M. The fortunate part is that there is no time limit; just read through the Pulitzers whenever. I'm taking that to mean the fiction winners. When I get through them, then I may have to attempt another category. The ones I've already read are highlighted in burnt umber:

2008 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead Books)

2007 The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Alfred A. Knopf)

2006 March by Geraldine Brooks (Viking)

2005 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar)

2004 The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad/ HarperCollins)

2003 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar)

2002 Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Alfred A. Knopf)

2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (Random House)

2000 Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin)

1999 The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

1998 American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin)

1997 Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser (Crown)

1996 Independence Day by Richard Ford (Alfred A. Knopf)

1995 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (Viking)

1994 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (Charles Scribner's Sons)

1993 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler (Henry Holt)

1992 A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (Alfred A. Knopf)

1991 Rabbit At Rest by John Updike (Alfred A. Knopf)

1990 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos (Farrar)

1989 Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf)

1988 Beloved by Toni Morrison (Alfred A. Knopf)

1987 A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor (Alfred A. Knopf)

1986 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Simon & Schuster)

1985 Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie (Random House)

1984 Ironweed by William Kennedy (Viking)

1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Harcourt Brace)

1982 Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike (Knopf)

1981 A Confederacy of Dunces by the late John Kennedy Toole (a posthumous publication)
(Louisiana State U. Press)

1980 The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer (Little)

1979 The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (Knopf)

1978 Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson (Atlantic Monthly Press)

1977 (No Award)

1976 Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow (Viking)

1975 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (McKay)

1974 (No Award)

1973 The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (Random)

1972 Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (Doubleday)

1971 (No Award)

1970 Collected Stories by Jean Stafford (Farrar)

1969 House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday (Harper)

1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron (Random)

1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (Farrar)

1966 Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter (Harcourt)

1965 The Keepers Of The House by Shirley Ann Grau (Random)

1964 (No Award)

1963 The Reivers by William Faulkner (Random)

1962 The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor (Little)

1961 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Lippincott)

1960 Advise and Consent by Allen Drury (Doubleday)

1959 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor (Doubleday)

1958 A Death In The Family by the late James Agee (McDowell, Obolensky)

1957 (No Award)

1956 Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor (World)

1955 A Fable by William Faulkner (Random)

1954 (No Award)

1953 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner)

1952 The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk (Doubleday)

1951 The Town by Conrad Richter (Knopf)

1950 The Way West by A. B. Guthrie (Sloane)

1949 Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens (Harcourt)

1948 Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener (Macmillan)

1947 All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (Harvest)

1946 (No Award)

1945 A Bell For Adano by John Hersey

1944 Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin

1943 Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair

1942 In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow

1941 (No Award)

1940 The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck

1939 The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

1938 The Late George Apley by John Phillips Marquand

1937 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

1936 Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis

1935 Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson

1934 Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller

1933 The Store by T. S. Stribling

1932 The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

1931 Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes

1930 Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge

1929 Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin

1928 The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

1927 Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield

1926 Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis

1925 So Big by Edna Ferber

1924 The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson

1923 One of Ours by Willa Cather

1922 Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington

1921 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

1920 (No Award)

1919 The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

1918 His Family by Ernest Poole

1917 (No Award)

14 comments:

  1. LOL--no time limit is definitely helpful for this one. I've been trying to keep track of which ones I've read as well--also doing the same for Booker Prize books. You already have a great start!! I can't wait to read Oscar Wao--it's my book club pick, but it isn't my turn until May. :(

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  2. Trish, I was deeply moved by Oscar. I read it last summer, and I still remember it quite clearly. His story was such a sad one! I've wondered why it won the Pulitzer though; do you think it's because of it's indicative of most immigration experiences? Or, his particular culture? I wasn't sure.

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  3. I'm glad you liked Oscar Wao so much. I haven't read much about the book or why it might have won the Pulitzer, but I often wonder why some books win certain awards. For the life of me I couldn't get into Gilead or The Stone Diaries--both Pulitzer winners.

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  4. Hey! I tagged you today for a short meme because I love reading your blog! :)

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  5. What a beautiful blog you have. I found you through Rebecca :) It was fun visiting your page!

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  6. Trish, I liked The Stone Diaries. For about the first two-thirds of it. Then, I couldn't even finish it. Enough, already. Gilead's on my list for Dewey's Challenge (I think.) The all time worst for me was Morrison's Beloved. ICK!

    Rebecca, I'm coming over to see the meme. I like reading yours, too!

    The Chic Geek, thanks for visiting.

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  7. I couldn't get through Beloved, either. ICK is right. But, I didn't like The Stone Diaries, either.

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  8. Just goes to show: because it won a prize, it's not necessarily great to everyone!

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  9. Princess HaikuJan 26, 2009 07:44 PM

    This is a great list. Many of these books haven't been exciting to me but I recently read, "The Road" and it is extraordinary. Will try a few others..

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  10. Princess Haiku, I've picked up and put down again The Road 1,000 times. I just am not in the mood for Armeggedon, I think, but if you liked it I'm willing to pick it up for the 1,001st.

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  11. Good luck with this challenge! I have The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz requested at the library and I didn't even know it won the Pulitizer. Or, I did and then forgot and then saw a really good review that made me think I hadn't heard of it before. That's always possible, too! Explains why the list is so long at the library...

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  12. Looks like you've read a good many already! Congrats!

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  13. Wow, I guess I've read quite a few on this list- I agree, just because they won a prize doesn't mean they will float everyone's proverbial boat.

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  14. Kailana, my book was from the library, too, or I'd send it to you. Perhaps it's not a book one wants to keep on one's shelf, though; I found it quite sad.

    Ladytink, I'm working through them. Even since John Updike's death, I'm even more anxious to read "Run, Rabbit, Run" which I noticed is now on iTunes audiobooks.

    Mrs. T., no kidding! I've been shocked at a few winners (Ms. Morrison...)

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